VERBAL REPETITION AND COMPOUND ALLUSION
IN PARADISE LOST
by
JOHN HAMPTON LAUCK II, B.A.
A THESIS
IN
ENGLISH
Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Texas Tech University in
Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for
the Degree of
MASTER OF ARTS
Approved
Accepted
August, 1982
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I am deeply indebted to Dr. Ernest W. Sullivan II for his direction
of this thesis and to Dr. Donald W. Rude for his helpful criticism.
I am also deeply indebted to my parents, without whose support this
work would not have been possible.
11
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ii
INTRODUCTION 1
BOOK I 5
The Repetitions 5 The Compound Allusions 9
BOOK II 15
The Repetitions 15
The Compound Allusions 16
BOOK III 19
The Repetitions 19
The Compound Allusions 23
BOOK IV 27
The Repetitions 27
The Compound Allusions 29
BOOK V 35
The Repetitions 35
The Compound Allusions 36
BOOK VI 39
The Repetitions 39 The Compound Allusions 40
BOOK VII 45 The Repetitions 45 The Compound Allusions 46
111
Page
BOOK VIII 49
The Repetitions 49 The Compound Allusions 49
BOOK IX 51
The Repetitions 51 The Compound Allusions 55
BOOK X 61
The Repetitions 61
The Compound Allusions 64
BOOK XI 67
The Repetitions 67
The Compound Allusions 68
BOOK XII 71
The Repetitions 71 The Compound Allusions 72
WORKS CITED 76
IV
INTRODUCTION
As Northrop Frye observes, Samuel Barrow asks a rhetorical question
in the first two lines of his Latin poem in dedication to Paradise Lost:
"When you read this wonderful poem, what do you read but the story of
all things?" The purpose of this study is to demonstrate that through
the use of verbal repetition and compound allusion--allusion with
multiple references—Milton unifies the vast content of Paradise Lost.
Studies of Milton's repetitions have been made before. Roma
Bordelon's 1939 Louisiana State University Master's thesis sees verbal
repetition as a structural device. Hugh C. Pritchard's 1942 University
of North Carolina Master's thesis, "A Study of Repetition as an Archi
tectonic Device in Paradise Lost," argues that Milton uses repetition
2 in accordance with the principles of architecture. Elaine Safer's
1967 Western Reserve University Doctoral dissertation, "The Use of
Cross-Reference to Develop Polarities in Paradise Lost and Paradise
Regained," tries
to show the pervasiveness of the technique of cross reference in Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained and to point out how Milton uses this technique to achieve his poetic and didactic purpose. Cross references include the repetitive pattern of parallels and contrasts: verbal echoes, different narrative voices, reiteration of motifs, anticipatory scenes and
The Return of Eden: Five Essays of Milton's Epics (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1965; rpt. 1975), p. 4.
Both Bordelon's and Pritchard's theses are catalogued in Calvin Huckdbay, John Milton: An Annotated Bibliography, 1929-1968 (Pittsburgh Duquesne University Press, 1969).
1
reminiscences, and reiteration of image clusters. . . . In addition to systematically organizing cross references, this study details how they are used to develop tension in Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained.3
Edward S. Le Comte's book Yet Once More: Verbal and Psychological
Pattern in Milton (New York: Liberal Arts Press, 1953) contains an
extensive listing of Milton's repetitions, in both his poetry and his
prose.
Along with Bordelon and Pritchard, the present thesis acknowledges
repetition as a key structural element in the poem. It differs generally
from Safer's and Le Comte's works in that it focuses on Paradise Lost
alone. Specifically, unlike Safer's dissertation, it deals solely with
verbal repetition, and addresses the issues of polarity and tension in
the poem only implicitly. Unlike Le Comte's book, it does not try to 4
"find the sum" of Milton's repetitions, nor does it seek a verbal and
psychological pattern in the repetitions.
Plainly stated, the thesis of the present work is that Milton
uses verbal repetition to establish the themes which run throughout
Paradise Lost, and he uses compound allusion to support those themes.
For example, Milton establishes "obedience" as a key theme in the poem
in Book III. The compound allusions in Book III, by stressing the
perfect obedience of the Son of God support and strengthen that theme.
The thesis also seeks to demonstrate the validity of Le Comte's
observation that the repetitions "work, however inconspicuously, for
the unity and solidity of the poem. There is bound to grow in us.
^ Dissertation Abstracts, 28 (1967), 2221A.
Yet Once More, p. vii.
3
as we read, the feeling that we have been here and here before."
For instance, in Book I, when a reader hears Satan's cry "Is this
the Region, this the Soil, the Clime . . . this the seat / That we
must change for Heav'n. . .?," and later hears Adam's question to
Eve in Book IX "Is this the love, this the recompense / Of mine to
thee, ingrateful Eve. . .?," he realizes that the echo is not only
verbal, but also situational: Adam is in Hell emotionally. The allu
sions, in supporting the repetitions, also work for the poem's unity,
as the discussion in the text makes clear.
Milton's editors over the last 25 years have made great progress
in identifying the sources and significance of his allusions, especially
the editors of the three editions of Paradise Lost to which this thesis
is most heavily indebted: Complete Poems and Major Prose, ed. Merritt Y
Hughes (Indianapolis: The Odyssey Press, 1957), from which all quota
tions of the poem are taken; Paradise Lost, ed. Alastair Fowler
(London: Longmans Group Limited, 1971); and Paradise Lost, ed. Scott
El ledge (New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 1975). In addition,
James H. Sims in The Bible in Milton's Epics (Gainesville: University
of Florida Press, 1962) has done much to identify Milton's biblical
allusions. Each of these men is cited by his last name in the thesis,
and their names are cited together in the notes whenever more than
one of them have references to a given passage.
The thesis is organized into chapters, with subdivisions in each
chapter for the repetitions and allusions. In the sections on
^ Yet Once More, pp. 46-47.
repetitions, no attempt has been made to distinguish between the
repetition of individual words and the repetition of syntactic units
In the sections on the compound allusions, however, those allusions
which support the theme established by repetition receive emphasis,
in order to show more clearly how Milton unifies the content of his
poem.
BOOK I
The Repetitions
Book I of Paradise Lost brings together three words which repeatedly
link the fate of the fallen angels and fallen man: "woe," "forlorn,"
and "wand'ring." The poem begins as Milton invokes the Heavenly Muse
to tell him
Of Man's First Disobedience, and the Fruit Of that Forbidden Tree, whose mortal taste Brought Death into the World, and all our woe,
(1.1-3).
Although the reader's attention is immediately focused on man's woe,
Milton quickly traces the provocation of such misery back to Satan and
his rebellious angels, condemned in God's "abhorred deep to utter woe"
(11.87). The devils' punishment is made more specific when Milton
changes from "utter woe" to "Eternal woe" in 11.161; the torment of
their sin will last forever.
When the demons realize God's power cannot be challenged directly,
Satan plots an indirect revenge: to corrupt man, and make him, as
Raphael fears, "Companion of his woe" (VI.907). Man's ability to with
stand that plot depends upon his wise use of free will. As Raphael
warns Adam: "The weal or woe in thee is plac't; beware" (VIII.638).
The equivocation between well-being and misery ("weal or woe")
continues in Satan's admission that he feels himself "linkt in weal
or woe" to man (IX. 133). Satan's sense is so corrupted by his fall
that he does not know whether his temptation of man, if it is success
ful, will bring him happiness or only more misery. Interestingly, the
fallen Eve has the same difficulty, vowing that "Adam shall share with
me in bliss or woe" (IX.831); and moments before his fall, Adam resolves
that from Eve he "never shall be parted, bliss or woe" (IX.916). The
echoes suggest that the first thing sin does in rational creatures is
to make it impossible to distinguish true happiness from misery. Adam
and Eve regain a little of that happiness, however, when they move from
Eve's individual responsibility for sin, "On me, sole cause to thee of
all this woe" in X.935, to joint responsibility, when Adam calls their
dilemma "our share of woe" in X.961.
In "forlorn," Milton has chosen perhaps the perfect word to describe
the condition of sinful beings. When Satan beholds the "dreary Plain,
forlorn and wild" in 1.180, the word carries its literal meaning of
being abandoned in a desolate place. When he gazes on Adam and Eve
for the first time, however, and says,
Happy, but for so happy ill-secur'd Long to continue, and this high seat your Heav'n 111 fenc't for Heav'n to keep out such a foe As now is enter'd; yet no purpos'd foe To you whom I could pity thus forlorn Though I unpitied
(IV.370-75).
"Forlorn" means "morally lost, abandoned, depraved, ruined, doomed to
destruction"--entirely religious senses. On one reading of the passage,
Satan is speaking of his own abandonment and doom, but he may also be
^ OED
implying that Adam and Eve have been left forlorn by God. Twice he
refers to how "ill secur'd" and "ill fenc'd" Eden is, and it is
impossible to tell whether "forlorn" in IV.374 refers to "you" (Adam
and Eve) or to Satan himself. Even this early in the poem, Satan may
be trying to shift responsibility for his acts from himself to God.
If Adam and Eve are not forlorn before the fall, they certainly
are after Adam becomes aware of Eve's sin. He is spiritually lost as
he contemplates life without Eve "in these wild Woods forlorn" in
IX.910. Although he is still unfallen at this point, Adam's love for
Eve and his fear of losing her will lead him into sin. Eve feels the
same sense of loss as she cries to Adam, ". . . forlorn of thee, /
Whither shall I betake me, where subsist?" (X.921-22). The word is
especially appropriate for the fallen couple, because in Books IX and X
they share, emotionally at least, Satan's Hell.
"Wand'ring," according to Isabel MacCaffrey, is "a key word,
summarizing the theme of the erring, bewildered human pilgrimage, and
its extension into the prelapsarian world with the fallen angels."
The narrator says the names of the fallen angels were blotted out of the
Books of Life, and they did not get new names until they were sent
"wand'ring o'er the Earth / Through God's high sufferance for the trial
of man" (1.365-66). The trial of man begins when Eve succumbs to what
Adam calls a "strange / Desire of wand'ring" (IX.1135-36), and goes
off without him.
Paradise Lost as "Myth" (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1959), p. 188.
8
Although both fallen angel and fallen man wander, "wand'ring" also
distinguishes between them. As Stanley E. Fish points out, by the end
of the poem, "wand'ring" signifies the movement of faith, the sign of o
one's willingness to go out at the command of God. Adam sees this
faith exemplified in his visions of Abraham leaving Ur "Not wand'ring
poor, but trusting all his wealth / With God" (XII.133-34), and Solomon
caring for the Ark of God "till then in Tents / Wand'ring" (XII.333-34).
He and Eve show this faith themselves in the poem's final lines as they
leave Eden at God's command, with "wand'ring steps and slow" (XII.648).
Satan's cry upon first seeing Hell, "Is this the Region, this the
Soil, the Clime . . . this the seat / That we must change for Heav'n
. . .?" in 1.242-44 is echoed in Adam's incensed reply to Eve during
their argument in IX.1163-64: "Is this the Love, is this the recompense /
Of mine to thee, ingrateful Eve. . . ?" The echo is situational as
well as verbal: at this moment, Adam is in an emotional hell because
of his and Eve's failure to resist sin. Although the link between Satan
and man is strong here, it is not eternal. Satan's reply to his rhetori
cal question ". . . Be it so, since he / Who now is Sovran can dispose
and bid / What shall be right? (1.245-47) contrasts sharply with Adam's
humility in X.769: "Be it so, for I submit, his doom is fair." Both
seem to be accepting God's plan, but the vital difference between the
two is that Adam "submits" to God's will. Satan never does; he merely
accepts Hell as the place from which he must carry on his hopeless fight.
o
Surprised by Sin: The Reader in Paradise Lost (Berkeley University of California Press, 1971), p. 141.
The repetitions of Book I, then, tell the reader what he already
knows: sin was brought into the Plan of Creation by rebellion, both
angelic and human, but Satan's victory over man will never be complete
as long as there are men who will submit to God's will.
The Compound Allusions
The compound allusions of Book I support Milton's repetitions of
"wand'ring," "woe," and "forlorn" by providing the necessary biblical
and classical authority for his description of the ambition-inspired
wickedness of Satan and his angels, their misery in Hell, and their
morally lost, unredeemable condition. In the narrator's words.
