They hand in hand with wandring steps and slow, Through Eden took thir solitarie way.
A rather beautiful ending which leaves hope for better, given the mercy of God.
I was rather sad to see Satan and his kin fade from the scene - things were always rather jolly when they were about! But of course they lie in Adam and Eve's future.
Upon thir Tongues a various Spirit to rase Quite out thir Native Language, and instead To sow a jangling noise of words unknown:
God did well here; the many languages we have is a part of the joy it is to be human. Of course babble here is about confusion.
till fire purge all things
The day of judgement follows the flood.
Where luxurie late reign'd, Sea-monsters whelp'd And stabl'd
Milton shows his Ovid here. The pervasive nature of flood stories, and arks, is remarkable. It, the flood, appears in the very ancient (and pre-Genesis) 'Epic of Gilgamesh'.
Smote him into the Midriff with a stone [ 445 ] That beat out life; he fell, and deadly pale Groand out his Soul with gushing bloud effus'd.
The beginning of a catalogue of horrors which even details many of the known diseases of Milton's time (lines 483 +). It is thought Milton was familiar with some of these, 'Joint-racking Rheums' (488), the gout he experienced late in life. Having experienced it myself I know the description, 'joint-racking', is a good one!
Adam, now ope thine eyes, and first behold Th' effects which thy original crime hath wrought
Adam is to behold how God's will has shaped the world. The 'original crime', disobeying God - 'crime' rather than 'sin'!
First hunter then, pursu'd a gentle brace, Goodliest of all the Forrest, Hart and Hinde;
The lion, now a hunter rather than the peaceful beast of before the fall. The 'Hart and Hinde', the prey, are deer.
Scorpion and Asp, and Amphisbæna dire, Cerastes hornd, Hydrus, and Ellops drear, [ 525 ] And Dipsas (not so thick swarm'd once the Soil Bedropt with blood of Gorgon, or the Isle Ophiusa)
All of this reveals the breadth of Milton's reading; Lucan and DuBartas, with Ovid providing the image of the change from 'man' to serpent. A problem for the modern reader of this poem is that, perhaps apart from Ovid, these sources are only in the realms of academia today.
His Quadrature, from thy Orbicular World,
'Orbicular World': a spherical world reflecting the ancient belief in the perfection of the circle. Heaven is 'Quadrature', a square, or probably, cube. The 'why?' of a cubic world I don't know.
for thou Out of the ground wast taken, know thy Birth, For dust thou art, and shalt to dust returne.
Straight from Genesis 3, 18 -19.
Upon thy Belly groveling thou shalt goe, And dust shalt eat all the dayes of thy Life.
This even though earlier (line 84) the serpent had been declared innocent.
thy God, that her thou didst obey [ 145 ] Before his voice, or was shee made thy guide,
Adam, in worshipping Eve, is effectively worshipping a false god, idolatry. He has not followed God's instruction.
his Angels to make several alterations in the Heavens and Elements.
Again Milton's attention to the heavens and astronomy. A reference to the events involving Adam and Eve, the microcosm, causing a realignment in the macrocosm: a renaissance conceit.
Apples
Interesting that Satan actually names the fruit. It is just a fruit in Genesis. The name, 'Apple' seems unimportant for it is the act of eating a fruit which is the act of disobedience Satan encourages.
err'd in overmuch admiring What seemd in thee so perfet,
Poor Adam, like so many of us, has been distracted by the beauty of a woman. Never mind, he comes out of it well enough; he has knowledge (and the beautiful woman!)
I now must change [ 5 ] Those Notes to Tragic
A change signaled by the narrator, Milton, the epic 'Notes' are now to tell of a tragedy. I have read that Bk 9 is about the length of an Euripidean tragedy, c. 1100 lines, and the Book is complete in itself.
Scipio the highth of Rome. With tract oblique [ 510 ] At first, as one who sought access, but feard To interrupt, side-long he works his way. As when a Ship by skilful Stearsman wrought Nigh Rivers mouth or Foreland, where the Wind
The first letter of lines 510 to 514 spell SATAN, an acrostic. Presumably deliberate?
Earths green Cape and verdant Isles
Cape Verde - modern Senegal. An indication of the ever expanding world and Milton's familiarity with it.
the Wheele [ 135 ] Of Day and Night;
A wonderful metaphor describing the rotation of the Earth, and a reference to the Copernican universe.
Let us make now Man in our image,
Man made in the image of God - one can only look at the world today and wonder what went wrong. Perhaps the creation should have stopped at line 519!
