Milton , Epic Poetry, and…
Born December 9, 1608 in London, England
Wealthy Protestant parents
BA and MA from Cambridge University (1632)
Intensely studied theology, philosophy, history,
politics, and literature.
 Fluent in 8 languages
 Traveled through Europe 1638-1639, meeting
many influential people, including Galileo
 Married three times; two wives died
 Became completely blind in 1654 (glaucoma)
 Died of kidney failure in November of 1674
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Wrote many “radical” pamphlets arguing for
individual rights such as divorce, free speech,
and freedom of the press
Believed that people should obey their
leaders and leaders should be “fit” to rule
Found the government (Charles I) and church
in England to be corrupt
Believed each individual Christian should be
his or her own church
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Milton believed Charles I unfit to be ruler
Wrote prose tracts in service of Puritan
(Parliamentary) cause
His “The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates”
(1649) defended popular government and
implicitly sanctioned regicide
Following the execution of Charles I, Milton
was appointed as Secretary for Foreign
Tongues by the Council of State in March
1649
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Cromwell’s death in 1658 caused the English
Republic to collapse
As the Republic disintegrated, Milton wrote
several proposals to retain an non-monarchial
government
Upon the Restoration in May 1660, Milton
went into hiding for his life; his writings were
burned.
He was restored to favor by influential friends
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Composed by the blind and impoverished
Milton from 1658-1664
First edition printed with 10 books – 1664
Second edition with 12 books – 1674
Presents a number of Protestant Christian
positions
 Union of Old and New Testaments
 Unworthiness of mankind
 Importance of Christ’s love in man’s salvation
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A classic literary form. Homer recorded the first
major epic poems – The Iliad and The Odyssey
Epic requirements
 Begin in medias rex with an invocation to a muse
 Long, narrative poem
 Epic proportions (characters immortal or royal)
 Vast in setting
 Involve a hero
 Contain gods, demons, monsters, etc.
 Written in verse (most common is iambic pentameter)
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Set apart from other epics
because it deals with deeds on
a cosmic scale, not earthly
matters.
Written in blank verse
Adapts epic tradition to
Christianity by causing the
“muse” to be the Holy Spirit
Deals with the act of
disobedience: eating the fruit
from the forbidden tree, the
resulting banishment, and
salvation
Question: If God is good and
He is in control, then why do
bad things happen?
 Milton’s Answer: God is not
responsible for these evils. God
gave Adam and Eve the choice
between good and evil, plus
the strength to resist evil. They
disobeyed and their offspring –
all of us – have suffered ever
since.
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Milton asserts God
purposely let Satan
escape from Hell and
establish himself on
Earth so humans
would have something
to fight against – and
with God’s help,
triumph over.
At the beginning of the
poem, the war in
heaven has been over
for two weeks
 For nine days, Satan
and the other rebel
angels have been lying
in hell, stunned
 The first character to
move is Satan
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Synopsis of Book I:
 Lines 1-74: Invocation of the Muse
 Lines 75-270: Satan and Beelzebub wake up in
Hell
 Lines 271-374: Satan rouses the fallen demons
 Lines 375-544: A catalog of demons
 Lines 545-621: Description of the assembling
demons
 Lines 622-662: Satan calls the troops to war
 Lines 663-798: Hosts of demons transform
Hell in preparation for War
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Here, Milton introduces the poem by invoking his
“muse”—he asks the muse to sing a story of the original sin
by Adam and Eve, and their pre-ordained redemption by
Christ:
Of Mans 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 Heav'nly 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 Heav'ns and Earth
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20
Milton asks the holy spirit for inspiration, and for the ability “to
justify the ways of God to men.” This goal betrays a particularly
“modern” and “humanist” sensibility, as opposed to the
traditional assumption of unquestioned divine authority in
feudal Europe:
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 satst 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 highth of this great Argument
I may assert th' Eternal Providence,
And justifie the wayes of God to men.
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Satan awakes from his unconscious state, and registers
his defeat and addresses his next-in-command,
Beelzebub:
104
What though the field be lost?
All is not lost; the unconquerable Will,
And study of revenge, immortal hate,
And courage never to submit or yield:
And what is else not to be overcome?
Satan’s language sounds noble and heroic
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Satan refuses to grovel
before a tyrannical God:
To bow and sue for grace
With suppliant knee, and deifie his power
Who from the terrour of this Arm so late
Doubted his Empire, that were low indeed,
That were an ignominy and shame beneath
This downfall;
110
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Beelzebub’s assertion that “the mind and spirit remains
invincible” is a very “modern” idea, emphasizing the
autonomy of the individual human in contrast to the
divinely-ordained hierarchy of the feudal social order and
the assumption that the individual is defined by his or her
place in the social hierarchy, rather than by the individual
will.
140
Too well I see and rue the dire event,
That with sad overthrow and foul defeat
Hath lost us Heav'n, and all this mighty Host
In horrible destruction laid thus low,
As far as Gods and Heav'nly Essences
Can Perish: for the mind and spirit remains
Invincible, and vigour soon returns,
Though all our Glory extinct, and happy state
Here swallow'd up in endless misery.
Satan’s stubborn defiance might sound admirable and heroic to
modern readers, but, since his battle is against God, he is doomed.
The more he succeeds, the more misery he will heap upon himself. Of
course, if he surrendered, that would be to deny his individuality—
effectively, he would cease to exist. He would merge into the mass of
Angels; he would no longer stand out.
160
Whereto with speedy words th' Arch-fiend reply'd.
Fall'n Cherube, to be weak is miserable
Doing or Suffering: but of this be sure,
To do ought good never will be our task,
But ever to do ill our sole delight,
As being the contrary to his high will
Whom we resist. If then his Providence
Out of our evil seek to bring forth good,
Our labour must be to pervert that end,
And out of good still to find means of evil;
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In his address to the demonic legions,
Satan again emphasizes individual
autonomy and self-determination:
For who can yet beleeve, though after loss,
That all these puissant Legions, whose exile
Hath emptied Heav'n, shall faile to re-ascend
Self-rais'd, and repossess their native seat.
630
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Finally, Satan represents God as a tyrannical monarch.
Like the traditional feudal aristocracy, God rules not
because he deserves to rule by merit, but only because of
tradition and “custom”:
640
But he who reigns
Monarch in Heav'n, till then as one secure
Sat on his Throne, upheld by old repute,
Consent or custome, and his Regal State
For who can yet beleeve, though after loss,
That all these puissant Legions, whose exile
Hath emptied Heav'n, shall faile to re-ascend
Self-rais'd, and repossess their native seat.