He trusted to have equal'd the most High, If He oppos'd; and with ambitious aim Against the Throne and Monarchy of God Rais'd impious War in Heav'n and Battle proud With vain attempt. Him the Almighty Power Hurl'd headlong flaming from the Ethereal Sky With hideous ruin and combustion down To bottomless perdition, there to dwell In Adamantine Chains and penal Fire.
(1.40-48)
Milton blends several Bible verses and classical allusions. The line
"He trusted to have equal'd the most High" (1-40) recalls
Isaiah 14:14 ("I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will
be like the most High"). Lines 44-45, ". . . Him the Almighty Power /
Hurl'd headlong flaming from the Ethereal Sky," superficially draws
upon Christ's words in Luke 10:18 ("I beheld Satan as lightning fall
from heaven") and Homer's description of Hephaistos "hurled from the 9
ethereal threshold" in the Iliad 1.591. Davis P. Harding, however.
g Fowler, p. 45.
10
sees for Milton's lines an even more meaningful link with the Aenied
VI.580-ff.:
And down there In the uttermost depths flung down by a thunderbolt Wallow that ancient race, the Titans, born of the earth. And here I saw the twin sons of Aloeus, Huge giants who with their own hands had tried To pull down the vault of heaven and dispossess Almighty Jove of his kingdom.'^
Harding comments.
For the latter's "twin Aloids," Milton has substituted the names of two other giants, Briareos and Typhon [P.L. 1.199], whose histories were undoubtedly better known to his contempories. Both Briareos and Typhon had made war upon the Olympians and, after their defeat, had been consigned to everlasting punishment, the one in Tartarus, the other buried under Mount Etna. The allegorical history of Typhon, or of Typhoeus as he was more usually called, is of particular interest. Because he was the leader of the giants who warred on Jove, the same tradition that identified the Gigantomachia with the Revolt of the Ariqels identified Typhon with Satan and Mount Etna with Hell.'^
One may thus see that Milton uses mythology in Paradise Lost not only
out of respect for epic tradition, but also for the allegory Christians
commonly assigned to it. Hughes also cites for lines 44-45 Isaiah 14:12
("How art thou fallen from heaven, 0 Lucifer, son of the morning! how
12 art thou cut down to the ground, which did weaken the nations!").
The devils dwelling "In Adamantine Chains and penal Fire" (1.48) reflect
II Peter 2:4 ("For God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them
down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved
unto judgment"), Jude 6 ("And the angels which kept not their first
Vergil, The Aenied, trans. Patric Dickinson (New York: New American Library, 1961), p. 136.
The Club of Hercules: Studies in the Classical Background of Paradise Lost (Urbana: The University of Illinois Press, 1962), p. 59.
^̂ Hughes, p. 212.
11
estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting
chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day"), and
Revelation 20:1-2 ("And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having
the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he
laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan,
13 and bound him up a thousand years"). Milton's references to "Adamantine
Chains" and "penal Fire" suggest the misery and physical punishment
of the rebellious angels, but the allusions in that line speak not only
of the misery of the angels, but also of a coming day of judgment against
them, an event which will even increase their agony.
The misery of present and future defeat is further allusively
emphasized in 1.221-28. The narrator is speaking of Satan:
Forthwith upright he rears from off the Pool His mighty Stature; on each hand the flames Driv'n backward slope thir pointing spires, and roll'd In billows, leav 'i the' midst a horrid Vale. Then with expanded wings he steers his flight Aloft, incumbent on the dusky Air That felt unusual weight, till on dry land He lights.
The passage recalls the episode in The Faerie Queene 1.11.18:
Then with his waving wings displayed wide. Himself up high he lifted from the ground. And with strong flight did forcibly divide The yielding air, which nigh too feeble found Her flitting parts and element unsound To bear so great a weight. He cutting way With his broad sails, about him soar'd round; At last low stooping with unwieldy sway, 1^ Snatched up both horse and man to bear them quite away.
^^ Fowler, p. 45; Hughes, p. 212.
Edmund Spenser, Books I and II of the Faerie Queene, the Mutability Cantos, and Selections from the Minor Poetry, eds. Robert Kellogg and Oliver Steele (New York: The Odyssey Press, 1965), p. 209,
12
Harding observes of Milton's debt to the earlier work:
The force of these borrowings from Spenser may hardly be said to contradict the central metaphorical tendency of the passage in which they appear. Many readers will already have recognized the context from which Spenser's stanza has been taken. He is describing the initial assault of the Dragon upon the Red Cross Knight.15
Of course, in the allegory, the Red Cross Knight defeats the Dragon,
representing Christ's victory over Satan. But Satan's misery and defeat
are more subtly alluded to in 1.221-24, lines which, according to Douglas
16 Bush, may contain a reference to the parting of the Red Sea. Compare
Exodus 14:21: "And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the
Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night,
and made the sea dry land, and th-e waters were divided." If Bush is
correct, then Milton is being ironic here. The Red Sea parted for the
Israelites, but engulfed the heathen Egyptians. Satan has a "mighty
Stature" in Hell, but his destruction is assured.
A major difference between fallen man and fallen angel is that the
one is redeemable, the other is not. Milton's narrator makes this point
when he says of the demons,
of thir Names in heav'nly Records now Be no memorial, blotted out and ras'd By thir Rebellion, from the Books of Life.
(1.361-63)
There are several references to the Book or Books of Life in both the
Old and the New Testament. The verses closest to the Mil tonic passage
^̂ The Club of Hercules, p. 55.
"Ironic and Ambiguous Allusion in Paradise Lost," JEGP, 60 (1961), 634.
13
are Psalm 69:28 "Let them be blotted out of the book of the living,
and not be written with the righteous"), where the anger of King David
(who is himself a type of Christ) against his enemies is similar to
God's wrath; and Revelation 21:27 "And there shall in no wise enter into
it anything that defileth, neither he that worketh abomination, or
maketh a lie, but they who are written in the Lamb's book of life"),
which speaks of wickedness generally, but might refer, because of the
King James translators' insertion of the phrase "he that," to Satan
as well. Satan is certainly a worker of abomination to man and God,
and he is the supreme Antichrist, forerunner of the one through whom,
because of the world's unrighteousness, God will send "strong delusion,
that they [non-Christians] should believe a lie" (II Thessalonians 2:11).
Sims' citations of Psalm 9:5 ("Thou hast rebuked the heathen, thou
hast destroyed the wicked, thou hast put out their name forever and
ever"), and Revelation 3:5 ("He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed
in white rainment; and I will not blot his name out of the book of life,
18 but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels")
have general applicability to Milton's lines. In particular. Revelation
3:5 underscores the possible redemption of righteous men, in contrast
to the wicked. Fowler notes Revelation 3:12 as relevant to the lines:
"Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he
shall go no more out; and I will write upon him the name of my God, and
the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which cometh down out
^̂ Hughes, p. 220.
^̂ Sims, p. 260.
14
19 of heaven from my God, and I will write upon him my new name."
One sees in the "new names" of the redeemed an implied contrast with
the fallen angels, whose true names are forever blotted out of Divine
memory. They do not acquire new names until they "wander" over the
earth.
Thus, in Book I, Milton's allusions work in harmony with his
repetitions. In their own ways, both devices reveal the Hell sinful
man will share with the fallen angels, yet at the same time emphasize
the coming defeat of those angels and the redemption of humanity.
Fowler, p. 65.
BOOK II
The Repetitions
Although Milton repeatedly links mankind and Satan in the epic,
the various repetitions sometimes obscure from the reader the fact that
the links are not as strong as they appear. For example, Satan tries
to rally his forces in the infernal council, calling on them to assert
"firm Faith, and firm accord" (11.36) in a plan to strike back at
Heaven's powers. Of course the plan to assault God's newest creation
succeeds when Eve's "firm Faith" is overcome by Satan in the serpent
(IX.286). As the rest of line 286 says, however. Eve has both "firm
Faith and Love"; Satan binds his followers only by'firm accord." Eve's
love for Adam is strong enough to help her survive her breach of faith
and merit eventual salvation.
The word "hand" is repeated several times in Book II, most often,
as Mario Di Cesare writes, to suggest power and authority, creation,
20 or relationship. In the eyes of the devils, God is pure power,
strength without subtlety, a "red right hand" to plague them (11.174).
Satan, though will later claim a right-handed power of his own to Abdiel
in V.864-65: "Our puissance is our own, our own right hand / Shall
teach us highest deeds." "Hand" is repeated in its creative sense in
20 "Advent'rous Song: The Texture of Milton's Epic," rpt. in
Language and Style in Milton: A Symposium in Honor of the Tercentenary of Paradise Lost, eds. R. D. Emma and J. T. Shawcross (New York: Frederick Ungar, 1967), p. 20.
15
16
11.366-70 and, in context, helps reveal the demonic plan to attack
Eden and
drive as we were driven. The puny habitants, or if not drive. Seduce them to our Party, that thir God May prove thir foe, and with repenting hand Abolish his own works.
"Hand" next appears carrying its sense of "relationship." Sin tells
Satan that, once the task of destroying Eden is completed, "I shall
Reign / At thy right hand voluptuous, as becomes / Thy daughter and
thy darling without end" (11.868-70). As many critics have noted,
these lines are a grossly sexual parody of Christ's relationship to
God. Christ is seen at the right hand of the Father seven times in
the epic, and does not act, much less reign, except at God's express
^ 21 command.
It should also be emphasized that the relationship portrayed in
11.868-70 is a demonic one. Milton develops the "hand" much more fully
in Books IV and IX as a specific symbol of human relationship.
The Compound Allusions
The compound allusions in Book II reinforce the idea that God's
hand alone is the powerful one, and belie Satan's claim to any Divine
power. Indeed, the allusions at every turn emphasize both God's power
and the devils' lack of it. Despite Satan's assurances that they have
the power to corrupt the new creation, the devils wonder if they are
2^ See III.279, V. 606, VI.747, VI.762, VI.892, X.64, and X.457. "Hand" is used 73 times in the poem; 20 in a neutral sense (e.g., "on either hand"), 9 in a creative sense, 23 to denote power, and 21 to denote relationship.
17
not still in God's hand and if they have not been "the Vassals of his
anger" (11.90) as well as the doers of His will in spite of themselves.
Hughes rightly sees a reference to "the Vassals of God's wrath, and
slaves of sin," in Spenser's The Teares of the Muses, but Spenser was
referring specifically to humans. Fowler notes an allusion to Romans
9:22 which describes more accurately the devils' plight: they are God's
22 vessels of wrath fitted to destruction.
Belial, at least, senses the hopelessness of the situation. The
devils cannot break out of Hell and challenge Heaven with fire because
"the Ethereal mould / Incapable of stain would soon expel / Her mischief,
and purge off the baser fire" (11.139-41). God Himself is called "a
consuming fire" in Deuteronomy 4:24 and His angels "a flaming fire" in
Psalm 104:4. As Fowler observes, God's very throne is "like the fiery
flame" in Daniel 7:9.^^
Mammon suggests that the devils stay right where they are, saying,
"Our torments also may in length of time / Become our elements, these
piercing fires / As soft as now severe" (11.274-76). Hughes believes
Milton is drawing upon Robert Burton's classification of the devils into
Fiery Spirits, Aerial Spirits, Water Devils, Terrestrial and Sub-
terrestrial devils in his Anatomy of Melancholy, I, ii, 1, 2. But
considering the uneasiness and fear Belial and Mammon betray in their
speeches, perhaps Fowler is right that Milton is actually alluding to
^̂ Hughes, p. 234; Fowler, p. 94.
^̂ Fowler, p. 96.
18
to St. Augustine's idea in De Civ. Dei XXI.10 that the devils are
24 bound to fires as if to bodies.
Clearly, God cannot be fought directly; thus, Beelzebub mouths
Satan's scheme to "drive out the puny habitants" quoted above. Christopher
Ricks perceptively comments that "puny" means both "weak" and "late-
born" (from the French puis ne, "born since"), and therefore reveals
Beelzebub's reasons for hating them. They are new and they are weak.
