John Milton& Paradise Lost
♪ Historical Background
♪Introduction of John Milton
♪Paradise Lost
♪On his Blindness
•The war began on August
22,1642 and ended in 1651.
Charles I was condemned to
death. The English Civil War is
also called the Puritan
Revolution. It has been seen as
a conflict between the
parliament and the King, and a
conflict between economic
interests of the Crown and the
economic interests of the urban
middle classed coincided with
their religious ( Puritan)
ideology while the Crown’s
traditional economic interests
correspondingly allied with
Anglican(英国圣公会的)
religious belief.
• The parliament vs.
the king
• Economic interests
of the Crown vs.
economic interests
of the urban middle
class
• The English Civil War not only overthrew feudal
system in England but also shook the foundation of
the feudal rule in Europe. It is generally regarded as
the beginning of modern world history.
英国内战不仅推翻了英国的封建制度，而且动摇
了欧洲封建经济的基础。英国内战通常被看作是
现代世界史的开端。
The First Civil War
So, in 1641-46, Parliament allied with Scottish Presbyterians against Charles,
trying Charles for treason and taking him prisoner. This was the first of
three civil wars, variously called the Wars Between Three Kingdoms, the
Puritan Revolution, the English Revolution, or the English Civil Wars.’
The Second Civil War
In 1648, a different Socttish army, allied with Charles (who escaped in 1647)
fought for Charles against a Parliament entitled the Rump Parliament
(purged of members sympathetic to Charles). The Scottish army is
defeated by general Oliver Cromwell. This is the second of the three civil
wars. With Charles now in custody, this Parliament voted for Charles'
execution. Charles was executed-- beheaded--in 1649. With Charles'
execution, the Interregnum (period between kings) began.
The Third Civil War
In 1649-51, the third of the civil wars took place when the same Scottish
forces as above waged war, along with Royalists in exile in Ireland, and
Charles' son, Charles II. The Scottish forces were defeated.
In 1653, Cromwell dissolved the Parliament that carried out Charles'
execution and established a new, essentially powerless Parliament, and
declared himself Lord Protector of England, Ireland, and Scotland.
In 1658, Cromwell died as the Protectorate became weaker. In 1660, Charles
II returned from exile to, with relatively little bloodshed, restore the
monarchy.
The Glorious Revolution of 1688
• In 1685 Charles II died and was
succeeded by his brother James II.
James was brought up in exile（流放）
in Europe, was a Catholic. He hoped
to rule without giving up his personal
religious views. But England was no
more tolerant of a Catholic king in
1688 than 40 years ago. So the
English politicians rejected James II,
and appealed to a Protestant king,
William of Orange, to invade and
take the English throne. William
landed in England in 1688. The
takeover was relatively smooth, with
no bloodshed, nor any execution of
the king. This was known as the
Glorious Revolution.
Introduction of John Milton
(1608-1674)
Life Story
•
John Milton (9 December 1608 – 8 November
1674) was an English poet, author, polemicist and
civil servant for the Commonwealth of England.
He is best known for his epic poem Paradise Lost
（《失乐园》） and for his treatise condemning
censorship, Areopagitica（《论出版自由》）.
Life Story
•
In 1608，John Milton was
born in a prosperous and
cultured middle class Puritan
family.
• When about twelve years old
， young Milton was sent to a
famous boys' school in london
called st. Paul's.
Life Story
In 1625，John Milton
enrolled at Christ's College,
Cambridge, to be educated for
the ministry. While Milton was
a hardworking student, he was
also argumentative to the
extent that only a year later, in
1626, he got suspended after
a dispute with his tutor, William
Chappell.
Christ's College, Cambridge
Life Story
• In 1632, Milton took his
M.A. cum laude at
Cambridge, after which
he retired to the family
homes in London and
Horton,
Buckinghamshire, for
years of private study
and literary composition.
His poem, "On
Shakespeare", was
published in the same
year in the Second Folio.
Life Story
on settled down in
London, where he began
schooling his two
nephews, later also
taking in children of the
better families. The Civil
War was brewing — King
Charles I invaded
Scotland in 1639, and the
Long Parliament was
convened in 1640. Milton
began writing pamphlets
on political and religious
matters
Life Story
On January 30, 1649,milton was
probably to witness the public
execution of Charles I.
In March, the Cromwellian
government appointed Milton
Secretary for Foreign Tongues and
ordered him to write an answer to
Charles I's purported Eikon Basilike
In 1650, the Council of State
ordered Milton to write a response to
Salmasius' Defensio Regia — the
Continental outcry against the English
action
Life Story
The year 1652 was
one of many personal
losses for Milton. In
February, Milton lost his
sight. This prompted
him to write the sonnet
"When I Consider How
My Light is Spent." In
May, 1652, Mary gave
birth to a daughter,
Deborah, and died a
few days later. In June,
one year-old John died.
Life Story
•
Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell died in October,
1658, and the days of the Commonwealth were
coming to a close. In early 1659, Milton published“A
Treatise of Civil Power and Ready and Easy Way To
Establish a Free Commonwealth. ” For his
propaganda writings, Milton had to go into hiding, for
fear of retribution from the followers of King Charles
II. In June, 1659, both Defensio pro populo Anglicano
and Eikonoklastes were publicly burned. In early
autumn, Milton was arrested and thrown in prison, to
be released by order of Parliament before Christmas.
King Charles II, son of the former king，was restored
to the throne on May 30, 1660.
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Milton died peacefully of gout in November, 1674,
and was buried in the church of St. Giles, Cripplegate.
