Milton's View of the Bible

Why did Milton choose to tell the story of Satan? He seems to have felt the need to put his own view of Satan into the mix and make him the anti-hero or main character of his tale. Through Milton's story we are able to see the beginnings of Satan's perspective on the fall of Eden and why he pushed the humans toward committing sin.

A Beautiful Satan Portrayal

This perspective of Satan seems a little bit different then how we usually hear of Satan. We see Satan as being portrayed as this military leader giving a speech to his troops to not give up even though they have been defeated by God once. This portrayal seems to almost humanize Satan in way that seeing him as this other worldly grotesque beast cannot do. Even though you do not agree with what he doing, bertraying God, you can relate to the speeches that he is giving to his troops to hold their heads up and continue to fight.

Courageous General

Satan being Satan w/ some beautiful poetry?

My initial observation of this reading was the way these words sounded and how they flowed when being read. The structure of these words was incredible, and it sounds so much better when read aloud. I believe it is better when read aloud as opposed to being read silently due to the fact that this was story was spoken aloud by a blind Milton before being transcribed. 

After having read the first couple hundred lines, and re-read them, I listened to a recording while following along. Having it read to me while I read as well helped me understand the rhythm of the lines. This was helped even more by the footnotes which tells the reader which words were meant to be read in a certain way, a way which the modern English reader may not read them (i.e. "perpetual" is meant to be read with 3 syllables as "per-pet-chal").

The brief introduction before the reading also kind of prepared me for what I was about to dive into, which I found helpful in navigating the words. Also, identifying the subject and sorting the pronouns was massively helpful (though difficult).

me @ all the helpful stuff

The Satan-talk begins pretty much right away, when discussing Eden, and we all know what happened there. We also hear about Satan convincing/tricking/getting people to do other stuff, "Who first seduced them to that foul revolt? / Th' infernal Serpent" (lines 33-34). 

Also early on, we get that Satan and his "host of rebel angels" (dibs on that band name) are cast out because Satan wanted to overthrow God's monarchy (around line 40-45), which I found to be a really interesting word choice especially due to the discussions we've recently had in class about treason/Charles' execution. While there's almost a 20 year gap between these two events, I can't imagine the views on treason changed much, and if a king can be executed for it I imagine Satan won't be looked upon highly for speaking against God's monarchy. 

I found this a really pleasant challenge in that this was really difficult to read, but greatly rewarding once I understood it. I'd also like to throw in the disclaimer that I'm proud to have been able to understand maybe 1/3 of what I read, but that's a good enough improvement for me. 

How A-Muse-ing

I find the most interesting aspects of Paradise Lost to be Milton's use of language and the context that surrounds the language within the writing. What I mean is that Milton makes clear early in the epic that he is speaking the words that are brought to him through a "Heav'nly Muse". This Muse is not specifically given name, but the idea that verse and elevated language come from the divine property of the Muse seem appropriate and coincide with the subject that Milton is writing about.

Despite the difficult language in Paradise Lost, we are given what is almost a short summary at the beginning of Book One which made it significantly easier for me to follow the movement of the first section. It is my interpretation that the form that Milton writes in (be it his own voice or that of the Muse) is meant to be eloquent and in this way demonstrating the importance of the divine nature of the content. The summary couldn't help me all the way through, however, as there are plenty of what I assume are biblical allusions that I am just not familiar with.

Another aspect of this epic that I found important is the way meter is included without rhyme. Although this is also found in Beowulf and The Odyssey, it is specifically stated before Book One in the section titled The Verse that the English language's modern "bondage" to rhyme is "troublesome" and there is a reason why Milton chose to forgo the use of rhyme in Paradise Lost. Although I am not sure if this section was written by Milton himself, it addresses the lack of rhyme in Milton's verse and states the belief that truly elevated language is muddied or made less eloquent by the "jingling" sound of "like endings". While I don't disagree or agree with this statement particularly, I do find it interesting that this was an idea that people shared. It is stated that the carefully chosen number of syllables and the way they are carried from one verse to the next is what truly makes powerful language in poetry and this certainly reflects in Milton's writing. I am inclined to agree that had Milton chosen to write Paradise Lost entirely in rhyming meter, it would not have this same quality of sound that makes it so grand.