Part of the devils' reluctance to adopt Satan's plan is their
admission that "long is the way / And hard, that out of Hell leads up
to light" (11.432-33). Hughes and Fowler are undoubtedly correct in
noting the similarity of the Sibyl's warning to Aneas in the Aenied
VI.126-29 that the descent to Avernus is easy, and Virgil's warning to
Dante in the Inferno XXXIV, 95 that the way up to Purgatory from Hell
is hard, but there is a closer parallel to the human condition in
Jesus' words, "strait is the gate,'and narrow is the way, which leadeth
unto life, and few there be that find it" (Matthew 7:14). Just as Satan
comes up alone out of Hell to attempt man's destruction, so must
individual man come up out of a personal hell to achieve salvation.
24 Hughes, p. 238; Fowler, p. 102.
^^ Mi l ton 's Grand Style (Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1963), pp. 65-66.
26 Hughes, p. 242; Fowler, p. 110.
BOOK III
The Repetitions
Many twentieth century readers, after witnessing Satan's defiance
in Books I and II might feel his acts are those of a noble rebel;
Milton constantly yet subtly reminds his readers, however, that Satan's
sole purpose is to destroy or corrupt any or all of God's works. One
example of this subtlety occurs when Satan journeys in search of this
world. God the Father and the Son watch his progress from Heaven, and
as they do so, the Father proclaims the Son his "only begotten Son"
(III.80), as He will again in III.384, after the Son offers to become
the ransom for man's sins. Satan has already fathered Death, referred
to by Sin in 11.782 as "thine own begotten." The repetition of "only
begotten" recalls John 3:16 ("For God so loved the world, that he gave
his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish,
but have everlasting life"), and reveals anew the demonic plan. Satan
so hates the world that he will send hj2 son there, that all should die
and suffer eternal damnation.
God, of course, knows that Satan's scheme "shall redound / Upon
his own rebelious head" (III.85-86). Satan himself later echoes God's
word "redound" as he realizes he can neither win back Heaven nor live
on Earth
19
20
Nor hope to be myself less miserable By what I seek, but others to make such As I, though thereby worse to me redound.
(IX.126-28)
But God also knows that
Man will heark'n to [Satan's] glozing lies. And easily transgress the sole Command Sole pledge of his obedience.
(III.93-95)
"Obedience will thus become a key theme in Paradise Lost. Adam
and Eve know the command not to taste the Tree of Knowledge is "the
sign of our obedience" (IV.428). The Tree itself, God tells Adam, is
"the Pledge of thy Obedience and thy Faith" (VIII.325). Raphael tells
Adam that he and Eve may eventually choose to live in an Earthly or
Heavenly Paradise "if ye be found obedient" (V.501), but cautions Adam
that he continues in his present happy state only through that obedience
(V.522). At Adam's request, Raphael then relates the story of Satan's
disobedience and the War in Heaven. He uses the opportunity to tell
of Seraphim Abdiel, who faithfully "obey'd divine commands" (V.806)
during the struggle, and was especially commended by God. The angel
warns Adam of Satan's plot to ". . . seduce / Thee also from obedience"
(VI.901-02) and, at the end of his visit, enjoins him to
Be strong, live happy, and love, but first of all Him whom to love is to obey, and keep His great command
(VIII.633-35)
How is it, then, that after all the emphasis on both the necessity
and the reward of obedience Eve still falls? In the Christian Doctrine,
Milton defines obedience for men (including, one must remember, the
21
readers of Paradise Lost) as "that virtue whereby we propose to our
selves the will of God as the paramount rule of our conduct, and serve
27 him alone." When Satan in the serpent explains to Eve how he can
talk, he says, "Easy to me it is to tell thee all / What thou command'st
and right thou should'st be obey'd" (IX.569-70, emphasis mine). Eve
knows the obedience of the animals is Adam's responsibility (VI1.498),
but the flattery is just enough to turn her mind, for the first time,
toward the possibility of being obeyed rather than obeying God.
But, to Milton, obedience is also the natural fulfillment of love
28
and, in a sense, identical with it. The Son embodies this fulfill
ment perfectly when He says to God, ". . . on mee let thine anger fall; /
Account mee man" (III.237-38). After the Son's offer, the narrator says.
His words here ended, but his meek aspect Silent yet spake, and breath'd immortal love To mortal men, above which only shone Filial obedience.
(III.266-69)
As for whose fault the fall is, God blames man:
ingrate, he had of mee All he could have; I made him just and right. Sufficient to have stood, though free to fall.
(III.97-99)
The Father calls man an "ingrate" in line 97, a thought Adam echoes
in IX.1164 when he rails against "ingrateful Eve." Interestingly, God
says man "had of mee / All he could have." Of course, by the time Adam
^̂ John Milton, The Works of John Milton, ed. Frank Allen Patterson, Vol. 17 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1934), p. 69.
^̂ Columbia Milton, Vol. 14, p. 25.
22
calls Eve "ingrateful," the fall ha^ occurred. Repetition of "ingrate"
helps the alert reader to see that, although the two actions are
separated by six books, God's anger and Adam's anger occur at nearly
the same time; thus, Milton achieves unity of plot at two critical stages.
God's justification for giving man freedom, "Not free, what proof
could they have giv'n sincere / Of true allegiance, constant Faith or
Love. . .?" (III.103-04) is echoed by Raphael in Book V when he says
to Adam
for how Can hearts, not free, be tri'd whether they serve Willing or no, who will but what they must By Destiny, and can no other choose?
(V.131-34)
Adam and Eve are fully aware, then, why they have freedom; yet,
they deliberately choose to sin. As a result, according to God, the
pair "hath naught left, / But to destruction sacred and devote" (III.208).
Milton later puts an echo of God's words in the mouth of Adam (who is
supposed to be Eve's head, or "God") when he confronts his wife, who
is "Defac'd, deflow'r'd, and now to Death devote" in IX.901.
The word "mortal" is repeated many times in the poem, beginning in
Book III. Whenever it is used, it entails either spiritual death or
physical death. God calls man's sin a "mortal crime" in III.215,
29
referring to Adam and Eve's spiritual death. Only through the sacri
fice of the Son can man escape instant spiritual death because of sin
30 and the "mortal sting" (III.253) of physical death.
^̂ See VIII.331, IX.1003, X.48, X.796, XI.273, XI.366.
^° For "mortal" in the sense of physical death, see III.268, IV.8, VI.348, VI.434, VII.24, X.273, XI.54.
23
The Compound Allusions
Most of the allusions of Book III are biblical rather than classi
cal; they underscore the Sonship of Christ in all of its aspects and,
by emphasizing the perfect obedience of the Son, they strengthen the
theme of obedience Milton has established by repetition. The Father's
exclamation, "0 Son, in whom my Soul hath chief delight" (III.168) calls
to mind both Matthew 3:17, "This is my beloved son in whom I am well
pleased," and John 1:18, in which Jesus is called "the only begotten
Son, which is in the bosom of the Father. . ."*̂^
The narrator says in III.225 that the fullness of love divine dwells
in the Son. In his note on this line, Hughes records Milton's belief
(expressed in the Christian Doctrine's chapter on the Son) in John 3:35
as evidence for Christ's power as Redeemer ("The Father loveth the Son,
32 and hath given all things into his hand"). Why Hughes notes this
bit of information for III.225 is very puzzling. Milton's line speaks
of the fullness of the Son's love, not of His power as Redeemer. For
one of the few times in his edition of Milton^s works, Hughes' comments
bear little relationship to the line they are supposed to gloss. A more
accurate reference for the fullness of the relationship between the
Father and the Son is Colossians 2:9, where St. Paul says in Christ
"dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily."^"^
The Son becomes Christ the Redeemer when He realizes that man can
never seek grace "once dead in sins and lost" (III.233). He becomes
^̂ Hughes, p. 262.
^̂ Hughes, p. 263.
33 Fowler, p. 155.
24
the savior of those who are "dead in sins" (Ephesians 2:5, Colossians 2:13)^^
He proclaims that after death,
I shall rise Victorious, and subdue My vanquisher, spoil'd of his vaunted spoil; Death his death's wound shall then receive, and stoop Inglorious, of his mortal sting disarm'd. I through the ample Air in Triumph high Shall lead Hell Captive maugre Hell, and show The powers of darkness bound.
(III.250-56)
In these lines, Milton has compressed several allusions. Death "of
his mortal sting disarm'd" recalls I Corinthians 15:55, "0 death, where
is thy sting?" Christ moving "through the ample Air in Triumph high"
refers to St. Paul's speaking of Christ's victory in Colossians 2:15: "And
having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly,
triumphing over them in it." Leading "Hell Captive maugre Hell," Christ
35 fulfills the words of Psalm 68:18, "thou hast led captivity captive."
When the Son says, "While by thee rais'd I ruin all my Foes, /
Death last, and with his Carcass glut the Grave" (III.258-59) Milton's
audience could be reminded of I Corinthians 15:26 ("The last enemy that
shall be destroyed is death"), or Revelation 20:14 ("And death and hell
3fi were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death"), or even
I Corinthians 15:55 again ("0 grave, where is thy victory?").
The Son can only defeat Death, however, by obeying God's command
to "be thyself Man among men on Earth" (III.284). In so doing, the
^̂ Fowler, p. 156; Hughes, p. 263.
^^ Hughes, p. 264; Fowler, p. 157.
^̂ Hughes, p. 264; Sims, p. 262.
25
Son fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah 7:14 recorded by Matthew 1:23
("Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son,
and they shall call his name Immanuel, which being interpreted is,
God with us"), and John 1:14 ("And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt
37 among us. . . " ) . God announces that when Christ accomplishes His
mission. He will be "annointed universal King," and proclaims, "all
Power / I give thee, reign for ever" (III .317-18). As Hughes notes,
these lines fuse Hebrews 1:9 ("Thou hast loved righteousness and hated
iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath annointed thee with the oil
of gladness above thy fellows") with Matthew 28:18 ("All power is given
38
unto me in heaven and in earth"). Christ with His "summoning Arch-
Angels" (III.325) will then conduct the Last Judgment, which is based
upon Matthew 25:31-32 ("When the Son of man shall come is his glory,
and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of
his glory. And before him shall be gathered all the nations; and he shall
separate them one from another, as a shepherd driveth his sheep from the
goats") and I Thessalonians 4:16 ("For the Lord himself shall descend
from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and from
39 with the trump of God. . . " ) . Hell will be shut and the world will
burn, making way for the "New Heav'n and Earth, wherein the just shall
40 dwell" (III.335) spoken of in Isaiah 65:17 and Revelation 21:1.
37 Hughes, p. 265; Sims, p. 262.
^^ Hughes, p. 265-66; Sims, p. 262
?q Hughes, p. 265.
^° Hughes, p. 266.
26
As God commands the angels to "Adore him, who to compass all this
dies, / Adore the Son, and honor him as mee" in III.342-43, the book
returns to the mission of Satan to find Eden and destroy it, but not
without a final glimpse of the Son, and a reminder of His obedience
which will destroy Satan in the end.
BOOK IV
The Repetitions
In Paradise Lost, the word "hand" often represents the physical
union of Adam and Eve. Less obviously, it represents their spiritual
union as well:
So pass'd they naked on, nor shunn'd the sight Of God or Angel, for they thought no ill: So hand in hand they pass'd, the loveliest pair That ever since in love's imbraces met.
(IV.319-22)
Clearly, the "handedness" of Adam and Eve indicates that they have a
physical relationship. "They" in the second line, however, could refer
to "God or Angel" (meaning God or Angels thought no ill). Thus, the
passage indicates just as strongly that, by the approval of Heaven's
powers, the handed union of Adam and Eve symbolically transcends the
physical level. Kester Svendsen supports this view when he writes in
Milton and Science, "Camerarius, for example, in The Living Librarie
collects numerous examples of such symbolism from Alexander of
Alexandria, Numa Pompilius, and others to show the joining of hands
as a consecration of faith."
Indeed, one must be careful not to overemphasize Adam and Eve's
physical union. True, when Eve tells of her first meeting with Adam
Milton and Science (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1956), p. 111.