Milton’s Personal Character:
• 1. Love beautiful things.
• 2. Be hard working.
• 3. Acquire a good knowledge of
Latin.
• 4. Have proud and independent spirit.
• 5. Have revolutionary spirit.
• 6. Love freedom.
Life Story
execution(死刑)
of Charles I
Latin secretary,
correspondence(信件；函件)
pamphlets to
support the government
hard-working,
totally blind,
beginning of 1652,
44 years old
blindness,
the persecution(迫害)
died of gout(关节痛)
restoration of
the Stuarts
1.Mary Powell,
political view, leave, back
Died from complications
following children's birth
Milton’s
marriage
2. Catherine Wookcock
died in childbirth
3. Elizabeth Minshull
survived him
(remained alive after him)
Works of John Milton
Poetic and dramatic works
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1631: L'Allegro
1631: Il Penseroso
1634: Comus (a masque)
1638: Lycidas
1645: Poems of Mr John Milton, Both English and
Latin
1655: On the Late Massacre in Piedmont
1667: Paradise Lost
1671: Paradise Regained
1671: Samson Agonistes
1673: Poems, &c, Upon Several Occasions
Political, philosophical and religious prose
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Of Reformation (1641)
Of Prelatical Episcopacy (1641)
Animadversions (1641)
The Reason of Church-Government
Urged against Prelaty (1642)
Apology for Smectymnuus (1642)
Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce
(1643)
Judgement of Martin Bucer
Concerning Divorce (1644)
Of Education (1644)
Areopagitica (1644)
Tetrachordon (1645)
Colasterion (1645)
The Tenure of Kings and
Magistrates (1649)
Eikonoklastes (1649)
Defensio pro Populo Anglicano [First
Defense] (1651)
Defensio Secunda [Second Defense]
(1654)
A treatise of Civil Power (1659)
The Likeliest Means to Remove Hirelings
from the Church (1659)
The Ready and Easy Way to Establish a
Free Commonwealth (1660)
Brief Notes Upon a Late Sermon (1660)
Accedence Commenced Grammar (1669)
History of Britain (1670)
Artis logicae plenior institutio [Art of
Logic] (1672)
Of True Religion (1673)
Epistolae Familiaries (1674)
Prolusiones (1674)
A brief History of Moscovia, and other less
known Countries lying Eastward of Russia
as far as Cathay, gathered from the
writings of several Eye-witnesses (1682)
De Doctrina Christiana (1823)
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Outline
Introduction of characters
Feature
Symbols of Paradise Lost
Motifs of Paradise Lost
Themes of Paradise Lost
Analysis
Excerpt and Translation
Seven Sins and its connection
to the work
• Others associating with the work
Outline of Paradise Lost
这部叙事长诗共分12卷，一万余行，取材于《旧约·创世
纪》。作品中描写天使撒旦率众反抗上帝，败后被打入地
狱，变成魔王。听说上帝在创造新的世界伊甸园，里面居
住新的种族“人类”。撒旦决心以引诱人类来完成复仇使
命。他飞出地狱之门，来到伊甸园。先是偷听了亚当和夏
娃的谈话，知道上帝禁止人吃智慧树的果实。他变形为蟾
蜍，使夏娃做了一个想吃智慧果的梦，后又变形为蛇，引
诱夏娃偷尝智慧果。亚当为了和夏娃共命运，也吃了禁果。
上帝知道后，将他们逐出伊甸园。亚当和夏娃擦干懊悔的
眼泪，携手踏上孤寂的路途。撒旦及众魔受到上帝的诅咒，
蜕变为蛇，用腹行路，终生吃土。
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第1部：全诗总纲，讲述了整个事件的起因和结果；
第2部：撒旦与众叛逆天使讨论如何同上帝作战，夺取天堂；
第3部：讲述上帝决定如何赐予人类恩惠；
第4部：描述撒旦在天堂见到亚当夏娃，撒旦在夏娃的梦中施展引诱
；
第5部：天使警告亚当要当心恶魔的引诱；
第6部：描绘天使与撒旦一伙的战斗；
第7部：亚当向天使询问有关创世的许多问题，并一一得到回答；
第8部：他接着又询问天体运行的问题，但对所得到的回答并不满意
；
第9部：撒旦化身为蛇，躺在伊甸园里，并指引亚当和夏娃摘食禁果
；
第10部：上帝因此震怒，亚当也后悔不已；
第11部：圣子代表上帝宣布将亚当夏娃逐出天堂，并向他们指点未来
；
第12部：天使向他们叙述拯救之路，亚当夏娃终于离开天堂，失去了
乐园
• Paradise Lost is the great epic poem of the
English language in blank verse, a tale of
immense drama and excitement, of rebellion
and treachery, of innocence pitted against
corruption, in which God and Satan fight a
bitter battle for control of mankind's destiny.
The struggle ranges across heaven, hell, and
earth, as Satan and his band of rebel angels
conspire against God. At the center of the
conflict are Adam and Eve, motivated by all
too human temptations, but whose ultimate
downfall is unyielding love.
P.S. Blank verse is a type of poetry, distinguished by having a regular meter,
but no rhyme.
Introduction of characters
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Satan is the first major character introduced in
the poem. He is introduced to Hell after a failed
rebellion to wrestle control of Heaven from
God.
A central character in the first half of the poem.
A high ranking archangel in Heaven who
became jealous of the Son of God and led
multitudes of angels in a violent rebellion
against the Almighty. Tossed into Hell, he
makes it his kingdom, where he plans revenge
against God by corrupting mankind.
