verbal repetition and compound allusion a thesis in

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


BOOK IV 27

The Repetitions 27


BOOK V 35

The Repetitions 35


BOOK VI 39


BOOK VII 45 The Repetitions 45 The Compound Allusions 46

111

Page

BOOK VIII 49


BOOK IX 51


BOOK X 61

The Repetitions 61


BOOK XI 67

The Repetitions 67


BOOK XII 71


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 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


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.


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.


http://III.vi.43

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


^̂ 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 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


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. 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.


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.


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 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 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 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).


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.

WORKS CITED

Blessington, Francis C. Paradise Lost and the Classical Epic. Boston: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1979.

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.

Milton, John. Paradise Lost. Ed. Alastair Fowler. Longmans Annotated English Poets Series. London: Longman Group Limited, 1971.

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Milton, John. Paradise Lost. Ed. Scott Elledge. A Norton Critical Edition. New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 1975.

Oxford English Dictionary. (1933).

Ricks, Christopher. Milton's Grand Style. Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1963.

Safer, Elaine. "The Use of Cross-Reference to Develop Polarities in Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained." DA, 28 (1967), 2221A (Western Reserve University).

Sims, James H. The Bible in Milton's Epics. Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 1962.

Spenser, Edmund. Books I and II of The Faerie Queene, the Mutability Cantos, and Selections from the Minor Poetry. Eds. Robert Kellogg and Oliver Steele. Indianapolis: The Odyssey Press, 1965.

Svendsen, Kester. Milton and Science. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1956.

Vergil. The Aenied. Trans. Patric Dickinson. New York: New American Library, 1961.

verbal repetition and compound allusion a thesis in

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