27
28
she says, ". . . thy gentle hand / Seiz'd mine" (IV.488-89), but the
word "seiz'd" could startle a reader enough to prevent him from seeing
that Adam's hand is a "gentle" one and that his passion before the
fall is love, not lust. The pair trust each other completely, "talk
ing hand in hand alone" (IV.689), and going "handed" into their bower
"without the troublesome disguises which wee wear" (IV.739-40). The
trust represented by Adam and Eve's joined hands is something the
couple loses after the fall, and they do not regain it until the poem's
end, when they leave Eden "hand in hand with wand'ring steps and slow"
(IXX.648). Later, Adam wakes Eve from her slumber not only by touching
her hand (V.17), but also be calling to her. These last three examples
show that, although touch plays an important part in Adam and Eve's
relationship, the role often complements the other faculties with which
God endowed the humans, notably, the mind and the voice.
The physical and spiritual harmony of Adam and Eve, symbolized
by their clasped hands, extends through all of creation. Preparing for
Raphael's visit to the Garden, Eve "heaps with unspairing hand" the
bounty God has provided (V.344). The lion dandles the kid in his paw
(IV.344-45), and Autumn and Spring dance "hand in hand" (V.395).
Another important word in Paradise is "taste." As Elledge observes,
in Milton's time it meant "'to learn by proof, test or experience,' as
well as 'to try, examine, or explore by touch,' 'to handle' and 'to
have carnal knowledge of.' It also meant 'to perceive by the sense of
taste or smell.'"^^ In Books IV and V, except for the prohibition of
^̂ John Milton, Paradise Lost, A Norton Critical Edition (New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 1975), p. 46.
29
the Tree of Knowledge and Satan's use of the term in Eve's dream, all
taste in Paradise is good. For example, when Satan first sees Adam
and Eve in the Garden, he acknowledges that their "taste is now of
joy" (IV.369). Eve brings to the bower "taste after taste upheld with
kindliest change" (V.336). Even later, Adam speaks of "the Trees of
God, / Delectable both to behold and taste" (Vii.539). The word does
43 not acquire its meaning of "carnal knowledge" until Book IX.
The Compound Allusions
Milton signifies "the Paradise within" by having Adam and Eve join
hands. He uses allusion to support his description of the external
Paradise and Satan's entrance of it. Eden, "with her enclosure green, /
As with a rural mound the champaign head / Of a steep wilderness, whose
hairy sides / With thicket overgrown, grotesque and wild" (IV.133-36),
certainly recalls the "divine forest dense and verdant" of Dante's
44
Purgatory XXVIII.1, but it is indebted also to Spenser's "myrtle-
clad mount" in The Faerie Queene III.vi.43, and the prophet's words in
Ezekiel 28:13-14: "Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God . . . thou
wast upon the mountain of God." Milton may also be drawing upon Song
of Solomon 4:12, "A garden enclosed is my sister," as suggested by the
sexual elements in the poet's description of Eden ("her enclosure green,"
Milton does, however, use a standard poetic technique to draw the reader's attention to the word: of the 49 times "taste" occurs in the poem, 26 occurrences end a line, 7 are within two words of ending, and six either begin a line or are within two words of it.
^̂ Hughes, p. 280; Fowler, p. 198.
30
"whose hairy sides") and by Fowler's observation that, in medieval
iconography, the garden was one of the principal symbols of Mary,
45 the second Eve. The narrator says that "blossoms and Fruits at once
of golden hue / Appear'd" (IV.148-49). The description owes something
to Tasso's Gerusalem Liberata XVI.10 ("ere the fruit drop off, the
blossom comes, / This springs, that falls, that ripeneth and this
blooms"), and The Faerie Queene III.vi-42 ("There is continuall spring,
and harvest there / Continuall, both meeting at one time").^^
When Satan enters the garden, the narrator compares him to
a prowling Wolf, Whom hunger drives to seek new haunt for prey. Watching where Shepherds pen their Flocks at eve In hurdl'd Cotes amid the field secure. Leaps o'er the fence with ease into the Fold.
(IV.183-87)
John 10:1 is in the background of the passage ("He that entereth not
by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the , 47 ,
same is a thief and a robber"), as are Acts 20:29 ("For I know this,
that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not
sparing the flock"), and Ezekiel 22:27 ("Her princes in the midst thereof
are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, 48
to get dishonest gain"). Satan is further compared to a cormorant
in IV.196 as he sits upon the Tree of Life. As many in Milton's audience
^̂ Fowler, p. 198.
^̂ Fowler, p. 199.
'̂̂ Hughes, p. 282; Fowler, p. 202.
^̂ Sims, p. 263.
31
might know, the cormorant was a traditional symbol of greedy men,
and the bird is sitting upon the tree whose fruit is the reward of
the faithful spoken of in Revelation 2:7: "To him that overcometh will
I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise
of God." But the image also foreshadows judgment on Satan, for "in
the day of the Lord's vengeance . . . the land . . . shall become
burning pitch. . . . But the cormorant and the bittern shall possess
it" (Isaiah 34:8-9, 11).^°
When Satan first sights Adam and Eve, he describes them as
"creatures of other mould, earth-born perhaps, / Not spirits, yet to
heavenly spirits bright / Little inferior" (IV.360-62), recalling both
Psalm 8:5 ("For thou hast made [man] a little lower than the angels,
and hast crowned him with glory and honor"), and Hebrews 2:7 ("Thou
51 madest him a little lower than the angels-. . . " ) . In spite of his
wonder at the beauty of the couple, the fiend resolves to bring Hell to
them, saying,
my dwelling haply may not please Like this fair Paradise, your sense, yet such Accept your Maker's work; he gave it to me. Which I as freely give; Hell shall unfold. To entertain you two, her widest Gates And send forth all her Kings.
(IV.378-83)
In these lines, Satan blasphemously echoes Matthew 10:8 ("freely ye
have received, freely give"), and anticipates Isaiah 14:9 ("Hell from
^̂ Hughes, p. 282.
^° Fowler, p. 203; Sims, p. 263.
^̂ Fowler, p. 217.
32
beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming ... it hath
raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations"). Perhaps,
as Fowler suggests, there is another foreshadowing of judgment against
Satan in the "distant resonance" of Romans 8:32: "He that spared not
his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with
52 him also freely give us all things?"
Even if Fowler's speculation is unlikely, Gabriel's warning speech
at the close of Book IV leaves no doubt of future judgment and punish
ment against Satan:
But mark what I arede thee now, avaunt; Fly thither whence thou fled'st: if from this hour Within these hallow'd limits thou appear. Back to th' infernal pit I drag thee chain'd. And Seal thee so
(IV.962-66).
Clearly, the speech looks forward to Revelation 20:1-3: "And I saw
an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit
and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that
old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand
years. And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up. . . ."
Milton may have had in mind also Jude 6: "And the angels which kept
not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved
53 in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day."
To prevent a second war between Satan and the angels which Gabriel's
words nearly provoke, God
^̂ Hughes, p. 287; Fowler, p. 218.
^̂ Fowler, p. 250; Sims, p. 263.
33
Hung forth in Heav'n his golden Scales, yet seen Betwixt Astrea and the Scorpion sign. Wherein all things created first he weigh'd. The pendulous round Earth with balanc't Air In counterpoise, now ponders all events. Battles and Realms.
(IV.997-1001)
Hughes and Fowler correctly note Milton's debt to the Iliad and the
Aenied for the scales, but they also note that the idea of God weighing
events in a balance goes back to the Bible. For instance. Job 28:24-25
". . . he looketh to the ends of the earth . . . he weigheth the waters
by measure." Job 37:16 speaks of God's "balancing of the clouds."
I Samuel 2:3 says, "The Lord is a God of knowledge, and by him actions
are weighed." Proverbs 16:2 asserts, "the Lord weigheth the spirits,"
and Isaiah 40:12 asks, "Who hath . . . weighed the mountains in scales,
54 and the hills in a balance?"
Milton's reason for drawing in the scales of judgment from the
Aeneid may be seen in the final lines of Book IV:
The Fiend lookt up and knew His mounted scale aloft: nor more; but fled Murmurring, and with him fled the shades of night.
(IV.1013-15)
Harding believes Milton is alluding to the death of Turnus, whose soul
passes down to the shades with groans. He says.
The death of Turnus, as we have seen, did not have its complete meaning in itself. With him perished a whole creed, a whole outlook on life. Satan does not perish, but it is not only he who has been weighed in the balance and been found wanting. It is his code, the heroic values he incorporates, the principle of "what Arms can doe."55
^̂ Fowler, p. 254,
^̂ The Club of Hercules, p. 50.
34
Milton carefully linked Satan and Turnus because, as Harding suggests,
Turnus
stands in the same relationship to Aneas as Satan to the Fallen Adam. Just as Aneas embodies the Roman virtus and pi etas which Virgil would set up in place of the discredited military virtues of an earlier age, so the Fallen Adam comes eventually to exemplify the Christian ideal of conduct which for Milton constituted the only true heroism.56
56 The Club of Hercules, p. 51
BOOK V
The Repetitions
Milton uses repetition in Book V to reveal Satan's exact plan to
corrupt mankind, and to give a glimpse of hope for the human race
through Raphael's visit to Earth. Satan's plot is interrupted at the
end of Book IV, but not before he asks Eve in her dream, "Is knowledge
so despis'd?" (V.60). He thus repeats in part the question he asked of
himself when first watching the couple: "Knowledge forbidd'n?" (IV.515).
The echo seems to suggest that Satan has accomplished the first part of
his plan: to "excite their minds / With more desire to know" (IV.522-23).
The second part, to get the couple "to reject / Envious commands"
(IV.523-24), will not be accomplished until Book IX, when Satan directly
challenges Eve's obedience to God.
But Adam and Eve are in danger, and God sends Raphael to warn them.
As the angel leaves Heaven, "the gate self-open'd wide / On golden
hinges turning" (V.254-55). The reader may recall from Book II the
opening of the doors of Sin, which "on thir hinges grate / Harsh
Thunder" (11.881-82). Sin herself opens the gates, only after preventing
a fight between Satan and Death. In contrast, the angels make way for
Raphael on his journey (V.251-52), and Heaven's gate opens itself,
that function apparently tied expressly to the Father's will. The
repetition shows that, though the horrors of sin are loosed easily upon
35
36
the world, aid and comfort for man will come from Heaven even more
easily.
Raphael greets Adam courteously, but to Eve he says, "Hail
Mother of Mankind" (V.389), one of the formal titles of address Milton
uses throughout the epic. After the archangel Michael reveals to him
the birth of the Messiah in Book XI, Adam exclaims.
Virgin Mother, Hail, High in the love of Heav'n, yet from my Loins Thou Shalt proceed, and from thy Womb the Son Of God most High; So God with man unites.
(XII.379-82)
Not only are Divine and human history united in the echoes of these
speeches, but the movement of Milton's poems as well. The poet con
stantly conveys a message of hope for mankind, both before and after
the fall.
The Compound Allusions
The allusions in Book V give needed biblical and classical support
for Milton's account of Raphael's mission from Heaven and the causes
of Satan's rebellion. God sends the angel, saying, "Go therefore, half
this day as friend with friend / Converse with Adam" (V.229-30). These
lines have a basis in Exodus 33:11 ("And the Lord spake unto Moses
face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend"), and James 2:23 ("And
the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it
was imputed unto him for righteous: and he was called the Friend of
57 God"). A possible reason God spoke with Moses face to face and not
^'^ Fowler, p. 270; Sims, p. 264
37
face to face with Adam is that, in the wilderness, the people of Israel
needed laws to govern their conduct. Adam and Eve live in Paradise
under only one command of obedience, and need counsel against Satan's
temptation, not statutes.
As Milton's readers reflect on the opening of Heaven's gate in
V.254-56, they may recall Peter's encounter in Acts 12:10 with an iron
gate "which opened to them of his own accord," and the Iliad V. 749, CO
"where the gates of heaven open automatically for Hera." By allusion,
Milton supports what he has already suggested in the contrast between
Sin's gate and Heaven's: the opening of Peter's gate to free the servants
of God is expressly tied to the Divine will.
The main source for Raphael's greeting to Eve in V.385-88 is
Genesis 3:20 ("And Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was
the mother of all living"). As Hughes points out, however, "Hail is 59
the greeting of the Angel of the Annunciation to Mary (Luke 1.28)."
