![]() This devil army is large and impressive but also aware of its recent ignominious defeat. These fallen angels think that they have escaped from their chains through their own power, but Milton makes it clear that God alone has allowed them to do this. Each devil is introduced in a formal cataloguing of demons. As they come, Milton is able to list the major devils that now occupy Hell: Moloch, Chemos, Baalem, Ashtaroth, Astarte, Astoreth, Dagon, Rimmon, Osiris, Isis, Orus, Mammon, and Belial. From the plain, Satan calls the other fallen angels to join him, and one by one they rise from the lake and fly to their leader. He flies to a barren plain, followed by Beelzebub. With effort, Satan is able to free himself from his chains and rise from the fire. Still he adds that it is his intention to continue the struggle against God, saying, "Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven" (263). Satan comments on how Beelzebub has been transformed for the worse by the punishment of God. Next to Satan lies Beelzebub, Satan's second in command. Lying on the lake, Satan is described as gigantic he is compared to a Titan or the Leviathan. They were defeated and cast from Heaven into the fires of Hell. Satan, who had been Lucifer, the greatest angel, and his compatriots warred against God. The poem thus commences in the middle of the story, as epics traditionally do. He concludes the prologue by saying he will attempt to justify God's ways to men.įollowing the prologue and invocation, Milton begins the epic with a description of Satan, lying on his back with the other rebellious angels, chained on a lake of fire. He also says that the poem will deal with man's disobedience toward God and the results of that disobedience. ![]() He invokes the classical Muse, Urania, but also refers to her as the "Heav'nly Muse," implying the Christian nature of this work. By now almost completely blind, he had to dictate his poetry, but he produced much of his major work in this period, including Paradise Lost and its sequel, Paradise Regained, following the return of the monarchy to his death in 1674.Book I of Paradise Lost begins with a prologue in which Milton performs the traditional epic task of invoking the Muse and stating his purpose. The Restoration of 1660 inevitably saw the Republican Milton fall from favour. He was outspoken on issues such as divorce, censorship and freedom of expression.Īlthough seen as a dangerous radical under the monarchy, Milton was rewarded with public office under the Commonwealth and became a secretary in the Foreign Service, making use of his impeccable Latin. As the rule of Charles I began to disintegrate, Milton studied, travelled and wrote pamphlets in support of the Puritan and Parliamentary cause. Milton was a poet who was actively involved in the world of English politics and government. How does Satan still find some elements of hope and consolation, in spite of having been cast in to the ‘mournful gloom’? Consider the significance of Satan’s comment ‘Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heaven.’ Satan is speaking to his second in command, Beelzebub, and reflecting on what has happened to them and their fellow fallen angels after their crushing defeat. ![]() In Book I, from which this extract is taken, Milton describes Satan and his comrades languishing in Hell after the disastrous end of their war against God. John Milton’s epic poem, written in blank verse in the 1660s, deals with the great Christian theme of the Fall of Man and the mythical Fall of the Angels led by Satan. Regained in Heaven, or what more lost in Hell?’ Lie thus astonished on the oblivious pool,Īnd call them not to share with us their part The associates and copartners of our loss To reign is worth ambition though in Hell:īetter to reign in Hell, than serve in Heaven.īut wherefore let we then our faithful friends, Here we may reign secure, and in my choice Here for his envy, will not drive us hence: We shall be free the almighty hath not built Whom thunder hath made greater? Here at least What matter where, if I be still the same,Īnd what I should be, all but less than he Receive thy new possessor: one who bringsĪ mind not to be changed by place or time.Ĭan make a heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven. Infernal world, and thou profoundest hell Where joy for ever dwells: hail horrors, hail Whom reason hath equalled, force hath made supreme What shall be right: furthest from him is best ![]() That we must change for Heaven, this mournful gloomįor that celestial light? Be it so, since he Said then the lost archangel, ‘this the seat ‘Is this the region, this the soil, the clime,’ Only lines 242-270 should be recited, as shown below ![]()
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