Satan’s complex musings and self-examination
sometimes resemble a hero’s stance against a
tyrannical enemy, inducing more sympathy
from the reader than Milton intended. In the
latter part of the poem, Satan’s character
degenerates into a more typical villain, as we
sympathize more with the human couple.
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Lucifer
Satan's name before he fell. It means "brightest
star." In his original state, he was glorious to
behold.
• 弥尔顿在思想上批判骄矜的撒旦，感情上却同情
他所处的地位，因为撒旦受上帝惩罚，很像资产
阶级受封建贵族的压迫一样。在描绘地狱一场时，
弥尔顿虽然口口声声说撒旦骄傲、野心勃勃，但
在对话里，在形象上，撒旦又完全是一个受迫害
的革命者。这个形象十分雄伟，在凶险的地狱背
景衬托下，他的战斗决心表现得更鲜明。撒旦说：
“战场上虽然失利，怕什么?这不可征服的意志、
报复的决心、切齿的仇恨和一种永不屈膝、永不
投降的意志———却都未丧失。”这是英国资产
阶级革命的不可磨灭的记录，是卓越的艺术成就。
而诗中的上帝却显得冷酷无情，缺乏生气。
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Adam: Adam is the first human in Eden created
by God. He is more intelligent than Eve and is
also stronger, not only physically but morally.
He is created perfect, but given free will, with
which he can either maintain or lose his perfect
state of happiness. God tests him by forbidding
him to eat the fruit of one tree. Placing his love
for Eve above his obedience to God proves his
downfall. When Adam finds out that Eve has
broken this commandment, rather than survive
without her, he eats also, thereby losing
Paradise and eternal happiness for himself and
the world.
After God passes sentence on him, laying on the
cold ground, Adam delivers a long, emotional
speech expressing self-recrimination, terror of
death, and pity for the future of mankind, which
concludes with a shocking verbal attack against.
• Eve: Eve is the second human created, taken
from one of Adam's ribs and shaped into a
female form of Adam.
She is subservient to Adam, but does not
hesitate to argue with him. Satan targets her
as the weaker sex（妇女，女性）, and
tempts her to eat the forbidden fruit. She
succumbs to his temptation, and decides to
talk Adam into joining her in what at first
seems like a good thing for both of them, but
later brings terrible remorse（悔恨，自责）.
Their mutual love, together with God's mercy,
sustains them and provides a conclusion to
the story which is not without hope.
Eve's soliloquies before and after her sinful
act are notable, as first she ruminates over
Satan's persuasive argument, enhancing it
with her own rationale, and afterwards
considers not sharing the fruit with Adam,
thereby raising herself to his level of wisdom
by its imagined powers, or perhaps even, she
thinks, a little higher.
• The Son of God:
The Son of God in
Paradise Lost is
Jesus Christ,
though he is never
named explicitly,
since he has not
yet entered human
form.
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God the Father: God the Father is the creator of
Eden, Heaven, Hell, and of each of the main
characters. He is an all-powerful and all-knowing
being who cannot be overthrown by even the
one-third of the angels Satan incites against him.
In the poems God is surrounded by his angels, w
ho never think of expressing any opinion of
their own. His long speeches are never pleasing.
He is the representative of an absolute monarch.
However, the allknowing God is just in allowing Adam and Eve to
be attempted and, of their free will, to choose sin
and its inevitable punishment, thereby opening
the way for that voluntary sacrifice of Christ. This
shows that God is merciful in bring good out of evi
l.
Daughter of Satan. Halfwoman, half-serpent,
she sprung from Satan's
head when he conceived
the thought of rebelling
against God. She is
charged to hold the key
to the gates of Hell.
Together with her son,
Death, she builds a
highway from Hell to
Earth.
Son of Sin, fathered by
Satan. A faceless
creature, his first act
upon being born is to
rape his mother. He
confronts Satan at the
gate of Hell, and the two
are prevented from a
deadly battle when Sin
reveals that he is Satan's
son/grandson by
incestuous union with
her.
• Raphael: Raphael is an
angel who is sent by God
to warn Adam about
Satan's infiltration of
Eden and to warn him
that Satan is going to try
to curse Adam and Eve.
He is the poem's narrator
of the account of Satan's
rebellion in Heaven and the
creation of the world, as told
to the human couple. He is
"sociably mild" in contrast to
the stern, military angels.
• Michael: After Adam
and Eve disobey
God by eating from
the Tree of
Knowledge, God
sends the angel
Michael to visit
Adam and Eve. His
duty is to escort
Adam and Eve out
of Paradise.