Mary is the second Eve because she brings forth the Son who saves from
sin the human race, which originated in Eve.
Raphael then tells the couple of the event which triggered Satan's
wrath, God's exhaltation of the Son, using the Father's words:
This day I have begot whom I declare My only Son, and on this holy Hill Him have annointed, whom ye now behold At my right hand; your Head I him appoint; And by myself have sworn to him shall bow All knees in Heav'n, and shall confess him Lord.
(V.603-608)
^̂ Fowler, p. 271.
^̂ Hughes, p. 311.
38
Milton has compressed several biblical allusions in these lines.
The main one is Psalm 2:6-7, "Yet have I set my King upon my holy hill
of Zion. I will declare the decree: the Lord hath said unto me. Thou
art my Son; this day I have begotten thee." Also in the background are
God's command to Abraham in Genesis 22:2 to "Take now thy son, thine
only son Isaac, whom thou lovest . . . and offer him . . . for a burnt
offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of." Psalm
110 says, "The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until
I make thine enemies thy footstool." Ephesians 4:15 speaks of Christ
"which is the head" of all things. Colossians 2:10 assures Christians
they are "complete" in Christ, who is "the head of all principality
fin and power." In short, it was this manifestation of the Father's will
for the Son, overlooking Satan, which causes the War in Heaven Raphael
describes for the rest of Book V and Book VI.
^° Hughes, p. 316; Sims, p. 264-
BOOK VI
The Repetitions
Book VI contains the central repeated image of Paradise Lost:
the coming of the Son in a flaming chariot to defeat the rebel angels in
battle. Satan sits in a "Sun-bright Chariot" of his own (VI.100), but
he sits ". . . exhalted as a God / . . . Idol of Majesty Divine" (VI.99,
101). One thinks immediately of the commandments God will later give to
the human race, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me," and "Thou
Shalt not make unto thee any graven image . . ." (Exodus 20:3-4), and
realizes how blasphemously Satan thinks of himself, and how his followers
think of him like an idol. As the war continues, the peace of Heaven is
shattered'by "the madding Wheels / Of brazen Chariots" (VI.210-11).
Gabriel and Moloch do battle, the demon threatening to drag Gabriel
around, bound to a chariot wheel (VI.354-58). The field around them is a
sight, ". . . all the ground /With shivered armor strown, and on a heap /
Chariot and Charioter lay overturn'd" (VI.388-90), but the repetition of
"chariot" amid Raphael's description of the chaos prepares the reader for
The Chariot of Paternal Diety, Flashing thick flames. Wheel within Wheel, undrawn, Itself instinct with Spirit, but convoy'd By four Cherubic shapes.
(VI.750-53)
61 mo unted by the Son at the exact center of the poem.
^̂ Fowler, p. 23. 39
40
The Compound Allusions
As one might expect, many of the compound allusions in Book VI
are biblical, and they give authority to Milton's citation of the
names and events concerned with the War in Heaven. The archangel
Michael, "of Celestial Armies Prince" (VI.44), is, according to
Daniel 12:1, "the great prince which standeth for the children of thy
people [the people of God]." He is also chief foe of the dragon of
Revelation 12:7, a beast commonly identified with Satan.^^ As Michael
fights with the dragon in St. John's vision of things to come, so Milton
has him fight Satan before the world was ever created. Ariel and Arioch,
two rebels defeated by the "redoubl'd blow" of Abdiel in VI.370-72,
take their names from Isaiah 29:1 and Genesis 14:1 respectively. Ariel
is called "the city where David dwelt" (meaning Jerusalem) by Isaiah
but Hughes records Robert West's discovery that "in the translations
of the Old Testament by Aquila and Symmachus Ariel signifies the pagan CO
city of Arina or Ariopolis, which worshipped the idol Ariel (Mars)."
Arioch is the name of a king who fought with Abram in defense of Lot
in Genesis 14, but it is also the name of the captain of Nebuchadnezzar's
guard in Daniel 2:14, a man who "roared like a lion against the Jews in 64 Babylon." Nisroch, "of Principalities the prime" in VI.447, was an
Assyrian deity. II Kings 19:37 records that Sennacherib was murdered
by his sons in Nisroch's temple. Hughes notes that Nisroch's name may
^̂ Hughes, p. 325; Fowler, p. 314.
^^ Hughes, p. 332.
^̂ Hughes, p. 332; Sims, p. 265.
41
mean "eagle," but cites no proof. If Hughes is correct, perhaps
Leviticus 11:13 crossed Milton's mind when naming him: ". . . they
shall not be eaten, they are an abomination: the eagle, and the
fifi ossifrage, and the osprey." The compound allusions buried in the
names of the fallen angels help clarify for the reader the idea that
wickedness is being cast out by goodness, an idea which forms the main
theme of Book VI.
After two days of struggle, God the Father says to the Son, "Two
days are therefore past, the third is thine" (VI.699), a line which
Sims believes may be referring to Luke 13:32 (". . . and the third day
I shall be perfected"), I Corinthians 15:4 (". . . he rose again the
third day according to the scriptures"), and I Corinthians 15:57 ("But
thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus
fi7
Christ"). That an allusion to Luke is present seems certain because
the strength of the Son to overthrow the rebel angels ^i. made perfect
in God's will, but Sims' citation of the verses in I Corinthians is
puzzling. He discusses neither verse in the text of his book; he
merely lists them in his index of biblical allusions in Paradise Lost.
I Corinthians 15:4 is at variance with the immediate action of the poem,
The Son is raised from the dead on the third day by the agency of the
Father (compare Peter's words in Acts 3:15 about "the Prince of Life,
whom God hath raised from the dead"), whereas, in Heaven, while the
^̂ Hughes, p. 334.
^̂ Sims, p. 265.
^̂ Sims, p. 265.
42
Son's acts are totally within the will of the Father, they are executed
through the Son's agency. The context from which I Corinthians 15:57
is taken has to do with Christians overcoming physical death on Earth
(e.g., St. Paul's cry in verse 55: "0 death, where is thy sting? 0
grave, where is thy victory?"). Thus, it does little to make clearer
the Son's victory in Heaven.
The Son responds to God:
0 Father, 0 Supreme of Heavenly Thrones, First, Highest, Holiest, Best, thou always seek'st To glorify thy Son, I always thee. As is most just; this I my Glory account. My exhaltation, and my whole delight. That thou in me well pleas'd, declar'st thy will Fulfill'd, which to fulfil is all my bliss. Sceptre and Power, thy giving, I assume. And gladlier shall resign, when in the end Thou Shalt be All in All, and I in thee For ever, in me all whom thou lov'st;
(VI.723-33).
This passage is perhaps the strongest indicator of both the harmony
of wills between the Father and the Son, and how complete God's victory
eventually will be over evil. It contains references to some of the
most well-known verses in the Bible. "Thou always seek'st / To glorify
thy Son, I always thee" reflects the opening of Christ's great prayer
in John 17: "Father the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son
also may glorify thee." The Son's acknowledgement that God is "well-
pi eased" with Him echoes the same knowledge that the human Christ will
later receive from God, that "this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well
pleased" (Matthew 3:17, 17:5).^^ The lines ". . . in the end / Thou
^^ Hughes, p. 340,
43
shalt be All in All" may remind the reader of St. Paul's prophecy that
"when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also
himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God
may be all in all."^^
The Son puts on a countenance "Gloomy as Night; under his burning
Wheels / The steadfast Empyrean shook throughout" (VI.832-33). Milton's
audience may have been reminded of Hector, "gloomy as Night" in the
IIiad XI1.462. At the same time, however, they might remember Job's
realization that, at God's wrath, "the pillars of heaven tremble, and
are astonished at his reproof" (Job 26:11). Hector's anger is matched
also by God's vow to "shake the heavens" in Isaiah 13:13. The Son's
burning wheels may also be a reference to Daniel's vision of the wheels
of the Almighty, which were like "burning fire" (Daniel 7:9). The
classical reference followed by the biblical ones make it possible for
a reader' to respond to the picture of Divine wrath no matter what he
is most familiar with--mythology or scripture. Mythology and scripture
are also the most authoritative sources Milton's audience would have
had to check the believability of events no man has ever seen.
The book closes with the Son triumphant and the angels proclaiming
Him "worthiest to reign" (VI.888). Revelation 12:10 is in the background
("Now is come salvation . . . and the kingdom of our God, and the power
of his Christ; for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which
^^ Hughes, p. 340; Sims, p. 265.
70 Hughes, p. 343; Fowler, p. 351; Sims, p. 266
44
accused them before our God day and night"), but even more so is
Revelation 4:11 ("Thou art worthy, 0 Lord, to receive glory and honor
and power. . . " ) .
Sims, p. 266.
BOOK VII
The Repetitions
Man's proper knowledge of the Divine works is the main theme of
Book VII. Raphael gladly agrees to tell Adam how and why the world
was created, saying,
such Commission from above I have receiv'd, to answer thy desire Of knowledge within bounds
(VII.118-20).
One can see in the angel's statement that man's desire for knowledge
is wholly within God's will, but that God has placed limits on what man
may know. The limits are those "things not reveal'd" (VII.122) by the
Creator. Raphael later repeats the importance of "revealed" truth
for man by advising Adam to live with Eve contented in what "thus far
hath been reveal'd / Not of Earth only but of highest Heav'n" (VII.177)
The angel knows that revealed creation provides a more than sufficient
subject for Adam and Eve's consideration. He also knows, however, that
even this knowledge can be pursued to excess. He cautions Adam, "Know
ledge is as food, / and needs no less Her Temperance over Appetite"
(VII.126-27). Perhaps Adam is remembering Raphael's words when he
calls conversation with Eve "food of the mind" (IX.235).
As long as Adam and Eve's quest for knowledge centers on God, all
is well, but when the couple is provoked to think on things, rather
45
46
than the Being who made those things, the fall begins. For example,
Satan in the serpent praises the forbidden tree, "0 Sacred, Wise,
and Wisdom-giving Plant, / Mother of Science" in IX.679-80 where, as
Hughes notes, "Science" keeps its Latin meaning of "knowledge."^^
Raphael, on the other hand, keeps his account of the creation
focused on the Almighty. He recalls the angels praised "God and his
works. Creator him they sung" in VII.258-59, and twice more within
sixteen lines Raphael mentions ". . . the Creator from his work /
Desisting" (VII.551-52), and "the great Creator from his work return'd"
(VII.567). In his catalogue and description of the animals God made,
the angel mentions last (and next to man) "the Serpent subtl'st Beast
of all the Field" (VII-495), a title repeated exactly by the narrator
in IX.86. Satan regrets being mixed with "bestial slime" (IX.165),
but one must remember that the demonic perspective is always perverted;
until Book IX, the serpent is merely part of God's good creation.
Previous repetitions of "beast" contain no negative value judgements.
The Compound Allusions
Milton uses allusion in Book VII to underscore the enormity and
often unfathomable mystery of God's creation, beginning with the division
of the waters in VII.267-69:
partition firm and sure. The Waters underneath from those above Dividing . . .
The lines are based mostly on the matter-of-fact account of Genesis
1:7 ("And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were
17 Eve's attention is later turned by Satan toward yet another
object: "Great are thy Virtues, doubtless best of Fruits" (IX.745).
47
under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament:
and it was so"). Although Milton does not quote Genesis exactly,
the phrase "The Waters underneath from those above" reflects the
biblical words, "waters which were under the firmament from the waters
which were above the firmament." Sims also cites Psalm 24:2, "For he
hath founded it [the world] upon the seas, and established it upon the
floods"; Psalm 104:3, which praises the God "who layeth the beams of
his chambers in the waters"; and Psalm 148:4, which commands the
"waters that be above the heavens" to praise God. In their mention
of "seas," "floods," and "waters," these scriptures parallel Milton's
lines and also suggest the vastness of one of the principal elements
of creation. Sims has perhaps gone too far, however, in suggesting
Genesis 7:11 as a reference for VI 1.267-69: "... the same day were
all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven
73 were opened." This verse is a specific reference to the Flood, not
the Creation. Implied in the words "the great deep broken up" is the
idea that God has disturbed part of His creation to destroy wicked man.
