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.

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.

The day of judgement follows the flood.

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'.

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 is to behold how God's will has shaped the world. The 'original crime', disobeying God - 'crime' rather than 'sin'!

The lion, now a hunter rather than the peaceful beast of before the fall. The 'Hart and Hinde', the prey, are deer.

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.

'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.

Straight from Genesis 3, 18 -19.

This even though earlier (line 84) the serpent had been declared innocent.

Adam, in worshipping Eve, is effectively worshipping a false god, idolatry. He has not followed God's instruction.

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.

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.

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!)

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.

The first letter of lines 510 to 514 spell SATAN, an acrostic. Presumably deliberate?

Cape Verde - modern Senegal. An indication of the ever expanding world and Milton's familiarity with it.

A wonderful metaphor describing the rotation of the Earth, and a reference to the Copernican universe.

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!

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.

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.)

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!!

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

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.

Satan has shown elements of Ulysses in his search: he talks his way through the gates, but is willing to faces challenges bravely.

Satan, like a true warrior, a hero to the fore dealing to the challenge.

Here the heroic, undaunted by the tasks he faces.

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.