Feature: Inheritance from traditional writings
• 1)Influence from France and Italy;
• 2) The blank verse inherited from
Shakespeare;
• 3) Influenced and inspired by Greek and
Roman epics by Homer and Virgil;
• 4) The Bible as source material and the
themes of tragedy and redemption in
the Old Testament mini-epic
Grade of angles
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上位三阶：
Saraphines(Seraphim,Serafim)：炽天使，六翼天使。
Lucifer ：路西法，原天使长，光辉的晨星，后堕落。
Cherubines(Cherubim) ：智天使，负责守伊甸园。
Gabriel ：加百列，原七大天使之一，职务为警卫长，原为天使阶。
Uriel ：乌里叶，原七大天使之一。
Raffaele(Raphael) ：拉法叶（拉斐尔），原七大天使之一，原为能天使
阶。
Ithuriel ：神的发现。
Zephon ：神的探索。
Abdiel ：神之仆。
Zophiel ：神之斥候。
Thrones(Throni) ：座天使。
• 中位三阶：
• Dominations(Dominion) ：主天使（神权）。
地上界的天使均归其管辖，执行神交付的任
务。
• Virtues ：力天使（神德）。展现奇迹，耶稣
升天时在他身边出现过。
• Podesta(Powers,Puissances) ：能天使（神
力）。天使军团的主力攻击部队。
• 下位三级：
• Principautes(Principalities,Princedoms) ：权
天使（王子）。在天界看门的防御部队。
• Arcangel ：大天使。负责神与人之间的传达
。
• Remiel ：七大天使之一，神之猛兽，后堕落
。
• Ariel ：神之狮，后堕落。
• Arioc：神之猛狮，后堕落。
• Sariel ：七大天使之一。
• Razuel ：七大天使之一。
• Satan ：撒旦，堕落之魔王。
• Serpent:圣经创世纪中出现的巨大蛇形恶魔
• 8大堕落天使
Azazel阿撒兹勒
Rahab拉哈伯
Samael萨麦尔
Sariel沙利叶
Camael卡麦尔
隆)
Samyasa桑杨沙
Asbeel安士白
Ariel亚列
7大恶魔
Lucifer
Abadon
Samael
Berial
Satanail
9大天使
Michael(米迦勒)
Gabriel(加百列)
Raphael(拉斐尔)
Uriel(乌利尔)
Metatron(梅塔特
Beelzebul
Mastema
Sariel(沙利叶)
Raguel(拉贵尔)
Remiel(雷米尔)
Rasiel(拉结尔)
Symbols of Paradise lost
• The Scales in the Sky
• As Satan prepares to fight Gabriel when he is
discovered in Paradise, God causes the image of a
pair of golden scales to appear in the sky. On one
side of the scales, he puts the consequences of
Satan’s running away, and on the other he puts the
consequences of Satan’s staying and fighting with
Gabriel. The side that shows him staying and fighting
flies up, signifying its lightness and worthlessness.
These scales symbolize the fact that God and Satan
are not truly on opposite sides of a struggle—God is
all-powerful, and Satan and Gabriel both derive all of
their power from Him. God’s scales force Satan to
realize the futility of taking arms against one of God’s
angels again.
Symbols of Paradise lost
• Adam’s Wreath
• The wreath that Adam makes as he and Eve work
separately in Book IX is symbolic in several ways.
First, it represents his love for her and his attraction
to her. But as he is about to give the wreath to her,
his shock in noticing that she has eaten from the Tree
of Knowledge makes him drop it to the ground. His
dropping of the wreath symbolizes that his love and
attraction to Eve is falling away. His image of her as a
spiritual companion has been shattered completely,
as he realizes her fallen state. The fallen wreath
represents the loss of pure love.
Motifs of Paradise lost
• Light and Dark
• Opposites abound in Paradise Lost, including Heaven
and Hell, God and Satan, and good and evil. Milton’s
uses imagery of light and darkness to express all of
these opposites. Angels are physically described in
terms of light, whereas devils are generally described
by their shadowy darkness. Milton also uses light to
symbolize God and God’s grace. In his invocation in
Book III, Milton asks that he be filled with this light so
he can tell his divine story accurately and
persuasively. While the absence of light in Hell and in
Satan himself represents the absence of God and his
grace.
• The Geography of the Universe
• Milton divides the universe into four major regions: glorious
Heaven, dreadful Hell, confusing Chaos, and a young and
vulnerable Earth in between. The opening scenes that take
place in Hell give the reader immediate context as to
Satan’s plot against God and humankind. The intermediate
scenes in Heaven, in which God tells the angels of his
plans, provide a philosophical and theological context for
the story. Then, with these established settings of good and
evil, light and dark, much of the action occurs in between
on Earth. The powers of good and evil work against each
other on this new battlefield of Earth. Satan fights God by
tempting Adam and Eve, while God shows his love and
mercy through the Son’s punishment of Adam and Eve.
• Milton believes that any other information
concerning the geography of the universe is
unimportant. Milton acknowledges both the
possibility that the sun revolves around the Earth
and that the Earth revolves around the sun,
without coming down on one side or the other.
Raphael asserts that it does not matter which
revolves around which, demonstrating that Milton’s
cosmology（宇宙论） is based on the religious
message he wants to convey, rather than on the
findings of contemporaneous （同时代的）
science or astronomy（天文学）.
Conversation and Contemplation
• One common objection raised by readers of Paradise Lost is
that the poem contains relatively little action. Milton sought to
divert the reader’s attention from heroic battles and place it on
the conversations and contemplations of his characters.
Conversations comprise almost five complete books of Paradise
Lost, close to half of the text. Milton’s narrative emphasis on
conversation conveys the importance he attached to
conversation and contemplation, two pursuits that he believed
were of fundamental importance for a moral person. As with
Adam and Raphael, and again with Adam and Michael, the
sharing of ideas allows two people to share and spread God’s
message. Likewise, pondering God and his grace allows a
person to become closer to God and more obedient. Adam
constantly contemplates God before the fall, whereas Satan
contemplates only himself. After the fall, Adam and Eve must
learn to maintain their conversation and contemplation if they
hope to make their own happiness outside of Paradise.
