- Aug 2018
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www.dartmouth.edu www.dartmouth.edu
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every Starr perhaps a World Of destind habitation;
Milton's moving into the world of early science fiction, here, again! again, not at all the world of Genesis - more like the world of Galileo
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The Sixt, and of Creation last arose With Eevning Harps and Mattin, when God said, [ 450 ] Let th' Earth bring forth Foul living in her kinde, Cattel and Creeping things, and Beast of the Earth, Each in their kinde.
Milton seems to quote the biblical story almost verbatim at the start of each section, and then lets his imagination go wild with the detail, which bursts out a bit like the animals here burst into living.
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errour
I find it interesting that Milton inserts the idea of error into God's creation - way before the Fall. What is the point here of his choice of words, beyond the obvious of the rivers not being straight?
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but in the Womb as yet Of Waters, Embryon immature involv'd, Appeer'd not: over all the face of Earth Main Ocean flow'd, not idle, but with warme Prolific humour soft'ning all her Globe, [ 280 ] Fermented the great Mother to conceave,
This image of the Earth as 'great Mother', and the idea of the 'womb' of the waters, and of conception, is not at all in Genesis. It seems an image much more drawn from the classics.
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www.dartmouth.edu www.dartmouth.edu
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Forthwith up to the Clouds With him I flew, and underneath beheld The Earth outstretcht immense, a prospect wide And various:
Why does Satan take Eve up into the clouds? What is Milton trying to do here? The only thing that comes into my mind is Satan's temptation of Jesus when he takes up 'on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and promises them to him in exchange for his worship - but I'm not sure there's a connection. I find these lines odd - why does he add them to the traditional 'temptation' narrative?
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