Author: John Milton
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 288
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Book Description
Milton's poem of epic scale, conjuring up a vast, awe-inspiring cosmos and ranging across huge tracts of space and time. And yet, in putting a charismatic Satan and naked Adam and Eve at the centre of this story, he also created an intensely human tragedy on the Fall of Man. Written when Milton was in his fifties - blind, bitterly disappointed by the Restoration and briefly in danger of execution - Paradise Lost's apparent ambivalence towards authority has led to intense debate about whether it manages to 'justify the ways of God to men', or exposes the cruelty of Christianity.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.Say first-for Heaven hides nothing from thy view, Nor the deep tract of Hell-say first what cause Moved our grand parents, in that happy state, Favoured of Heaven so highly, to fall off From their Creator, and transgress his will For one restraint, lords of the World besides. Who first seduced them to that foul revolt? Th' infernal Serpent; he it was whose guile, Stirred up with envy and revenge, deceived The mother of mankind, what time his pride Had cast him out from Heaven, with all his host Of rebel Angels, by whose aid, aspiring To set himself in glory above his peers, He trusted to have equalled the Most High, If he opposed, and with ambitious aim Against the throne and monarchy of God, Raised impious war in Heaven and battle proud, With vain attempt. Him the Almighty Power Hurled headlong flaming from th' ethereal sky, With hideous ruin and combustion, down To bottomless perdition, there to dwell In adamantine chains and penal fire, Who durst defy th' Omnipotent to arms.Nine times the space that measures day and night To mortal men, he, with his horrid crew, Lay vanquished, rolling in the fiery gulf, Confounded, though immortal. But his doom Reserved him to more wrath; for now the thought Both of lost happiness and lasting pain Torments him: round he throws his baleful eyes, That witnessed huge affliction and dismay, Mixed with obdurate pride and steadfast hate. At once, as far as Angels ken, he views The dismal situation waste and wild. A dungeon horrible, on all sides round, As one great furnace flamed; yet from those flames No light; but rather darkness visible Served only to discover sights of woe, Regions of sorrow, doleful shades, where peace And rest can never dwell, hope never comes That comes to all, but torture without end Still urges, and a fiery deluge, fed With ever-burning sulphur unconsumed. Such place Eternal Justice has prepared For those rebellious; here their prison ordained In utter darkness, and their portion set, As far removed from God and light of Heaven As from the centre thrice to th' utmost pole.
Author: John Milton
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781781391730
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 548
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Book Description
"Including Paradise lost, Paradise regain'd & 50 other works" -- Cover.
Author: John Milton
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 482
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Book Description
Paradise Lost remains as challenging and relevant today as it was in the turbulent intellectual and political environment in which it was written. This edition aims to bring the poem as fully alive to a modern reader as it would have been to Milton's contemporaries. It provides a newly edited text of the 1674 edition of the poem-the last of Milton's lifetime-with carefully modernized spelling and punctuation.
Author: John Milton
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781944503611
Category : Bible
Languages : en
Pages :
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Book Description
"'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....' Opening Lines of Paradise Lost. While Homer, Virgil, and Dante chose to tell the stories of mere men who conquered kingdoms, sacked cities, and passed through terrors, Milton chose as the subject for his epic poem one of the greatest events in the history of the world-the Fall. Milton portrays the devil as a classical hero who infects the first man and woman with pride and self-regard. Milton takes all the best of classical poetry and uses it to tell a story about simple obedience, petty self-love, and unfathomable forgiveness"--
Author: Harry Blamires
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0429624468
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 352
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Book Description
First published in 1971. The intention of Milton’s Creation is to provide the student with a simple and direct entry into Paradise Lost. The author is not concerned with taking sides in critical controversy. His aim is to elucidate Milton’s primary meanings; this is a work of exegesis, not of interpretation. In this new book, on arguably the greatest epic in the English language, the central substance of Milton’s ‘great Argument’ is articulated with great clarity. By keeping in mind the epic status and universality common to Paradise Lost and Ulysses, the author introduces a post-Joycean perspective into his vision of Milton’s Creation.
Author: John Milton
Author: John Milton
Author: John Milton
Author: John Milton
Author: John Milton
Author: John Milton