Themes of Paradise lost
The Importance of Obedience to God
• The first words of Paradise Lost state that the poem’s
main theme will be “Man’s first Disobedience.” Milton
narrates the story of Adam and Eve’s disobedience,
explains how and why it happens, and places the
story within the larger context of Satan’s rebellion and
Jesus’ resurrection. Raphael tells Adam about
Satan’s disobedience in an effort to give him a firm
grasp of the threat that Satan and humankind’s
disobedience poses. In essence, Paradise Lost
presents two moral paths that one can take after
disobedience: the downward spiral of increasing sin
（罪恶） and degradation, represented by Satan,
and the road to redemption, represented by Adam
and Eve.
The Hierarchical Nature of the Universe
• Paradise Lost is about hierarchy as much as it is about
obedience. The layout of the universe—with Heaven above, Hell
below, and Earth in the middle— presents the universe as a
hierarchy(等级制度) based on proximity to God and his grace.
This spatial hierarchy leads to a social hierarchy of angels,
humans, animals, and devils: the Son is closest to God, with the
archangels and cherubs behind him. Adam and Eve and Earth’s
animals come next, with Satan and the other fallen angels
following last. To obey God is to respect this hierarchy.
• Satan refuses to honor the Son as his superior, thereby
questioning God’s hierarchy. As the angels in Satan’s camp
rebel, they hope to beat God and thereby dissolve what they
believe to be an unfair hierarchy in Heaven. When the Son and
the good angels defeat the rebel angels, the rebels are punished
by being banished far away from Heaven. At least, Satan argues
later, they can make their own hierarchy in Hell, but they are
nevertheless subject to God’s overall hierarchy, in which they
are ranked the lowest. Satan continues to disobey God and his
hierarchy as he seeks to corrupt mankind.
• Likewise, humankind’s disobedience is a corruption of
God’s hierarchy. Before the fall, Adam and Eve treat the
visiting angels with proper respect and
acknowledgement of their closeness to God, and Eve
embraces the subservient role allotted to her in her
marriage. God and Raphael both instruct Adam that Eve
is slightly farther removed from God’s grace than Adam
because she was created to serve both God and him.
When Eve persuades Adam to let her work alone, she
challenges him, her superior, and he yields to her, his
inferior. Again, as Adam eats from the fruit, he knowingly
defies God by obeying Eve and his inner instinct instead
of God and his reason. Adam’s visions in Books XI and
XII show more examples of this disobedience to God
and the universe’s hierarchy, but also demonstrate that
with the Son’s sacrifice, this hierarchy will be restored
once again.
The Fall as Partly Fortunate
• After he sees the vision of Christ’s redemption of humankind in
Book XII, Adam refers to his own sin as a felix culpa or “happy
fault,” suggesting that the fall of humankind, while originally
seeming an unmitigated catastrophe, does in fact bring good
with it. Adam and Eve’s disobedience allows God to show his
mercy and temperance in their punishments and his eternal
providence toward humankind. This display of love and
compassion, given through the Son, is a gift to humankind.
Humankind must now experience pain and death, but humans
can also experience mercy, salvation, and grace in ways they
would not have been able to had they not disobeyed. While
humankind has fallen from grace, individuals can redeem and
save themselves through continued devotion and obedience to
God. The salvation of humankind, in the form of The Son’s
sacrifice and resurrection, can begin to restore humankind to its
former state. In other words, good will come of sin and death,
and humankind will eventually be rewarded. This fortunate result
justifies God’s reasoning and explains his ultimate plan for
humankind.
Analysis of Paradise Lost
•Book I
•Book II
•Book III
Analysis of Book I
Milton tells us that he is tackling the story told in Genesis of the
Fall of Adam and the loss of the Garden of Eden. With it, Milton
will also be exploring a cosmic battle in heaven between good
and evil. Supernatural creatures, including Satan and the Judeo
Christian God himself, will be mixing with humans and acting and
reacting with humanlike feelings and emotions. As in other poetic
epics such as Homer's Iliad and Ulysses, the Popul Vuh, and
Gilgamesh, Milton is actually attempting to describe the nature of
man by reflecting on who his gods are and what his origins are.
By demonstrating the nature of the beings who created mankind,
Milton is presenting his, or his culture's , views on what good and
evil mean, what mankind's relationship is with the Absolute, what
man's destiny is as an individual and as a species. The story,
therefore, can be read as a simple narrative, with characters
interacting with each other along a plot and various subplots. It
can also, however, be extrapolated out to hold theological and
religious messages, as well as political and social themes.
Analysis of Book II
With each of the demon's proposals to fight heaven, we
see a reflection a number of different worldly concepts
of good and evil, heaven and hell. Milton, with the
devils, has his own idea of how good and evil is
balanced and, with the devils, refute the others as
impossible.
These constructs include: an eternal war between good
and evil (seen in folk religions where evil spirits must
be warded off by good spirits), evil's submission to
good and hope of redemption (seen in new age
concepts that all things are, in their essence, good),
and the opposite yet equal kingdoms of good and evil
(seen in Eastern religions with the Yin/Yang concepts).
All these suggestions do not work for the devils, and,
Milton is suggesting, they do not work theologically
either.
Analysis of Book III
Milton introduces the character of God and Son with
preparatory phrases of praise, almost a hymn, describing the
nature of God and heaven. From stanzas 1-55, Milton uses
the idea of light to represent this nature. Alternately, light is
used to describe God himself, the first born Son, the
immortality of God, the glory of God, grace, truth, wisdom,
and physical light. Heaven is a place, then, full of light but
much of it is an invisible light, i.e. the light of wisdom, that
man cannot perceive in the same manner as physical light
but which works in the same way.
