00716--BOOKWISE BRIEF SUMMARY OF PARADISE LOST by JOHN MILTON.

BOOKWISE BRIEF SUMMARY OF PARADISE LOST by JOHN MILTON.

BOOK I

After the invocation to the Heavenly Muse for help, and a general statement of the theme Book I tells about the condition  of Satan and the other fallen angels in Hell, directly after they have been driven out of Heaven. 

BOOK II

Book II presents the council that the fallen angels hold to plot their revenge.  At the end of the book Satan is on his way.  As he leaves on his mission, the Fiend encounters at the Gates of Hell his offspring Sin and Death.   The beginning of the allegory of Sin and Death is in Book II, and is completed in Book X.

BOOK III

Book III begins with another invocation, this time to light, for the scene moves from Hell to Heaven.  The theological background of the poem is then supplied; God’s foreknowledge of man’s ‘fall’, although he has given man free will to obey or not to obey Him; the Son of God’s offer to redeem man.  At the end of the book Satan succeeds in reaching the universe. 

BOOK IV 

Book IV describes the Garden of Eden, with Adam and Eve as lovers.  Both are thankful to their Creator and aware of the one prohibition: they may not taste the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge.  Satan, observing them first with pity for their innocence, soon feels only envy and succeeds in reaching Eve by an evil drama.

BOOK V

Book V continues the dream episode: Eve reports the dream in which she has sinned by eating the forbidden fruit.  Adam comforts her by saying that she has not sinned as her reason has not approved of her doing it.  The archangel Raphael, sent by God, arrives, talks about the nature of angels, and then at Adam’s request, tells the events before the creation of Adam: the elevation of the Son of God, the jealousy of the Son of God, the jealousy of Satan, and the revolt in Heaven.  At this point, as Raphael begins his narrative, the reader is being given the chronological beginning of the epic’s action. 

BOOK VI

Book VI is devoted to Raphael’s continued story of the revolt in Heaven, to which the Son of God puts an end; Satan and his followers are cast out of Heaven and driven to Hell.  At this point the reader knows all the action antecedent to Book I.

BOOK VII

Book VII starts with a new invocation to the Heavenly Muse as the epic is half-completed.  Raphael tells of the Creation of Earth.  Symbolically Good or constructive action is followed by Evil or destruction by war.

BOOK VIII

Book VIII continues Raphael’s instruction of Adam: the Archangel gives some elementary lessons in astronomy, but warns Adam it is more important that he guard himself and Eve against Satan.  Adam then tells the story of his creation and of Eve’s.

BOOK IX

Book IX begins with a prologue in which Milton thanks the Heavenly Muse and rededicates himself to finish his great task.  Eve persuades Adam that the two should do their gardening separately.  Intimidated and influenced by the serpent’s [Satan’s] flattery, Eve succumb to temptation.  She falls.  Adam falls due to his love for Eve.  Their innocent bliss is gone forever, and the two quarrel about their respective guilt.

BOOK X

Book X serves to complete much of the preceding action.  The Son of God passes judgement that all mankind fell with Adam, and so the men will toil for their living, endure suffering and know Death.  Women will be submissive to men and will bear their children in pain.  The allegory of Sin and Death is completed with Sin, Death, and Discord rampant on Earth.  Satan returns to Hell, but his satisfaction in corrupting man turns to ashes.  Adam reasons with himself, admits his guilt and God’s justice, and forgives Eve; the two join in repentance and prayer. 

BOOK XI

Book XI begins with the Son of God presenting to his Father the prayers of Adam and Eve.  God accepts their repentance and sends the Archangel Michael to inform them gently that they must leave the Garden of Eden.  On reaching the Garden, Michael tells of their banishment, but as a consolation allows him to have a series of visions of man’s future.

BOOK XII

Book XII continues Michael’s prophecy, this time in narrative form, stressing the coming of Christ and the Redemption of man.  Adam is comforted by the realisation that the Fall was not completely evil and that the Paradise is within man.  He now knows what God expects of man is obedience, faith, patience, temperance and charity, and the deeds that prove these virtues.  Sadly, but putting their trust in Providence, Adam and Eve leave the Garden. 