Omnific
Again an instance of Milton the Classicist. The word is a composite of two common Latin words, and so 'all-making' or 'creating' - which is probably better in the context.
vast immeasurable Abyss Outrageous as a Sea, dark, wasteful, wilde, Up from the bottom turn'd by furious windes And surging waves, as Mountains to assault Heav'ns highth, and with the Center mix the Pole.
This is, I take it, chaos. A wonderful concept of matter at it most primitive - the universe just after the Big Bang: uncontrolled and violent matter, but matter with the potential to be ordered, as the creation will do. (Note: I do not suggest Milton preempted the Big bang theory - that is mere whimsy on my part.)
And by my Word, begotten Son, by thee This I perform
I would be interested to know just why Milton makes this departure from the Biblical Genesis. Or does he? Perhaps the Son in that work is called 'God'! Milton often confuses me!!
DEscend from Heav'n Urania, by that name If rightly thou art call'd, whose Voice divine Following, above th' Olympian Hill I soare,
I often find it difficult to understand who is speaking in this poem, who is the 'I' here for instance. I take it this is the narrator, who is Milton himself, calling upon his muse, Urania. Interesting that this muse may reflect Milton's interest in the heavens (astronomy). Galileo was an older contemporary and Milton, who met him, was well aware of the use of the new telescope in studying the night sky.
Thousands and by Millions
Even the numbers are Homeric in their magnitude. They also reflect the unknown concept of truly large numbers in Milton's time. John Locke similarly impressed by size refers to the microscope, new at his time, as magnifying an image a million times. He seemed to have no conception of just what that implies.
Wak't by the circling Hours, with rosie hand Unbarr'd the gates of Light.
This seems the first reference to Homer whose rosie fingered dawn begins the day (quite often in fact). The battle is Homeric in its proportions and not decided until God's son, Jesus/Achilles, arrives upon the field.
A Seraph wingd; six wings he wore, to shade His lineaments Divine; the pair that clad Each shoulder broad, came mantling o're his brest With regal Ornament; the middle pair [ 280 ] Girt like a Starrie Zone his waste, and round Skirted his loines and thighes with downie Gold And colours dipt in Heav'n; the third his feet Shaddowd from either heele with featherd maile Skie-tinctur'd grain.
Blake's Raphael is a rather effeminate figure. Can one ask why much is made of his attire when Adam and Eve, in their purity, are naked. Perhaps it is something to do with hierarchy, after all Raphael also wears a crown (in Blake's image).
Her unadorned golden tresses wore [ 305 ] Disheveld, but in wanton ringlets wav'd As the Vine curles her tendrils, which impli'd Subjection,
William Blake's image of Adam and Eve in Bk 4 shows them as very classical, if muscular, entities - with Eve of course suitably subject. In the same plate Satan flites about while embracing the serpent (with a bird-like head!). Blake always adds something to a text; I guess just his own imagination.
one slight bound high over leap'd
Which makes the existence of a wall irrelevant, but perhaps the following lines with their references to a wolf and a thief simply indicate that it is impossible to keep evil out.
Freely they stood who stood, and fell who fell. Not free, what proof could they have givn sincere Of true allegiance, constant Faith or Love
This is easily passed, yet stands as an important philosophical point. God has created his men, angels, etc., as free, but he must do this to make their obedience meaningful. If they were not free to disobey obedience would mean nothing: it is as much a choice as it is to act disobediently.
So were I equal'd with them in renown, Blind Thamyris and blind Mæonides, [ 35 ] And Tiresias and Phineus
With this Milton makes it clear that he is the narrator, the one who has visited hell (Bks. 1 and 2) and now, Bk. 3, heaven.
Ulysses
Satan has shown elements of Ulysses in his search: he talks his way through the gates, but is willing to faces challenges bravely.
Springs upward like a Pyramid of fire Into the wilde expanse, and through the shock Of fighting Elements
Satan, like a true warrior, a hero to the fore dealing to the challenge.
thither he plyes, Undaunted to meet there what ever power [ 955 ] Or Spirit of the nethermost Abyss
Here the heroic, undaunted by the tasks he faces.
Ore bog or steep, through strait, rough, dense, or rare, With head, hands, wings, or feet pursues his way, And swims or sinks, or wades, or creeps, or flyes:
Be he god, hero or mere man, he, Satan here, struggles in the confusion of anarchy and Chaos.
The idea of a heroic Satan seems undermined by the reference to a 'great argument … [that will] justifie the ways of God to men'. We need to wait to identify Milton's Aeneas.
What a wonderful word this is, 'Pandaemonium'. The poem deserves to be remembered for this creation alone! I guess is shows the benefit of a classical education.
With Beelzebub we have the beginning of a long list of 'heroes', perhaps combatants is better. This is typical of Homer, especially the Iliad.