Book III introduces the other settings of the epic as well,
including heaven and earth, tied to each other with a golden
chain and a passageway for angels to go down to earth and
help with creation. Milton's universe is structured fairly
simply: earth is in the middle, tied to heaven above it and a
soon-to-be constructed bridge to hell leading below it.
Between the earth and hell is Chaos. In concentric circles, or
invisible globes surrounding earth, are the various orbits of
the sun and moon, stars and planets around the earth (the
earth is still in the middle).
Excerpt and its Translation
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Though chang'd in outward lustre; that fixt mind
And high disdain, from sence of injur'd merit,
That with the mightiest rais'd me to contend,
And to the fierce contention brought along
虽然外表的光环消失了，
但不移的信念和岸然的骄矜决不转变；
武力的受损，激动了我，
决心率领无数天军投入剧烈的战斗，和强权一决高低
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，
• Here we may reign secure, and in my choyce
• To reign is worth ambition though in Hell:
• Better to reign in Hell, then serve in Heav'n.
• 地狱，决不会把我从这里赶走。我们在这里可以
稳坐江山，
• 我倒要在地狱里称王，大展宏图，
• 与其在天堂里做奴隶，倒不如在地狱里称王。
• Seven Sins
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Pride-Lucifer
Greed-Mammon
Gluttony-Beelzebub
Lust-Asmodeus
Envy-Leviathan
Sloth-Berial
Wrath-Satan
Milton's secondary purpose seems to be to depict
woman's disobedience and to justify the ways of God
to woman. Do you agree or disagree with the critic?
Milton?
• 1674 "woman" was obviously not the same thing as 2008
"woman" (not to mention Scriptural "woman"). You're probably
too young to remember, but there was a time when the terms
"man," or "he" in hypothesis, by definition included men and
women. (So far, we have not been reprimanded for respecting
that tradition here, or for always saying "Adam and Eve," never
"Eve and Adam.") I don't see a separation in Milton's intent. He
was speaking to both, and accusing both of the sin of
disobedience.
• Eve's pulling away from Adam in IX may have led to her
downfall, but by today's standard it's one of her more normal
moments. Milton's dialogue argues both male and female sides
so well in this scene it's hard to tell whether he is accusatory or
in sympathy with her.
"Paradise Lost:" A Revival of the
Spirit
•
An instance in which Milton's views on the sovereignty of the
Spirit appear in some of the conversations of the Arch Fiend
himself with his fellows—which is quite ironic, considering that
the story is an extrapolation upon Christian Scripture. One of
Satan's "compeers" says, during a discussion after their exile
from Heaven:
• Too well I see and rue the dire event
That, with sad overthrow and foul defeat,
Hath lost us Heaven, and all this mighty host
In horrible destruction laid thus low,
As far as Gods and heavenly Essences
Can perish: for the mind and spirit remains
Invincible, and vigour soon returns,
Though all our glory extinct, and happy state
Here swallowed up in endless misery (I:135-140).
• The invincibility of "the mind and spirit" is
something which even the foes of God understand.
Though the fallen angels corrupt their "heavenly
Essences" with disobedience and revolt, they still
have a keen understanding of the powers of
perception, of personal reaction to one's
environment—"for neither do the Spirits damned/
Lose all their virtue" (2:482-483). Satan boldly
speaks to his fellows, asking
• What though the field be lost?
All is not lost—the unconquerable will . . .
And courage never to submit or yield (I:105-108).
• Like a true hero, Satan refers to conquest and courage, a response
to the tyranny he and his cohorts have received from the hand of
God. It is this attitude—of adventurous righteousness—which
many cite as sufficient to show the fallen Archangel to be the hero
of the work. However, working within the confines of the Biblical
account, Milton could not reasonably—even if he wished—display
Satan as the outright protagonist and epic hero. Therefore, it can
only be his qualities of trust in the Spirit, in his own Consciousness
as a fortress against the harms surrounding him, that can represent
the truly heroic aspect Satan is a deeply solipsistic character, well
aware of the world and his situation in it. Though he becomes quite
fatalistic at times and denies possibilities of recovery from his
downfall, essentially, he knows that the loss of Heaven as a place is
always permanent:
Infernal world! and thou, profoundest Hell,
Receive thy new possessor—one who brings
A mind not to be changed by place or time.
The mind is its own place, and in itself
Can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven.
What matter where, if I be still the same
. . . Here at least/ We shall be free . . .
we may reign secure; and, in my choice,
To reign is worth ambition, though in Hell:
Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven.
Similarities and differences between Milton's
creation story and that of the Bible
•
Milton follows the Bible's physical account of the days of
creation closely, quoting nearly verbatim at points. He
expands upon it and details it using his imagination.
There is technically no inconsistency between Milton and
Genesis创始. Milton has the work of creation delegated
to the Son. Most people assume it was the Father who
did the creating, though it is not so stated in Genesis.
Milton may have lessened the impact, though, having
God send forth the Son in his chariot "on the wings of
Cherubim uplifted" where "all his train followed in bright
procession to behold Creation." The Bible's imagery of
the solitary Creator moving through the dark, empty
abyss is more powerful in its simplicity.
What Effect did Paradise Lost
Have on Society?
• God, Satan, the Beginning, and the surrounding
events and consequences had never before been so
uncompromisingly exposed. The poem brought to
light some difficult moral conflicts and paradoxes,
with images that carried a heavy emotional burden.
Make of it what you will, but it has been noted by
theologians that the doctrines of the Fall, and of hell,
have experienced a gradual decline in importance as
essential basis to the Christian faith, continuing to
the present time, and beginning at about the time of
the poem's publication.