God's command to ". . . let the Waters generate / Reptile with
Spawn abundant, living Soul" (VII.387-88) goes back to Genesis 1:20
"And God said. Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature
that hath life. . . " ) , but perhaps Milton also remembered Psalm 104:25
("So is this great and wide and great sea, wherein are things creeping
innumerable, both small and great beasts").
'^^ Sims, p. 266.
Hughes, p. 355; Sims, p. 266
48
Raphael's mention of "the grassy Clods now Calv'd" in VII.463
calls to Sims's mind Psalm 29:9 ("The voice of the Lord maketh the
hinds to calve. . . " ) , and Job 39:1 ("Knowest thou the time when the wild
goats of the rock bring forth? Or canst thou mark when the hinds do
75 calve?"). In the one reference, the reader sees God's omnipotence;
in the other. His omniscience--both concepts beyond man's comprehension.
Book VII closes as the angels praise God, the "Author and end of
all things," who blesses and hallows the seventh day (VII.591-93).
Hughes notes that the blessing of the Sabbath comes from Genesis 2:3
"And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it"). Sims cites
Hebrews 12:12, which identifies Jesus as "the author and finisher of
7fi
our faith," but once again, his citation is troublesome. The verse
in Hebrews identifies the Son in His specific role as Savior and
sustainer of Christians, not in His role as the Creator. "Author and
end of all things," Milton's phrase, is a more general title, emphasizing
the Divine creative power. Its generality suggests that Milton is
perhaps paraphrasing Revelation 22:13, "I am Alpha and Omega, the
beginning and the end, the first and the last," a verse which sums up
the Almighty's power to exist, to create the universe, and to sustain it.
75 Sims, p. 267.
Hughes, p. 361; Sims, p. 267.
BOOK VIII
The Repetitions
The repetitions of Book VIII develop the idea of human love
(based primarily on physical existence). Adam tells of first seeing
Eve, calling her: "Bone of my Bone, Flesh of my Flesh, my Self," in
VI11.495. Although his statement here is literally true, Adam's
intense emphasis on the physical bond between Eve and himself later
proves disastrous. Shortly before he eats of the fruit and falls, he
says to Eve,
Flesh of Flesh Bone of my Bone thou art, and from thy State Mine never shall be parted, bliss or woe.
(IX.914-16)
Adam further thinks Eve's "outward show / Elaborate," her "inward
less exact" (VIII.539). As Fowler notes, "exact" means "perfect,
consummate, finished, refined,"^^ and its use here sets up devastating
irony in IX.1017 when the fallen Adam says, "Eve, now I see thou art
exact of taste"—both of them completely unaware of how far away they
have gotten from perfection.
The Compound Allusions
Of the few compound allusions in Book VIII, two support the topic
of human love. Adam's cry in VIII.494-99
^̂ Fowler, p. 425. 49
50
I now see Bone of my Bone, Flesh of my Flesh, my Self Before me; Woman is her Name, of Man Extracted; for this cause he shall forego Father and Mother, and to his Wife adhere; And they shall be one Flesh, one Heart, one Soul
echoes Genesis 2:23-24 ("And Adam said. This is now bone of my bone,
and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken
out of Man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother,
and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh"), verses
which are repeated almost exactly in Matthew 19:4-6 and Mark 10:6-8.^^
Raphael's admission to Adam that Eve's external beauty is "worthy
well / Thy cherishing, thy honoring, and thy love" (VIII.568-69) is taken
from the marriage service in the Book of Common Prayer: "I take thee
to my wedded wife . . . to love and to cherish," which is itself taken
from Ephesians 5:28-29 ("So ought men to love their wives as their own
bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever hated
79 his own flesh; but nourisheth it and cherisheth it. . . " ) . Sims'
citation of I Peter 3:7 ("Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them"
according to knowledge, giving honor unto the wife, as unto the weaker on
vessel. . .") lacks a specific connection to Raphael's remarks. In
fact, "the weaker vessel" blemishes the worth Raphael sees in Eve.
^̂ Hughes, p. 374.
7Q Hughes, p. 375; Sims, p. 267.
^° Sims, p. 267.
BOOK IX
The Repetitions
In Book IX, Milton continues his development of the relationship
between Adam and Eve (now fully warned of Satan's plot) by repeating
"hand," as he did in Book IV. As the couple renew their daily task of
tending the Garden, they know they could best deal with Satan's threat
by staying together. One must admit, however, that Eve's first reason
for wanting to separate appears sound: the Garden jj^ growing fast,
and dividing the labor of pruning it j_s a reasonable temporary measure
until "more hands" can aid them (IX.207). Adam disagrees with Eve's
reasoning, saying,
our joint hands Will keep from Wilderness with ease, as wide As we need walk, till younger hands ere long Assist us
(IX.244-47).
He is thinking primarily of the literal wilderness surrounding them,
81 but if "wilderness" here means "wildness," as Hughes glosses, then
Adam may be concerned not only with curbing the wild plants in Eden,
but also with cautioning Eve against wild actions. In short, he sees
their "joint hands" as essential to preserving both the physical and
spiritual-intellectual harmony of Paradise for the "younger hands"--
the workers--of the next generation.
oi
Hughes, p. 384. 51
52
But, after discussing at length her second reason for wanting to
separate—the God-given right to act independently—Eve departs, and
Milton writes, "... from her Husband's hand her hand / Soft she
withdrew" (IX.385-86). Significantly, Eve breaks contact, not Adam;
since she is the one who wants to separate, she initiates the action.
Eve's willful independence is emphasized further by the distinction
"her hand." For the first time in her relationship with Adam, Eve's
hand belongs solely to herself; previous repetitions make no such
distinction: "So hand in hand they pass'd" (IV.321), and "Handed they
went" (IV.739).
Such a reading of IX.385-86, though, makes the separation of the
pair seem harsher than Milton may have intended. Because the phrase
"... from her Husband's hand her hand" has no punctuation, it is
possible to read the line and conclude that, for Eve, Adam's hand jU
her hand, in the strongest metaphorical sense. If this interpretation
is correct, it helps the reader see two things. First, he senses the
poignancy of the dramatic situation; the physical and spiritual union
Adam and Eve have enjoyed to this point will last just one moment longer,
and then Eve will withdraw her hand. Second, Milton's syntax is a
perfect reflection of that dramatic situation. The closeness of the
bond between the couple is represented in the unpunctuated flow of
". . . from her Husband's hand her hand," and the line break between
385 and 386 occurs precisely when Eve "breaks" from Adam to go her own
way.
After listening to the speeches of Satan in the serpent. Eve
reaches with "rash hand" to pluck the forbidden fruit (IX.780-81).
53
The narrator believes Satan attacks Eve alone because of her weaker
82 intellect, but one must not suppose Milton actually believes Eve
has no intellect at all. He carefully describes her hand as "rash,"
meaning, "of speech, actions, qualities, etc.: Characterized by, or
proceeding from undue haste or want of consideration" (OED). The
definition suggests that Eve falls, not because she does not think,
but because she does not think enough; her weakness of intellect is a
weakness of degree, not of kind.
Having sinned. Eve carries "in her hand / A bough of fairest
fruit that downy smil'd" (IX.850) for Adam. When he learns what she
has done, his hand reflects his horror: "From his slack hand the
Garland wreathed for Eve / Down dropp'd, and all the faded Roses shed"
(IX.892.93). The separation of their hands has meant spiritual death
for Eve; Adam's hand itself "dies" for a moment, and the flowers it
holds become the first instance of physical death in the poem.
Eve embraces him and gives him to eat of the fruit with "liberal
hand" (IX.990, 997), and Adam
scrupl'd not to eat Against his better knowledge, not deceiv'd. But fondly overcome with Female charm.
(IX.997-999)
Even though he knows the disastrous penalty for eating the forbidden
fruit, Adam still cannot resist the touch of his wife and the offering
in her hand. He reciprocates Eve's touch when
82 Satan shuns Adam's "higher intellectual" in IX.483.
54
Her hand he seiz'd, and to a shady bank. Thick overhead with verdant roof inbowr'd He led her nothing loath.
(IX.1037-39)
Adam seizes Eve's hand, as he did in IV.488-89, but here his hand is not
a gentle one; his love has turned to lust. And, as Fowler perceptively
observes, Adam takes her to "a_ shady bank / . . . with verdant roof
imbowr'd," the indefinite article "a" suggesting that this bower is not
necessarily their nuptial bower. The implication is Adam and Eve will
83 now copulate anywhere.
Another key word in Book IX is "taste." Milton pairs it several
times with "touch," perhaps to keep before the reader the goals Satan has
for his temptation. Satan wants to destroy the simple sensory delight
Adam and Eve receive from being human, from touching each other and the
world around them. But he wants also to corrupt their "taste"--their
physical, spiritual, and sexual knowledge of God, the world, and themselves
Eve tells the serpent God's command, that she and Adam may "not taste nor
84 touch" (IX.651) the Tree of Knowledge, on penalty of death, but in reply,
Satan repeats her words, telling her to ". . . look on mee, / mee who
have touch'd and tasted, yet both "live" (IX.687-88). Satan's sense of
touch and his taste both live, and both faculties are improved by his
eating the fruit.
Touch and taste are yoked again (touch by implication) in Satan's
concluding line of temptation, "Goddess humane, reach then, and freely
^̂ Fowler, p. 498.
^^ Fowler notes (p. 476) that the ban was specifically against eating the fruit. He comments that Milton uses 'taste' and touch' "almost indifferently."
55
taste" (IX.732), which is an echo of the suggestion Satan earlier
gave Eve in her dream in Book V, to "taste this, and be henceforth
among the Gods" (V.77). Eve herself echoes Satan when she offers the
fruit to Adam: "On my experience, Adam, freely taste" (IX.998). The
repetition of "taste" in these three places certainly suggests that
Satan has established a verbal chain, extending from himself, to Eve,
and then to Adam; but the repetition may also suggest that Satan is
trying to establish an actual, hideous chain of being, opposed to the
one God created in the beginning. Satan's chain is predicated on
corrupting Adam and Eve's taste and, typically, its order is the reverse
of the Divine chain, moving down from Reason (Eve's, overcome by Satan), OC
to Passion (Adam's, overcome by Eve), to Satan.
The Tempter's mission is accomplished when Adam's lust moves him
to say, "Eve, now I see thou art exact of taste" (IX.1017). "Taste"
now takes on, in context, its sexual meaning; what is more, to Adam's
corrupted sense. Eve is now "exact" (perfect) in that taste, and he
takes full advantage of it. The sin of the couple has lowered their
once joyous, spiritual senses of touch and taste to the level of mere
physicality (e.g., Adam's seizure of Eve's hand in IX.1037).
The Compound Allusions
The compound allusions in Book IX foreshadow the fall, and help to
explain the fall's consequences. For example, as Satan searches for and
finds Eve alone, he also takes time to observe the Garden. The narrator
85 In the Divine chain, unfallen man would move from Passion to
Reason to God. Cp. Raphael's remarks on the higher virtues of Heavenly Love in VIII.589-92.
56
intrudes to compare Eden to some mythological gardens and to an
historical one
where the Sapient King Held dalliance with his fair Egyptian spouse. Much hee the Place admir'd, the Person more.
(IX.442-44)
As Christopher Ricks points out, into the single line 444 Milton has
compressed three references: (1) Solomon's uxoriousness toward his
Egyptian wife; (2) Adam's excessive love for Eve; and (3) Satan's OC
admiration for Eve. The reference to Solomon is clear enough to
warrant no discussion. That Adam is as guilty of excessive love for
his wife as Solomon will be is substantiated by Raphael's earlier
warning.
For what admir'st thou, what transports thee so. An outside? fair no doubt, and worthy well Thy cherishing, thy honoring, and thy love. Not thy subjection
(VIII.567-70).
The third allusion is possible simply because Milton provides no transi
tion between the narrator's story of Solomon and Satan's observation of
Eve. There is one other allusion in that line, however; an allusion
to Satan's fall and its cause. The "voice" of line 444 has shifted from
an external third person to an internal first person. In other words,
Satan speaks not only to himself, but also of himself. He admires,
at least for a while, every place he finds in Paradise Lost: Heaven,
Hell, and the world; but the wretch admires his person much more, and
pride leads to his fall. Solomon and Adam fall because they love their
^̂ Milton's Grand Style, pp. 135-37.
