Paradise Lost
Book 9 (annotated)
, The angel guest is Raphael, whose discourse with Adam Tragic. Milton wrote a short essay called "Of that sort of
No more of talk where God or Angel guest has extended from the angel's arrival in Book V to the Dramatic Poem which is call'd Tragedy" and printed it
end of Book VIII. Sometimes, however, God seemed to
with Samson Agonistes in 1671. See also Aristotle's
With Man, as with his friend, familiar us'd speak directly to man (as in one instance which Adam
recounts to Raphael) but always (so Milton held) Poetics 1449b on tragedy. Milton now places his epic
through the unrecognized medium of the Son or some within the tradition of tragedy, as it involves the fall of a
To sit indulgent, and with him partake angel. The intimacy of Earth and Heaven marked by
Raphael's joining Adam and Eve in their rural repast and
great man through some special flaw. Milton both reaffirms
Rural repast; permitting him the while his permitting Adam venial discourse (light but his ability and speaks with appropriate Christian humility,
blameless talk) is now to be lost. mentioning his old age and asking the Holy Spirit to finish
Venial discourse unblam'd. I now must change [5] the poem through him. The Fall of Man will be the tragic
Venial. Mistaken; erroneous without being
Those notes to tragick; distrust, and breach blameworthy or sinful. For example, in book 8, climax of the poem, but there is no suspense about its
Raphael tells Adam it is a mistake to be outcome whatsoever, as it has been foretold from the start
Disloyal on the part of Man, revolt overconcerned with matters of no concern to him, and is part of Christian doctrine.
but this mistake is nevertheless blameless (8.65-75
And disobedience: on the part of Heaven and 167-178). Error, in Paradise, is not equivalent to into this World a world of woe. This line echoes the early lines of
sin. Sin is disobedience. book 1, which in turn echo fairly closely Virgil's narrative voice in
Now alienated, distance and distaste Aeneid book 4, announcing that death and woe followed the
This theme (argument--see above I, 24 n.) is not less ersatz nuptials of Aeneas and Dido:
but more heroic, i.e., worthy of treatment in an epic or
Anger and just rebuke, and judgement given [10] heroic poem, than that of the Iliad, whose stated To the same cave come Dido and the Trojan chief. Primal
subject was the wrath of Achilles and which recounted earth and nuptial Juno give the sign; fires flashed in
That brought into this world a world of woe, his pursuit and slaying of Hector, or than that of the heaven, the witness to their bridal, and on the
Aeneid with the rivalry of Aeneas and Turnus for the mountain-top screamed the Nymphs. That day was the
Sin and her shadow Death, and Miserie hand of Lavinia, or that of the Odyssey with Neptune's first day of death, that the first cause of woe. (Trans. H.
persecution of Odysseus (the Greek), or again that of Rushton Fairclough in Virgil vol. 1 [Cambridge, MA:
Death's harbinger: Sad talk!yet argument the Aeneid with Juno's unrelenting enmity to Aeneas, Havard University Press, 1935] 407)
the son of Venus (Cytherea).
Not less but more heroick than the wrath
argument. Subject. Turnus for Lavinia. A secondary theme of Virgil's Aeneid is
Of stern Achilles on his foe pursued [15] the wrauth. The wrath of Achilles is the epic the rage of Turnus for the loss to Aeneas of his beloved
theme announced at the beginning of Homer's Lavinia (Aeneid 7).
Thrice fugitive about Troy wall; or rage Iliad.
his Foe. Hector: Achilles pursued Hector V. 18. Or Neptune's ire, or Juno's.. Or Neptune's wrath, that for so many
Of Turnus for Lavinia disespous'd; years turmoil'd the Grecian [Ulysses], or Juno's Spleen, that persecuted
around the walls of Troy (Iliad 22).
the Trojan [AEneas], Son of Venus.
Or Neptune's ire, or Juno's, that so long the Greek. Odysseus; his wandering at sea Cytherea's son. Aeneas; Milton alludes to two classical heroes
Perplexed the Greek, and Cytherea's son: [19] was caused by Neptune's (Poseidon's) persecuted by Gods — Odysseus by Neptune and Aeneas by Juno
anger (Odyssey 1.19-20). (Aeneid 1).
,If answerable style I can obtaine [ 20 ]
answerable. Appropriate, adequate. Celestial Patroness. Urania, traditionally the muse of
Of my Celestial Patroness, who deignes astronomy, but adapted by Milton as a figure for both
beginning late. Milton wrote of his plans to write an epic
Her nightly visitation unimplor'd, the Holy Spirit (1.1) and his own spiritual inspiration
poem his Sixth Elegy (1629). He also refers to his ambition
And dictates to me slumb'ring, or inspires (7.1).
in Epitaphium Damonis and in book 2 of The Reason of
Easie my unpremeditated Verse: Church Government. He probably started writing the poem Lines 29-31. Milton once again claims that his epic
Since first this Subject for Heroic Song [ 25 ] late in life, perhaps as late as age 59. subject is unlike any before, and is more, rather than
Pleas'd me long choosing, and beginning late; less, heroic than they. This echoes earlier boasts (see
sedulous. Eager. 1.16) in which Milton refers to the opening lines of
Not sedulous by Nature to indite his subject for heroic (i.e., epic) song, namely, the Fall of Man Ariosto's Orlando Furioso. Milton makes the point
Warrs, hitherto the onely Argument tilting Furniture. Equipment used in jousting repeatedly in Paradise Lost that the true Hero is not
Heroic deem'd, chief maistrie to dissect (sometimes also called tilting). the warrior of pagan epics but the warrior who fights
by resisting temptation, a sort of "spiritual heroism."