The Tyranny of Heav'n: Milton, Magistrates,
and the Rhetoric of Satan's Protestantism in
Paradise Lost
• John Milton defended not only the overthrow, but also the
execution of Charles I in his Tenure of Kings and Magistrates.
In the second edition of Tenure of Kings and Magistrates,
Milton marshals a variety of oddly misrepresented Protestant
authorities to bolster his case. Protestant Christians--from
Luther, to Calvin, to Anabaptist figures such as Thomas Mh
ntzer, to such contemporary English Presbyterian figures as
Stephen Marshall--had long argued over what rights
magistrates (but not the common people) had to take up arms
against a king. The crux of the argument is this: Who may
resist a king, and under what circumstances? In summary
terms, the conclusions of the above-mentioned figures are
these: so-called "private-persons" may themselves take no
action whatsoever against either a king, a prince, or an inferior
magistrate; these magistrates and/or princes may resist, and
may even depose, a king or other superior ruler, if that ruler is
behaving in a grossly unjust and violent way toward his
subjects.
Paradise Regained
• Milton followed up Paradise Lost with its
sequel（续篇）, Paradise Regained,
published alongside the tragedy Samson
Agonistes, in 1671. Both these works also
resonate with Milton’s post-Restoration
political situation.
Background
• John Milton's eyesight began to fail
in 1644. By 1652, he was totally
blind. Oddly, he wrote his greatest
works, Paradise Lost and
Paradise Regained, after he
became blind. Many scholars rank
Milton as second only to
Shakespeare in poetic ability.
SONNET XIX.
ON HIS BLINDNESS.
WHEN I consider how my light is spent,
Ere half my days in this dark world and wide,
And that one talent which is death to hide
Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent
To serve therewith my Maker, and present
My true account, lest He returning chide,
'Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?'
I fondly ask. But patience, to prevent
That murmur, soon replies, 'God doth not need
Either man's work or his own gifts. Who best
Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state
Is kingly: thousands at his bidding speed,
And post o'er land and ocean without rest;
They also serve who only stand and wait.'
•
ere half my days.—Taking March 1652 as the date at which the blindness
was complete, Milton's age was forty-four.
—dark and wide.—In Milton's imagination the great size of the habitable
globe was a constant element. Paradise Lost, 12. 370—'and bound his
reign With earth's wide bounds.' The epithet here enforces the impression
we receive of the helplessness of the blind.
one talent which is death to hide.—The allusion is to the parable of the
talents, Matt. 25.
fondly = foolishly—'he who to be deemed a god, leaped fondly into Ætna
flames.'—P.L., 3. 470.
thousands.—'Millions of spiritual creatures walk the earth Unseen both
when we wake and when we sleep.'—P.L., 4. 677.
Translation
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我思量，我怎么还未到生命的中途，
就已耗尽光明，走上这黑暗的茫茫的世路，
我这完全埋没了的庸才，对我毫无用处，
虽然我的心思是要多多服务，
想要鞠躬尽瘁地服务于我的创造主，
算清我的帐，免得他要向我发怒；
“难道上帝不给光明却要计算日工吗？”
•
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我愚蠢地一问，“忍耐”就把我的话止住，
立刻回答道：“上帝不需要人的服务，
也不要你还他什么礼物；
谁能忍受得起痛苦，就是最好的服务；
他的国度气派堂皇，听他差遣的不计其数，
他们奔走忙碌于海洋和大陆；
那些站立得稳，坚定不移的也是服务。
Translation
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世茫茫兮，我目已盲。
天赋两目，如托千金。
嗟我目兮，於我无用。
忠以计会，虔以事主。
嗟彼上帝，既闭吾瞳。
忍耐之心，可生奥义。
不较所赐，岂较作事。
上帝惟皇，在彼苍苍。
驶行水陆，莫敢遑适。
静言思之，尚未半生。
今我藏之，其实难任。
虽则无用，我心郑重。
恐主归时，纵刑无补。
愚心自忖，岂责我工。
苍苍上帝，不较所赐。
惟我与轭，负之靡暨。
一呼其令，万臣锵锵。
彼待立者，都为其役。
• This is a Petrarchan
sonnet(彼特
拉克体十四行诗）, of iambic
pentameter and yet again simple diction,
full and half-rhyme, enjambment and
contraction.
• This type of sonnet, popularized by the
Italian priest Petrarch (1304-1374), has
a rhyme scheme of ABBA, ABBA, CDE,
and CDE.
• This sonnet is conjecturally dated 1655, because in the vol. of 1673 it follows
the Piedmontese（(意大利一行政区)皮埃蒙特[人,语] ） sonnet.
•
Milton's sight had been long threatened before it was finally extinguished.
In a letter to the Greek Philaras, the agent in London of the Duke of Parma,
dated September 1654, Milton says it was ten years, more or less, since he
had first found his eyes failing. The blindness had become total probably
about March 1652, in which month Weckherlin was appointed by the Council
of State to assist Milton as secretary. The calamity was precipitated by his
persistence in writing his Defension pro populo Anglicano contra Salmasium,
though warned by his physician of the consequences.
• The reader will observe that in the present lament, Milton does not bewail
his own privation, but insists wholly on the wreck of the heaven-appointed
task to which he considered himself called and set apart.
•
'My often thought is,' he writes to Philaras, 1654, 'that since to all of us are
decreed many days of darkness, as saith the Wise Man, Eccles. 11, 8, my
dark thus far, by the singular favour of Providence, hath been much tolerable
than that dark of the grave, passed as it hath been amid leisure and study,
cheered by the visits and conversation of friends.'