57
wives too much; Satan, because he loves himself. Thus, in one line,
Milton has given the alert reader not only four allusions, but also
in allusions (1), (2), and (4) clear indications of the reason for
the fall that was, and the falls that will be.
During Satan's lavish oratory, he tells Eve that God forbid the
fruit of the Tree of Knowledge because
he knows that in the day Ye eat thereof, your Eyes that seem so clear. Yet are but dim, shall perfectly be then Op'n'd and clear'd, and ye shall be as Gods.
(IX.705-709)
In these lines Satan is perversely misquoting and distorting God's
warning in Genesis 2:17 ("But of the tree of the knowledge of 'good and
evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof
87 thou shalt surely die"), but the fiend's words about Eve's eyes "that
seem so clear, / Yet are but dim," suggest also St. Paul's comment in
I Corinthians 13:12 ("For now we see through a glass darkly; but then
face to face; now I know in part, but then I shall know even as also
I am known"). Any argument for an allusion to I Corinthians 13:12 here
is tenuous at best, but the merging of the two references is possible
on the grounds that, as humans, we "see through a glass darkly" because
the results of Adam and Eve's efforts to open their own eyes without
God are the sight they have of their nakedness and sin, and their
immediate inability to see any way-out of the dilemma. We of the
I am aware, of course, that the exact scriptural basis for IX.705-709 is Genesis 3:5 ("For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil"); I quote God's original warning to illustrate how utterly false Satan's statement is.
58
generations of men since Eden know God's plan imperfectly, know only
in part because Adam and Eve once had the same difficulty. They "know
in part" in the sense that they are aware that any sins they commit will
have dire consequences for their descendants; exactly what those conse
quences are they do not immediately understand.
Milton's readers may understand the consequences of the fall,
though, by noting carefully the allusions the poet has made in Adam's
speech of despair in IX.1084-90:
0 might I here In solitude live savage, in some glade Obscur'd, where highest Woods impenetrable To Star or Sun-light, spread thir umbrage broad, And brown as Evening: Cover me ye Pines, Ye Cedars, with innumerable boughs Hide me, where I may never see them more.
Into lines 1088-90, Milton has compressed references to Revelation 6:15-16
and Luke 23:28-30:
And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bond man, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; And said to the mountains and rocks. Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb.
(Revelation 6:15-16)
But Jesus turning unto them said. Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children. For behold, the days are coming, in which they shall say. Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the paps which never gave suck. Then shall they begin to say to the mountains. Fall on us; and to the hills. Cover us.
(Luke 23:28-30)
The parallel between the effort of individual men at the end of days
to hide from Christ's wrathful judgement and Adam's effort is ^airly
59
clear, and Elledge correctly cites Revelation 6:15-16.^^ The verses
from Luke, though, may also have been in Milton's mind. Adam weeps
for himself and for his children to come because of his sins, just as
the daughters of Jerusalem weep for themselves and their children
because of sin. Adam begs for the Pines to cover him, just as the
children of the daughters of Jerusalem will beg for the hills to cover
them. The context of the verses is also important. The crucified Christ
(the "second Adam") is taking on the sins of the world (sins originating
in Adam), and proclaiming in sorrow from the Cross that future genera
tions will commit the same sins as Adam did, and try to hide from the
responsibility for them (as Adam tried to do). The parallelism between
poem and scripture is not exact; the reader, therefore, is not forced
to try to remember one specific set of verses; he may recall Revelation
or Luke or both. The common idea running through both passages is
judgment. As such, it has great relevance to Milton's audience:
God executed a terrible judgment on sinful man by crucifying His Son
on the Cross; the Son waits to execute judgment in the last days on all
those who reject salvation. The compound allusions to Luke and Revela
tion give Paradise Lost tremendous unity with the Christian view of
history. Judgment came once for fallen man in the form of Christ,
and judgment is coming again one day in the same form. The allusions
also give the poem unity. In Book X, Christ comes to judge Adam; in
Book XI, Adam sees his children living under judgment that is suspended
^^ Elledge, p. 209
60
by grace; in the final version of Book XII, Adam sees the Son victorious
over Satan, and presiding over the final judgment of humanity.
BOOK X
The Repetitions
In Book IX Adam and Eve lose everything by sinning—all harmony
with each other, with nature, and with God; Milton repeats the word
"all" many times in Book X to remind his readers how complete the
tragedy is, and how complete the couple's repentance must be to merit
salvation. The totality of the tragedy is reflected in the narrator's
comment that, in Heaven, "th' ethereal People ran, to hear and know /
How all befell" (X.27, emphasis mine). The corrupted world is now
ready for the entrances of Sin and Death. Satan tells his offspring
that it is "all yours, right down to Paradise descend; / There dwell
and Reign in bliss. . ." (X.398-99). As a result, the animals are no
longer docile: "Beast now with Beast gan war, and Fowl with Fowl, /
And Fish with Fish" (X.710-11). Plant life is affected as well; we
have already seen the flowers start to die (IX.892-93).
Adam realizes, however, that the fall's greatest effects will be
on his descendants. Every sin and curse imaginable has fallen upon
his head, but worse, "all from mee / Shall with a fierce reflux on mee
redound" (X.738-39). After questioning the wisdom of his own creation,
he wonders if it would not be right for God to "reduce me to my dust . .
and render back / All I receiv'd" (X.748-50)-"all" being the love of
Eve, the animals, the beauty of Eden, and the knowledge of God Himself.
61
62
Of his sin, Adam wishes he could "waste it all" and leave his descendants
none (X.820), for he knows that otherwise, man will spring from him
"all corrupt, / both Mind and Will deprav'd" (X.835).
When he recognizes himself as the cause of all future sins of
mankind, Adam absolves God of responsibility, "all Disputes" with Him
ended (X.828), rejecting "all evasions vain" (X.829). Adam admits he
is the "source and spring / Of all corruption," and on him "all the
blame lights due" (X.832-33). His sin will cause him to bear a burden
"than all the World much heavier" (X.836), and it is already destroying
for him "all hope / Of refuge" (X.838-39), and rendering the misery of
his life "beyond all past example and future" (X.840).
William Empson comments, "... one can almost say that Milton uses oq
alj[ whenever there is any serious emotional pressure." Certainly
there is emotional pressure in Adam's soliloquy, and more comes through
in his castigation of Eve. He imagined his wife was "wise, / Constant,
mature, proof against all assaults" (X.881-82), and bitterly claims he
did not understand "all was but a show / Rather than solid virtue, all
but a Rib / Crooked by nature" (X.883-85). In his emotional state,
Adam forgets that he asked for Eve to begin with, and the rib, crooked
though it is, came from him. It is much to Eve's credit that she does
not run away from Adam, but with "tresses all disorder'd" (X.911) falls
crying at his feet and begs forgiveness. She asks Adam to stay with
her until such time as she may return to the place of judgment, and
there with her cries "importune Heaven, that all / The sentence from
OQ
The Structure of Complex Words (London: Chatto and Windus, 1951), p. 102.
63
thy head remov'd may light / On me" (X.933-35). This quality of
self-sacrifice makes Eve the strongest character in Book X, and
makes both Eve and Adam (from God's point of view) worth saving. She
ends weeping, and Adam (to ] m credit) "as one disarm'd, his anger
all he lost" (X.945), and the couple are reunited.
Adam and Eve lose everything in Book X, but the last thing they
lose--their anger--is the most crucial loss of all, for it allows them
to pray sincerely and penitently--the first step toward salvation. The
book closes with one of the loveliest examples of concentrated repeti
tion in the poem. Adam, remembering the Divine promise that Eve's seed
will bruise the serpent's head, suggests.
What better can we do, than to the place Repairing where he judg'd us, prostrate fall Before him reverent, and there confess Humbly our faults, and pardon beg, with tears Watering the ground, and with our sighs the Air Frequenting, sent from hearts contrite in sign Of sorrow unfeign'd, and humiliation meek.
• • • •
So spake our Father penitent, nor Eve Felt less remorse: they forthwith to the place Repairing where he judg'd them prostrate fell Before him reverent, and both confess'd Humbly thir faults, and pardon begg'd with tears Watering the ground, and with thir sighs the Air Frequenting, sent from hearts contrite, in sign Of sorrow unfeign'd, and humiliation meek.
(X.1086-92; 1097-1104)
To Edward Le Comte, the poet repeats the lines "to stress the fallen
90 pair's didactically important repentance," but to state the matter
so coldly is to do Milton an injustice. The lines act like a double
^^ Yet Once More, p. 29.
64
coda in music, gently pulling the reader away from the horror of Book IX
and the bitter hostility of Book X, and preparing him for the chastening
view of history in the final two books.
The Compound Allusions
The compound allusions of Book X support the topics of judgment
against Satan and hard repentence by man which frame this part of the
epic. In the Divine promise that the seed of Woman shall bruise Satan's
heel, the narrator sees foreshadowed the victory of Jesus, who
Saw Satan fall like Lightning from Heav'n, Prince of the Air; then rising from his Grave Spoil'd Principalities and Powers, triumpt In open show, and with ascension bright 'Captivity led captive through the air. The Realm itself of Satan long usurpt. Whom he shall tread at last under our feet; Ev'n hee who now fortold his fatal bruise
(X.183-91).
The allusions which underscore the passage are the same ones which
91 underscore the passage in III.250-56: Luke 10:18, Colossians 2:15,
and Psalm 68:18. Additionally, "Prince of the Air" refers to "the
prince of the power of the air" in Ephesians 2:2; "Captivity led
captive through the air" recalls Ephesians 4:8 "(. . . When he ascended
up on high he led captivity captive. . . " ) , and "When he shall tread
at last under our feet;/ Ev'n hee who now foretold his fatal bruise"
draws upon Romans 16:20 ("And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under qp
your feet shortly"). In two of the darkest moments of the poem (Satan
See my discussion on Luke, Colossians, and Psalms in the chapter on Book III.
92 Sims, p. 268.
65
loosed from Hell to destroy the world in Book III, and judgment on
fallen man in Book X), Milton allusively reminds his readers that
evil cannot possibly triumph.
Yet, God cannot look upon fallen nakedness, either inward or
outward, so the Son clothes Adam and Eve in skins and His "Robe of
Righteousness," a phrase taken from Isaiah 61:10 ("he hath clothed me
with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of
righteousness"). Sims also hears an echo of God speaking to Jerusalem
through the prophet Ezekiel: "Now when I passed by thee, and looked
upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love; and I spread my skirt
over thee, and covered thy nakedness." The patience and love of
Milton's Son of God foreshadows the patience and love God will show to
the children of Israel. But, as Fowler suggests, the passage of the
demons picking the "fruitage fair to sight, like that which grew / Near
that bituminous Lake where Sodom flam'd" (X.561-62), fruit that later
turns to ashes, has a basis in both Josephus's Wars IV.viii.4 (". . .
ashes growing in their fruits, which fruits have a colour as if they
were fit to be eaten; but if you pluck them with your hands, they
dissolve into smoke and ashes"), and Deuteronomy 32:32 ("For their
wine is the wine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah: their grapes
are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter"). The surface meaning
of the allusions is that the demons share the punishment with Satan
for deceiving mankind, but Fowler's point is that the "wine of Sodom"
^̂ Sims, p. 268,
66
was usually taken to mean that the children of Israel had become
94 rotten to the core.
Adam's burst of self-pity, "Did I request thee. Maker, from my
Clay / To mould me Man. . . ?" in X.743-44 certainly recalls Isaiah's
warning, "Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! . . . Shall the
clay say to him that fashioneth, what makest thou?" (Isaiah 45:9),
but it is reminiscent, too, of Job 33:6: "I also am formed out of the
95 clay." Both Adam and Job lose everything they have, both question
the wisdom of their creation, and both eventually achieve a "Paradise
within happier far" by trusting in the promises of God.
94 Fowler, p. 536.
qs ^̂ Sims, p. 269.
BOOK XI
The Repetitions
Man's sin has left God the Father no choice. He says.
But longer in that Paradise to dwell. The law I gave to nature him forbids
• • •
to remove him I decree. And send him from the Garden forth to Till The Ground whence he was taken, fitter soil.