With long and tedious havoc fabl'd Knights [ 30 ] Impreses quaint. Imprezas are heraldic symbols on the See, for example, the angel hero Abdiel in 5.805 and
In Battels feign'd; the better fortitude shields of knights. following. This is part of what Milton meant back in
Of Patience and Heroic Martyrdom Book 1 when he proclaimed his intent to pursue
Bases. Cloth coverings worn by horses in battle.
“Things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme.”
Unsung; or to describe Races and Games,
Or tilting Furniture, emblazon'd Shields, Sewers and seneschals. "Sewer" literally means "seater"
but also refers to waiter-like servants. A seneschal was skill of Artifice. Milton implies that his poem is
Impreses quaint, Caparisons and Steeds; [ 35 ] the chief steward of a medieval household. not chiefly a matter of art, but of divine
Bases and tinsel Trappings, gorgious Knights inspiration. Art is a "mean" employment
At Joust and Torneament; then marshal'd Feast Nor skilld. But of course Milton showed superb skill at such compared to that of divine revelation and
martial subjects in books 1, 2 and 7. prophecy.
Serv'd up in Hall with Sewers, and Seneshals;
The skill of Artifice or Office mean, higher Argument/ Remaines. The higher heroic subject (or argument) appears to cold Climate or Years. Milton refers to the
be "Patience and Heroic Martyrdom" (line 32 above), but the episode of traditional belief that human talents
Not that which justly gives Heroic name [ 40 ]
Messiah's heroic obedience and atonement by death for Man's disobedience, were maimed by cold damp climates and
To Person or to Poem. Mee of these though prophesied by the angel Michael in book 12.386-435, and promised in by age. Hughes makes the interesting
Nor skilld nor studious, higher Argument book 3.203-65, does not take place within the boundaries of this poem. That point that Milton was apparently
higher heroic argument is the subject of Paradise Regain'd. concerned that "our climate" (Preface to
Remaines, sufficient of it self to raise
Book 2 of Reason of Church Government)
That name, unless an age too late, or cold Milton mocks the more tedious parts of the classical epics and the knightly would hinder his ability to write his great
Climat, or Years damp my intended wing [ 45 ] romances of the Middle Ages. For him, the ultimate hero is not measured in physical epic, an allusion to Aristotle's claim that
strength but in moral power. Milton has already described the extravagant war in
Deprest, and much they may, if all be mine, Heaven, but in the end it was more about obedience and revolt than feats of northern races lacked intelligence
Not Hers who brings it nightly to my Ear. martial prowess. God again allows Satan to enter Eden undeterred. (Politics 1327b).
, Hesperus. Venus, the evening star.
The Sun was sunk, and after him the Starr
Of Hesperus, whose Office is to bring Resuming his narrative, Milton refers first to the
evening on which Raphael departs (end of Book
Twilight upon the Earth, short Arbiter [ 50 ] VIII), then to the expulsion of Satan from the garden
Twixt Day and Night, and now from end to end by Gabriel (end of Book IV).
Nights Hemisphere had veild the Horizon round:
When Satan who late fled before the threats Lines 63-66. Equinoctial Line
improv'd. Increased in knowledge/taught by is the “Celestial Equator”.,
Of Gabriel out of Eden, now improv'd experience; Satan has learned much from spying on Keeping always within the
In meditated fraud and malice, bent [ 55 ] Adam and Eve. shadow of night, Satan circled
On mans destruction, maugre what might hap the equator (equinoctial line)
Of heavier on himself, fearless return'd. maugre: in spite of and then circled the earth four
times along the imaginary
By Night he fled, and at Midnight return'd. Uriel. Uriel earlier spotted Satan in Eden and warned lines (the colures) running
From compassing the Earth, cautious of day, the heavenly host of his presence (4.555-576). Uriel from north to south through
Since Uriel Regent of the Sun descri'd [ 60 ] was introduced in the Argument to book 3. the poles, from the North Pole
Cherubim. Plural of cherub, one of the chief ranks of all the way to the South Pole.
His entrance, and forewarnd the Cherubim
angels. See 1.387.
That kept thir watch; thence full of anguish driv'n,
The space of seven continu'd Nights he rode Carr of Night. Night as it moves around the earth.
Line 70. Original sin made
With darkness, thrice the Equinoctial Line Satan circled the earth at the equator, staying ahead
Eden no longer Eden – or
of the sun and therefore staying in night for "The
He circl'd, four times cross'd the Carr of Night [ 65 ] space of seven continu'd nights." He also crossed
made us no longer able to
access Eden.
From Pole to Pole, traversing each Colure; the entire breadth of night's shadow from "Pole to “Wrought” often refers to
On the eighth return'd, and on the Coast averse Pole." shaping through industry or
From entrance or Cherubic Watch, by stealth Colure. "Each of two great circles metalwork, very far from the
averse. Opposite. unthinking nature of Eden.
Found unsuspected way. There was a place, which intersect each other at right
angles at the poles, and divide the
Now not, though Sin, not Time, first wraught the change, [ 70 ] equinoctial and the ecliptic into four Tigris. According to Josephus
(Antiquities 1.1.3) the Tigris is
Where Tigris at the foot of Paradise equal parts. One passes through the related to the river which "went
Into a Gulf shot under ground, till part equinoctial points, the other through out of Eden to water the Garden"
the solstitial points, of the ecliptic" (Genesis 2:10).
Rose up a Fountain by the Tree of Life; (OED).
