Season 3 Podcast 168 Milton's Paradise Lost Bk VI, Pt XI, The War in Heaven, Pt I, The Introduction
The War in Heaven Pt I Introduction
Some critics are astonished that Milton, inspired by only a few verses from Genesis, was able to write Paradise Lost. Strictly speaking, that is too narrow a view of the scope of Paradise Lost. I want to continue to keep at the forefront Milton’s stated theme:
Of Man’s first disobedience, and the fruit
Of that forbidden tree whose mortal taste
Brought death into the World, and all our woe,
With loss of Eden, till one greater Man
Restore us, and regain the blissful seat,
Sing, Heavenly Muse, that, on the secret top
Of Oreb, or of Sinai, didst inspire
That shepherd who first taught the chosen seed
In the beginning how the heavens and earth
Rose out of Chaos: or, if Sion hill
Delight thee more, and Siloa’s brook that flowed
Fast by the oracle of God, I thence
Invoke thy aid to my adventurous song,
That with no middle flight intends to soar
Above th’ Aonian mount, while it pursues
Things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme.
And chiefly thou, O Spirit, that dost prefer
Before all temples th’ upright heart and pure,
Instruct me, for thou know’st; thou from the first
Wast present, and, with mighty wings outspread,
Dove-like sat’st brooding on the vast Abyss,
And mad’st it pregnant: what in me is dark
Illumine, what is low raise and support;
That, to the height of this great argument,
I may assert Eternal Providence,
And justify the ways of God to men.
Look again at the words of Milton. His theme is clearly “to justify the ways of God to men.” However, in his introduction in just a few lines he makes the following assertions
· Man’s first disobedience
· The fruit of that forbidden tree whose mortal taste brought death into the world
· Loss of Eden
· Till one greater Man Restore us
· And regain the blissful seat.
The scope is far broader than the verses in Genesis. In Paradise Lost Milton covers the history of the Holy Bible, beginning with Genesis and ending with The Book of Revelation. Unquestionably Milton was a premier scholar, one of the most educated men of his time, and this is during the Renaissance. If I were dividing the book according to historical, literary, and Biblical allusions, I would guess that a quarter can be attributed to historical and literary allusions, half to Biblical allusions, and a quarter to Milton’s own genius and poetic inspiration. The Holy Bible dominates Paradise Lost in many and sometimes subtle ways. Biblical allusions are the fabric that holds everything together. It would be eye-opening to go through Paradise Lost and mark every Biblical allusion with a specific reference from the Holy Bible itself. Milton was blind when writing Paradise Lost. One can only assume Milton had virtually memorized the Bible. In return Milton assumes a broad understanding of the Bible from his readers.
Let me just give a brief example which is just one of the hundreds of assumptions Milton makes about his readers.
Book VI, for example, covers only three days. That is how long the War in Heaven Lasts in Paradise Lost. The problem, of course, is that from our perspective, we assume three twenty-four-hour periods when in fact in Milton’s war, three days measured in Biblical time which means the war in heaven lasted three thousand years.
In Bk IV Milton refers to the length of the war three times, speaking of days.
1. And if one day, why not eternal days?
2. Two days, as we compute the days of Heaven,
Two days are therefore past, the third is thine;
For thee I have ordained it; and thus far
Have suffered, that the glory may be thine
Of ending this great war, since none but Thou
Can end it.
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