(XI-48-49; 96-98)
The archangel Michael's first task upon descending to Eden is to deliver
God's decree. He does so, word for word:
But longer in this Paradise to dwell Permits not, to remove thee I am come. And send thee from the Garden forth to till The ground whence thou wast tak'n, fitter soil
(XI.259-62).
The Father's decision to banish Adam and Eve from the Garden is the
most solemn decision in the poem. (Even the Son's offer of Himself
for man, solemn as it is, carries an undercurrent of joy.) For this
reason, if for no other, Michael repeats God's words exactly, though
with one conspicuous omission: he makes no reference to God's "law
of nature"—a law broken by the fall. Perhaps he does not mention it
to spare the couple more anguish over an obvious truth they probably
know intuitively. Northrop Frye believes that man is excluded from
67
58
Paradise after he eats of the Tree of Knowledge not because God is
jealous, but to prevent man from living forever in a fallen world.^^
In reality then, God blesses Adam and Eve by banishing them—a
paradox almost as great as the fall itself. God shows them mercy, but
a mercy accepted by the couple with a sadness that Eve feels deeply
when she laments.
Must I thus leave thee Paradise? thus leave Thee Native Soil, these happy Walks and Shades, Fit haunt of Gods?
(XI.269-71)
a passage which once again calls to mind Satan's vaunting cry.
Is this the Region, this the Soil, the Clime . . . this the seat That we must change for Heav'n, this mournful gloom
For that celestial light?
(1.242-45)
The echo is sitautional as well as verbal. Eve is closely associated
with Satan many times in the epic, but never more poignantly than here.
Both of them are aware that they have sacrificed a "fit haunt of Gods"
to rebellion and sin, but Eve's hell becomes much easier to bear when
Michael reminds her where her true "Native Soil" is: Thy going is not lonely, with thee goes Thy Husband, him to follow thou art bound; Where he abides, think there thy native soil.
(XI.290-92)
The Compound Allusions
The significant compound allusions in Book XI set up the vision
of history unfolded to Adam, and teach him that men must endure many
96 The Return of Eden, p. 81.
69
things and many years before salvation comes. Michael says to him,
know I am sent To show thee what shall come in future days To thee and thy offspring
(XI.356-58).
As Hughes notes, "Adam's vision of the future of mankind rests on epic
precedent like the vision of Rome's future that Aneas sees in the Elysian
Fields (Aen.VI.754-854) and Britomart's vision of her progeny in The
Faerie Queene III.iii.29-49; but it rests also on Daniel's vision of
'Michael, one of the chief princes' coming to help exiled Israel."^^
The last point is particularly important in view of Adam and Eve's
impending exile from Eden.
Michael tells Adam the vision's purpose is to teach him "true
patience, and to temper joy with fear / And pious sorrow" (XI.361-62),
bearing either state with moderation, and so "best prepar'd endure /
Thy mortal passage when it comes" (XI.365-66). Hughes believes Milton
may have in mind the title of Petrarch's treatise On the Remedies of
Both Kinds of Fortune, a volume expounding the Stoic principles of life QO
which were quickly assimilated by Christianity, but Milton's lines
are also reminiscent of Edgar's stoic remark to Gloucester in King
Lear V.ii.9-10: "Men must endure / Their going hence, even as their
coming hither." The parallel is significant because of the similarity
between Gloucester and Adam. Gloucester is blinded physically, but he
97 Hughes, p. 441.
98 Hughes, p. 441.
70
achieves spiritual vision; Adam was blinded by sin, so to speak, and
his repentance earns him spiritual vision as well.
Michael takes Adam up on "a Hill / Of Paradise the highest"
(XI.377-78), but a hill not higher than that "whereon for different
cause the Tempter set / Our second Adam" (XI.382-83). Milton here has
in mind Ezekiel 40:2 ("In the visions of God brought he me into the land
of Israel, and set me upon a very high mountain. . . " ) ^ ^ and, more
important, Matthew 4:8, in which the devil takes Jesus up "into an
exceeding high mountain, and showeth him all the kingdoms of the world."^^°
How appropriate it is that Adam, who fell to Satan, should be taken
upon a mountain and be given a vision of One who, in the fullness of
time, will defeat Satan upon a mountain.
Through the visions of murder and sickness and old age, Adam learns
how difficult it will be to fulfill the charge of living life, a charge
he must keep until the "appointed day / Of rend'ring up" (XI.550-51).
These lines have the support of Job 14:14 ("All the days of my appointed
time will I wait, till my change come"), and Hebrews 9:27 ("And as it
is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment").
Both verses allude quite plainly to existence after death, but Adam
must wait patiently for an explanation of that existence until the
culminating vision of Book XII.
99 Hughes, p. 441 (c i ted incor rec t ly as E-zekiel 10:2).
^°° Hughes, p. 441; Fowler, p. 581.
101 Hughes, p. 445; Fowler, p. 592; Sims, p. 270.
BOOK XII
The Repetitions
The dominant word of Book XII (indeed, of each of the last three
books of the epic) is "seed." Over and over again, Milton stresses
the promise of man's salvation to come, in the fullness of time, through
the "seed of Woman." The echoes of the promise begin in Book X, where
despairing Adam remembers Christ's words that Eve's "Seed shall bruise /
The Serpent's head" (X.1031-32). God instructs Michael to "intermix"
within the vision of things to come "my Cov'nant in the woman's seed
renew'd" (XI.116). Adam finds peace in prayer by remembering once more
that Eve's "Seed" shall bruise our Foe (XI.155).
As the vision of human history unfolds before Adam, the "promised
seed" becomes a less general term of assurance, and is specifically
identified with the forerunners of Christ. The first identification
is with Abraham, who left his "native Soil" willingly (in contrast to
Eve in XI.269-71), and of whom Michael says, " in his Seed all Nations
shall be blest" (XII.125-26; 147-48). The next one is with Moses, who
will preside over the Israelites' civil laws and religious rites of
sacrifice, "informing them, by types / And shadows, of that destin'd
Seed" (XII.232-33). David's line survives through years of apostacy
and captivity to produce the Virgin Mother, Mary. When Adam sees her,
he understands at last "why our great expectation should be call'd /
71
72
The seed of Woman" (XII.378-79). The undefiled maiden will give birth
to the sinless Man, redeemer of the human race. Michael then explains
what Adam does not yet understand, that Christ will accomplish His
mission "not by destroying Satan, but his works / In thee and in thy
Seed" (XII.394-95), by fulfilling that which Adam lacked: "Obedience
to the Law of God, impos'd / On penalty of death" (XII.397-98). Christ,
"the woman's seed" (XII.543), is thus the Lord and Savior of mankind,
empowered by God to judge the living and the dead, and receive the
faithful into earthly or Heavenly Paradise at the last day (XII.460-63).
Fittingly, the last words in the poem are Eve's: "By mee the
Promis'd Seed shall all restore" (XII.623), but just as fittingly, Milton
returns to the word "hand," which symbolizes again the union Adam and
Eve will have to maintain until the Promised Seed appears. For the
last time, angel unites with man as Michael catches the lingering pair
"in either hand" (XII.637) and leads them to the Eastern Gate, and out
of Paradise. With all the world before them, there is nothing for Adam
and Eve to do but go their solitary way through Eden. They go "hand
in hand," sadder, but wiser than they were (XI1.648).
The Compound Allusions
Compound allusion in Book XII reinforces the promise of continuing
Divine Providence established by the verbal repetition of "seed."
Michael's words that Christ
shall ascend The Throne hereditary, and bound his Reign With Earth's wide bounds, his glory with the Heav'ns
(XII.369-71)
73
weave references to Isaiah 9:7 ("Of the increase of his government and
peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his
kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with
justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts
will perform this"), Matthew 19:28 ("Verily I say unto you. That ye
which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall
sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones,
judging the twelve tribes of Israel"), and Luke 1:32-33 (". . . and
the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And
he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever").^^^ Sims also lists
for Milton's lines questionable references to Psalm 2:8 ("Ask of me
and I shall give thee . . . the uttermost parts of the earth for thy
possession"), Daniel 7:13-22, in which the prophet has a very broad
vision of the glory and dominion of God's kingdom, and Revelation
2:25-27 ("But that which ye have already hold fast till I come. And he
that overcometh, and keepeth my works to the end, to him will I give
power over the nations: And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as
the vessels of a potter they shall be broken to shivers: even as I
103 have received of my Father"). The verse in Psalms is questionable
because the speaker promises to give his son possession of the earth;
in XII.369-71 Christ possesses, strictly speaking, only His throne.
Daniel's vision is couched in such vague language that it hardly seems
applicable to Milton's passage. Only 7:13-14, which tells of "one
like the Son of man" receiving "dominion, and glory and a kingdom,"
^^^ Sims, p. 272.
^ ° ^ Hughes, p. 463.
7^
appear to relate to Michael's words. The verses in Revelation are
doubtful as a source for XII.369-71 because of their context. Christ
is speaking to the seven churches in Asia; He is not speaking of
Himself. Finally, Hughes notes that blended with the Bible verses
is an allusion to "Virgil's prophecy that the fame of Augustus should
be bounded by the stars." Milton's purpose in alluding to Augustus
while speaking of Christ is, according to Francis C. Blessington, "to
stress the change from the Virgilian world picture."^^^ Specifically,
"Milton replaces Augustus with the Messiah who will reestablish harmony
and be the true ruler of the world."
In Adam's realization that "to God more glory, more good will to
Man / From God, and over wrath grace shall abound" (XII.477-78), one
hears echoes of II Corinthians 4:15 ("For all things are for your sakes,
that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound
to the glory of God"), and Romans 5:20 ("But where sin abounded, grace
did much more abound").
The capstone of all foretold in Book XII is
The promise of the Father, who shall dwell His Spirit within them, and the Law of Faith Working through Love, upon thir hearts shall write. To guide them in all truth
(XII.487-90).
For these lines, Milton draws upon Jeremiah 31:33 (". . . I will put
^̂ ^ Hughes, p. 463.
^̂ ^ Paradise Lost and the Classical Epic (Boston: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1979), p. 71.
^̂ ^ Paradise Lost and the Classical Epic, p. 71.
^̂ ^ Hughes, p. 465; Fowler, p. 633; Sims, p. 273.
75
my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts"), a verse
which is repeated in Hebrews 8:10 ("I will put my laws into their mind,
and write them in their hearts"), and John 16:13, which records the
promise of Christ to His disciples that, when the Spirit of Truth comes,
108 "he will guide you into all truth." Appropriately, the allusions
highlight love, law, and the sense of eternal guidance offered by
Christianity--three concepts which shape Paradise Lost from beginning
to end.
Sims, p. 273.
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Bush, Douglas. "Ironic and Ambiguous Allusion in Paradise Lost." JEGP, 60 (1961), 631-40.
DiCesare, Mario A. "Advent'rous Song: The Texture of Milton's Epic." In Language and Style in Milton: A Symposium in Honor of the Tercentenary of Paradise Lost. Eds. R. D. Emma and J. T. Shawcross New York: Frederick Ungar, 1967, pp. 1-29.
Empson, William. The Structure of Complex Words. London: Chatto and Windus, 1951.
Fish, Stanley E. Surprised by Sin: The Reader in Paradise Lost. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1971.
Frye, Northrop. The Return of Eden: Five Essays on Milton's Epics. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1965; rpt. 1975.
Harding, Davis P. The Club of Hercules: Studies in the Classical Background of Paradise Lost. Urbana: The University of Illinois Press, 1962.
Huckabay, Calvin. John Milton: An Annotated Bibliography, 1929-1968. Pittsburgh: Duquesne University Press, 1969.
Le Comte, Edward S. Yet Once More: Verbal and Psychological Pattern in Milton. New York: Liberal Arts Press, 1953.
MacCaffrey, Isabel. Paradise Lost as "Myth." Cambridge, Mass." Harvard University Press, 1959.
Milton, John. The Works of John Milton. Ed. Frank Allen Patterson. Vols. 14 and 17. New York: Columbia University Press, 1933, 34.
Milton, John. Complete Poems and Major Prose. Ed. Merritt Y. Hughes. Indianapolis: The Odyssey Press, The Bobbs-Merrill Company, 1957.
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