Introduction

To The Reader        . . . govern thou my Song,  Urania, and fit audience find, though few. ~Paradise Lost, VII-30-31 Paradise Lost was a threshold experience for me. And, as I stood on that threshold, I felt as though a channel to Milton’s muse opened for me, too, and that I caught whiffs of second-hand empyreal aire tempered by Urania still stirring in the portal. I sensed in Milton’s lines, something perfected by those flights on the…

Sonnet 19

Close Reading of Sonnet 19 Serving God was probably the most important focus of Milton’s life. His letters, school exercises, polemical tracts, and poems describe a rich, lifelong examination of best practices for personal and civic spirituality. With each of these literary forms, different opportunities and constraints operated in the crafting of his message. The political and religious tracts, what he called products “of my left hand” (Reason of Church Gov’t Urged Against Prelacy), that is, his irascible, prose-writing hand,…

Language

Subtlety, Opulence—and Ambiguity   The Argument   Paradise Lost is subtle and opulent—and what C.S. Lewis described as ambiguous, because of the many clauses whose adjectives-objects-verbs defy clear correspondence, leading to a “crumbling of the consciousness . . . which helps . . . rather than hinders” (Ricks 87) appreciation of the epic. Serpentine sentences are an expression of Milton’s love for Latinate word order and word meaning. My purpose in this section is to spotlight examples of this style,…

Forbidden Knowledge

The Prohibition: Eating From the Tree of Knowledge of Good Bought Dear by Knowing Ill   The Argument   One prohibitions was exacted by God as a pledge of Adam and Eve’s obedience: To foreswear the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. The section below is a discussion of what knowledge was expressly forbidden and what resources are available to support my answer. * * * Eating from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil…

Gender Hierarchy

  Reconciling Evidence of Gender Hierarchy in Paradise Lost           The Argument   This chapter aims to address the subject of gender hierarchy by examining the opinions of multiple characters. So many of the opinions are demeaning toward women, that a first reading is jarring for a woman who has lived through the feminist movement of the 1970s and beyond. But, perhaps there is a larger picture to consider, which reconciles the jarring opinions. * * * Hierarchy seems evident throughout…

Justifying God to Man

  Was Man Sufficient to Stand?            The Argument Milton’s primary purpose in writing Paradise Lost was to justify the ways of God to man. Specifically, he intended to convince readers that man was sufficient to withstand Satan’s temptation but fell of his own free will. My question is whether he accomplished his goal. * * * I am disturbed by three dilemmas regarding God’s pronouncement that he made man sufficient to have stood against his tempter. First, God claimed…