Paradise Lost Flashcards
Milton on his desire to write an epic poem
He says that one day he will write on ‘some graver subject’ that will permit his ‘‘transported mind’ to ‘soar/Above the wheeling piled and at Heav’n’s door/Look in, and see each blissful deity’’
Milton on the subject plans for Paradise Lost
He describes himself as “rapt above the pole” and says that he will “Aung of secret things that come to pass/When beldam Nature in her cradle was”
Implications of Milton’s first draft of Paradise Lost found at Trinity College, Cambridge
His first plans for the Fall of Man was more in keeping with an Aristotelian tragedy perhaps supporting Blake’s believe that ‘‘he was of the devils party without knowing’’
John Leonard on Miltons use of the Epic poem
“Readers must finally decide for themselves whether Milton Satanizes the epic or measures Satan against an epic standard and finds him wanting”
John Leonard on nakedness
Milton gives nakedness a heroic treatment
Marlowe’s influence of Milton
Miltons ominous simile in reference to Eve’s nakedness is an allusion to Marlowe signalled by “naked strive” which still credits Eve’s nakedness with heroic splendour
John Leonard on Miltons satire of nakedness
“But Milton’s satire is sharper for not equating nakedness with shame”
Milton’s use of nakedness as an attack on the bourgeois
When the restored Charles II made his return to London it was documented as the most spectacular display of royal pomp (May 29th 1660), Milton’s emphasis on the how Adam is “solemn” (“grand, imposing”) compared to when the kings parade in ‘state’ flaunt themselves ‘with great pomp and insignia’, (AO3:Milton was in hiding and wrote a lot about his disapproval of the monarchy)
Link to Johnson’s ‘the splendid’, ‘the gloomy’ & ‘the dreadful’
Milton’s Heaven and Universe as ‘The splendid’ Milton’s Night, He’ll, Chaos as ‘The dreadful’ and ‘The gloomy’
Tasso on the epic poems specific purpose…
‘…of moving the mind to wonder’
Samuel Johnson on Miltons ‘peculiar power’…
…is ‘to astonish’
The Oxford dictionary credits Milton with creating the word…
‘Space’ which Milton probably took from the Roman poet Lucretius who in ‘De Rerum Natura’ refers to outer space as ‘Spatium’
Lucretius and Milton both refer to the Cosmos as…
…the universe would at least be overwhelmed from outside…Chaos (“the womb of Nature and perhaps her grave”) is hostile for Milton because it continues to exist…
Milton believed that God did not create out of nothing rather out of…
Chaos which for nine days Satans legions fell through while Gis created for 6 days on the second of the ninth day the universe…
John Leonard on Miltons use of light and dark symbolisms with God
Milton conjectures that God must have dwelt in a place of light from all eternity
Milton’s universe is unusual because…
…it places a finite universe in an infinite abyss and shuts infinity out by enclosing his universe with a protective shell…in De Doctrina Christiana Milton argued that all matter was good…
Empson on Milton’s faith
“Milton genuinely considered God in need of a defence”
Chloe Batt on the epic form
Milton “seeks to redefine classical heroism in Christian terms”
C.S Lewis on Satan
Throughout the poem he undergoes a “progressive degradation” from Gods second in hand to “a mere peeping Tom leering and writhing in prurience”
Tillyard on Adam and Eve’s relationship
Milton “fails to convince us that Adam and Eve are happy”, they “are in the hopeless position of Old age pensioners enjoying perpetual youth”
David Reid on the fall
“Error is a lapse of mind and like nonsense, cannot be understood”
Dr Johnson on Milton and women
Milton had a “Turkish contempt for women”
C.S Lewis on Eve’s actions
Throughout giving Adam the fruit Eve commits “murder”
T.S Elliot on Milton’s language
If he used a “straightforward utterance rather than archaic language it “would make the speak very much more real to us; but reality is no part of the intention”
Voltaire on Milton’s virtue
“In all other poems love is represented as a vice; in Milton only it is a virtue”
C.S Lewis on why Adam ate the fruit
“Adam fell by uxoriousness (excessive attatchment to, dependence on, a wife)”
Milton on why he wrote the poem
“To justify the ways of God to man”
Dryden on Milton’s form and language
“Rhyme was not his talent”
What is the meaning of Renaissance? what was the primary impact of the renaissance?
‘rebirth’ - during the renaissance people returned to studying ancient greek/ roman texts, and began to question the authority and knowledge of the catholic church.
Blake (Romantic Criticism)
“Milton was of the devil’s party without knowing it”
What did David Daiches argue about the “moral paradox” Milton presents?
“If we can only resist evil by knowing it, and we can only know it by becoming involved in it, then the innocent are incapable of true virtue and only the morally tarnished can succeed in the struggle for virtue”
Dryden on heroes (1697 - Roman Catholic)
“Milton would have been worthy of regard as a great poet if the devil had not been his hero instead of Adam”
Shelley on Satan (Romantic Criticism)
“nothing can exceed the energy and magnificence as expressed by Satan in Paradise Lost” “Milton’s devil is a moral being far superior to his god”
Eleanor Tate observes…..
…..”ciceronian decorum”
Tate - “through his many classical allusions Milton does gain a sense of remoteness in time….
…..and through his geographic ones a sense of vastness in space”
Widmer - Satan and his world are…
…in a constant state of flux, in contrast to the immutability of God and Heaven
Tate - “the final irony is that Milton uses…
…the epic traditional epic form in which to reject traditional epic values”
Tate - “renunciation of heroic rebellion in favour of submission is an attitude of….
…..Christian fortitude and patience” - Link to DOM Duchess as a protestant martyr
