Paradise Lost

by John Milton

at length 250 Saw where the sword of Michael smote, and felled Squadrons at once, with huge two-handed sway Brandished aloft the horrid edge came down Wide wasting; such destruction to withstand He hasted,

for who, though with the tongue Of angels, can relate, or to what things Liken on earth conspicuous, that may lift 300 Human imagination to such heighth Of godlike power: for likest gods they seemed, Stood they or moved, in stature, motion, arms Fit to decide the empire of great Heav’n.

Forthwith (behold the excellence, the power Which God hath in his mighty angels placed) Their arms away they threw, and to the hills 640 (For earth hath this variety from Heav’n Of pleasure situate in hill and dale) Light as the lightning glimpse they ran, they flew, From their foundations loos’ning to and fro They plucked the seated hills with all their load,228 645 Rocks, waters, woods, and by the shaggy tops Uplifting bore them in their hands: amaze,229 Be sure, and terror seized the rebel host, When coming towards them so dread they saw The bottom of the mountains upward turned, 650 Till on those cursèd engines’ triple-row They saw them whelmed, and all their confidence Under the weight of mountains buried deep, Themselves invaded next, and on their heads Main promontories flung, which in the air230 655 Came shadowing, and oppressed whole legions armed;

The rest in imitation to like arms Betook them, and the neighbouring hills uptore; So hills amid the air encountered hills233 665 Hurled to and fro with jaculation dire,234 That under ground they fought in dismal shade; Infernal noise; war seemed a civil game235 To this uproar; horrid confusion heaped236, 237 Upon confusion rose: and now all Heav’n 670 Had gone to wrack, with ruin overspread,

Book IX

Eve works to tame nature but it keeps growing back! The futility of god’s plan in the face of biological reality

Eve wondering to hear the serpent speak, asks how he attained to human speech and such understanding not till now; the serpent answers, that by tasting of a certain tree in the garden 15 he attained both to speech and reason, till then void of both:

There was a place, 70 Now not, though sin, not time, first wrought the change, Where Tigris at the foot of Paradise Into a gulf shot under ground, till part Rose up a fountain by the Tree of Life;

The serpent: him fast sleeping soon he found In labyrinth of many a round self-rolled,80 His head the midst, well stored with subtle wiles: 185 Not yet in horrid shade or dismal den, Nor nocent yet, but on the grassy herb81, 82 Fearless unfeared he slept:

With grateful smell, forth came the human pair85 And joined their vocal worship to the choir86 Of creatures wanting voice; that done, partake 200 The season, prime for sweetest scents and airs:87 Then cómmune how that day they best may ply Their growing work: for much their work outgrew The hands’ dispatch of two gard’ning so wide.

They’re already overburdened by their need for control. You call this paradise?

To satisfy the sharp desire I had197 585 Of tasting those fair apples, I resolved198 Not to defer; hunger and thirst at once,196 Powerful persuaders, quickened at the scent Of that alluring fruit, urged me so keen. About the mossy trunk I wound me soon, 590 For high from ground the branches would require Thy utmost reach or Adam’s: round the tree All other beasts that saw, with like desire Longing and envying stood, but could not reach.

Sated at length, ere long I might perceive Strange alteration in me, to degree 600 Of reason in my inward powers, and speech

Our universe was created after Satan fell from Heaven (vii 131–5), but before he escaped from Hell (ii 830–32, 1004–6).

strange fire Cp. Lev. 10. 1–2: ‘the sons of Aaron … offered strange fire before the Lord, which he commanded them not. And there went out fire from the Lord, and devoured them, and they died’.

Rev. 12. 12: ‘Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time’.

cormorant a seabird noted for gluttony, hence a symbol for human rapaciousness (OED 2). At Isa. 34. 11 the cormorant is associated with the day of God’s vengeance when Edom will lie waste: ‘The cormorant and the bittern shall possess it’. Contrast Raphael as phoenix, v 272.