• The poem is literally about a man who is blind, and thus his God-given
talent, which is the ability to write, is useless to him and to God.
Although a possible translation of the “Talent” could be translated into
a monetary（货币的、金钱的） value because of its biblical implication
（基督教内涵）, the more accurate definition is “the ability to write,”
because you can not write in the dark, and Milton himself went blind by
the end of his life. “Doth （dose）God exact day-labor, light
denied, ”shows that the speak
• A sonnet provides a poet with a set of implied
but strict guidelines that they must follow in
order for their poem to be considered a
legitimate sonnet. In “When I Consider How
My Light Is Spent,” the struggle between a
physically handicapped man and ironically his
lack of “blind” faith in the truth of God is
exposed. The question and answer form that
is usually associated a Petrarchan or Italian
sonnet allows the reader to understand the
speaker’s conscience. However, Milton
chooses to utilize the question and answer
sequence of this sonnet to emphasize the
poem’s overall theme, and to further support
the notion that as the speaker realizes he
does not need God.
• This poem serves as a literal reflection on the
man’s current situation, and instead of this
sonnet providing a resolution, it rather mocks
God’s “kingly nature” and deduces the notion
that effort to please God is a waste. “They also
serve who only stand and wait”(14) confirms the
speaker’s decision to be like those who do not
overexert themselves. This line is a mockery
towards God, for in lines 11-12 the speaker refers
to God as “kingly” with thousands of followers,
yet the speaker plans to just “wait” knowing that
his talent of writing is not necessary to please
God. At the beginning of the poem, the speaker
feels bitterness and hatred towards God because
of his blindness, yet he hopes to make the effort
to expose his abilities to the fullest possible
extent,
Analysis of On His Blindness
This is the most stately and pathetic
sonnet in existence.
The soul enduring enforced idleness
and loss of power without repining.
Inactivity made to serve a higher end.
Meter
• All the lines in the poem are in iambic
pentameter. In this metric pattern, a line
has five pairs of unstressed and stressed
syllables, for a total of ten syllables. The
first two lines of the poem illustrate this
pattern:
•
1...........2........... 3............4............5
When I | con SID | er HOW.| my LIFE | is SPENT
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1................2............ 3...............4....................5
Ere HALF | my DAYS | in THIS | dark WORLD.| and WIDE
Philosophy
By the late 1650s, Milton was a proponent of
monism or animist materialism, the notion that
a single material substance which is "animate,
self-active, and free" composes everything in
the universe: from stones and trees and
bodies to minds, souls, angels, and God.
Milton devised this position to avoid the mindbody dualism of Plato and Descartes as well as
the mechanistic determinism of Hobbes.
Milton's monism is most notably reflected in
Paradise Lost when he has angels eat (5.433–
39) and engage in sexual intercourse (8.622–29)
and the De Doctrina, where he denies the dual
natures of man and argues for a theory of
Creation ex Deo.
Political thought
•
In his political writing, Milton addressed
particular themes at different periods. The
years 1641–42 were dedicated to church
politics and the struggle against
episcopacy. After his divorce writings,
Areopagitica, and a gap, he wrote in 1649–
54 in the aftermath of the execution of
Charles I, and in polemic justification of
the regicide and the existing
Parliamentarian regime. Then in 1659–60
he foresaw the Restoration, and wrote to
head it off.
•
Milton's own beliefs were in some cases
both unpopular and dangerous, and this was
true particularly to his commitment to
republicanism. In coming centuries, Milton
would be claimed as an early apostle of
liberalism.
Theology
• Like many Renaissance artists before him, Milton
attempted to integrate Christian theology with
classical modes. In his early poems, the poet narrator
expresses a tension between vice and virtue, the
latter invariably related to Protestantism. In Comus
Milton may make ironic use of the Caroline court
masque by elevating notions of purity and virtue over
the conventions of court revelry and superstition. In
his later poems, Milton's theological concerns
become more explicit. In 1648 he wrote a hymn How
lovely are thy dwelling fair, a paraphrase of Psalm 84,
that explains his view on God
•
Milton embraced many heterodox
Christian theological views. He rejected
the Trinity, in the belief that the Son was
subordinate to the Father, a position
known as Arianism; and his sympathy or
curiosity was probably engaged by
Socinianism: in August 1650 he licensed
for publication by William Dugard the
Racovian Catechism, based on a nontrinitarian creed.
•
After the restoration, Milton continued to advocate
freedom of worship and republicanism of England
while he supervised the publication of his poems.
Soon after the succession of Charles II, Milton was
arrested and threatened with execution for regicide.
People such as his brother, Christopher, Andrew
Marvell and William Davenant interceded and on his
behalf. The exact date and location of his death is
unknown, but it is thought to be in London on 8
November 1674 from complications from gout,
possibly renal failure. He was buried inside St. Giles
Cripplegate Church in London.
•
Once Paradise Lost was published, Milton's
stature as epic poet was immediately recognised. He
cast a formidable shadow over English poetry in the
18th and 19th centuries; he was often judged equal
or superior to all other English poets, including
Shakespeare. Very early on, though, he was
championed by Whigs, and decried by Tories: with
the regicide Edmund Ludlow he was claimed as an
early Whig,[67] while the High Tory Anglican minister
Luke Milbourne (1649–1720) lumped Milton in with
other "Agents of Darkness" such as John Knox,
George Buchanan, Richard Baxter, Algernon Sidney
and John Locke.
•Pictures. & Lines