It's Always Sunny in Helledeplhia

So Paradise Lost is an interesting piece of work, that's for sure. I wasn't quite sure what on Earth was going on at first- I managed to discern that Satan & pals were plotting what their next move was after God kicked them out of Heaven, but beyond that I wasn't too sure. I checked a summary (BUT NOT THE ANALYSIS) and found that thankfully, my interpretation was right. Score one for me.

After they escape their time-out in the Lake of Fire (which I assume is a big pool of lava? Fire can't really be a lake since it's not a liquid. Maybe God just poured a bunch of oil into some water and lit it on fire- man, I hope not, that's terrible for the environment), Satan & the Gang construct their super secret fort of awesome, Pandemonium, and they have a bit of a discussion about how to get back at the big bearded guy in the sky for throwing them down into Hell.

And so it would seem that Satan and his Cretinous Cohorts have decided that rather than waging a war with Heaven, they're gonna get back at God in the lowest way possible (as befits the denizens of Hell)- by corrupting the youth! (aka humanity!)

Those bastards. It all makes sense now.

I'm actually really interested to see where this is going. I've heard of Paradise Lost before, but only in name- I never knew it was actually about Satan and friends doing their evil business and fighting with Heaven. So far I'm invested and eager to read more (and doubly eager to comprehend what I'm reading. Boy, this is tricky stuff.)

Supernatural

Okay.. so, what? I understand the first few lines of this poem, where it is talking about eve eating the forbidden fruit and that being the fall of mankind (which it is the fall of mankind in most religions.) I understand where it says that this is what brought death into this world, it brought sin, hate, all negative things into the world... and I understand the part where it says Jesus is to restore the world, (because he does when he comes back to life.) This is something that you would have to have strong biblical knowledge to understand. This is not resonating with me...whatsoever.

From what I can understand... and without any prior knowledge I feel like I wouldnt understand this at all.. it seems to go from the fall of man, to the fall of satan... but satans fall eventually led to the fall of mankind. Its one in the same. Satan fell from heaven due to his own actions but blamed everything on God, His refusal to bow down, and his desire for power... his own selfishness put him in hell. "Against the throne and monarchy of God,/ Raised impious war in Heav'n and battle proud," (why is heaven spelled like that?) shows this fight that Satan had with God. He went against him knowing God had the power to cast him out of heaven.

I dont know if anyone else watches the show Supernatural... but remember when all the Angels fell from heaven to Earth? Thats the picture I get in my head when I read this.

Except it wasnt Angels falling from heaven, it was Satan and it was within good reason, and he wasnt coming to Earth, but Hell.

This, from what I can tell is an elaborate way of explaining what the bible already tells us, with what seems to be much exageration,

Locked out of Heaven

This book revolves around the Devil's fall from heaven and the aftermath that follows due to how the Devil feels. 

One part that I found particularly important was the juxtaposition of the Devil's life when he was in heaven and then how it was when he fell into hell. One line I thought really described this well saying how he once had the view of an angel but now all he sees is this dismal dungeon, where there is constant fire and he is trapped here for an eternity. This reminds me of a rags to riches story but in this case it would be riches to rags. The devil had everything he could possibly need in heaven but due to his own actions, he fell from heaven and ended up in hell. The problem here lies in that the devil didn't think it was his own fault that he ended up in hell and blames it all on God. Imagine losing everything you have and believing that it was caused by someone else's doing. You would be pretty upset too.

How did the Devil end up in hell you may ask? Well, he wanted to be just as powerful as God was and take his place. The Devil talks about how he will never bow down to God as it is better to reign in hell than it is to serve in heaven. Basically the devil would rather be his own ruler in misery than a servant in happiness. He viewed God as a tyrant over heaven who needed to be dethroned so that he could be God and rule over the universe. This reminded me of people during this time seeing their rulers as tyrants and not wanting to follow them too. I think more important than the devil viewing God as a tyrant, is the fact that the devil would not have been happy serving in heaven no matter who was in charge as he isn't happy serving anyone but himself. 

When the Devil and his followers were cast out of heaven, it enraged the Devil. It then became his sole mission to ruin any good plans that God had for the world. He talks about how doing ill towards others will be their sole delight and how they will think up things that will offend God the most. I wonder if the Devil had actually managed to dethrone God, if his plans for the world would have been good. I'm not sure if the devil was inherently evil or if being kicked out of heaven made him evil in order to spite God.