00501--THE MAIN CHARACTERISTICS OF MILTON'S POETRY

THE MAIN CHARACTERISTICS OF MILTON'S POETRY

The main characteristics of Milton's poetry are the following:

1.   SUBLIMITY,
2. SENSE OF BEAUTY,
3. STATELINESS OF MANNER,
4. MILTON'S HIGH SERIOUSNESS,
5. A GREAT POETIC ARTIST,
6. MILTON'S SUPERB IMAGINATION,
7. MILTON'S SUGGESTIVE POWER,
8. THE AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL ELEMENT,
9. PURITANISM,
10. CLASSICISM,
11. MILTON'S VERSIFICATION, and,
12. STYLE AND DICTION.

SUBLIMITY

Sublimity is the supreme quality of Milton's poetry.  His poetry elevates and uplifts us.  Milton lived a life of purity and his life bears the stamp of the nobility of his character.  Milton's subject is sublime, and he could never come down to the cheap love poetry.  Not lovers and lasses but God, Satan, Adam, Eve and Christ are the characters that Milton has introduced in his poetry.  In the "Nativity Ode" the subject is Christ who brought about religious regeneration in Europe.  In "Comus", Milton presents sublime thoughts about virtue.  'Paradise Regained' is an expression of the sublime thoughts that Milton had about God and Religion.

SENSE OF BEAUTY

The chief characteristics of Milton's poetry is his profound love of beauty in its various forms.  He is deeply sensitive to the beauties of external nature.  He shows the beauty of the countryside in 'L' Allegro'.  In 'Il Penseroso' he presents many landscapes of beauty for our delight.  In 'Paradise Lost' his sense of beauty is supreme.  In Book Four, he gives a glowing description of the beauty of Adam and Eve.

STATELINESS OF MANNER

With this sense of beauty is combined a stateliness of manner which gives a high dignity to Milton's poetry.  English poetry between the time of Shakespeare and Milton had many qualities.  But the quality of stateliness is imparted to it by the poetry of Milton.  Milton is always majestic.  The subjects he chooses are stately and the treatment too is stately.  His problems are of external interest and his genius can find full scope in dealing with grand themes; the problems of man, the redemption of humanity by Christ, and of the way of God to Man.

MILTON'S HIGH SERIOUSNESS

High seriousness marks both Milton's character and poetry.  There is a lack of humour in Milton's writing. His poetry never bothers about a big audience of admiring readers.  His desire is to have "fit audience though few."

A GREAT POETIC ARTIST

Milton is convinced that the vocation of the poet is lofty and to keep true to that vocation he writes poetry of great sublimity.  The artistic workmanship of the poet comes out everywhere.

MILTON'S SUPERB IMAGINATION

Only, a man of Milton's imagination could have shaped the Paradise Lost.  The theme of the epic is vast. The poet creates a world of heaven and hell which could only have been possible with the superb imagination that he has.  He has an imagination that can soar above time and space, and be at home in infinity.   

MILTON'S SUGGESTIVE POWER

Milton's suggestive power is the most striking characteristic of his poetry.  The effect of his poetry is produced, not by what it expresses, but by what it suggests.  We often hear of the magical influence of poetry.  This expression is most appropriate when applied to the writing of Milton.

THE AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL ELEMENT




PURITANISM


CLASSICISM


MILTON'S VERSIFICATION

STYLE AND DICTION

00203--John Milton's ‘Lycidas’ as a Pastoral Elegy [English Literature free notes]

John Milton's ‘Lycidas’ as a Pastoral Elegy

Milton’s ‘Lycidas’ is one of the greatest pastoral elegies in English literature.   Pastoralism in literature is an attitude in which the writer looks at life from the view point of a shepherd.  In classical literature this has been successfully handled by Theocritus of Sicily, and after him by Virgil and Bion.  In English literature it was popularised by Sir Philip Sydney and Edmund Spenser, but the scintillating star in the firmament of pastoralism is certainly John Milton.

Pastoral elegy has its own conventions handed down from generation to generation.  Let us see how far Milton has observed them in ‘Lycidas’.  The pastoral poet begins by invoking the Muses and goes on referring to other figures from classical mythology.  In ‘Lycidas’ we find an invocation to the Muses from line 15 to 22.  Milton concludes by expecting a similar service from some other poet when he is dead.

Secondly, the mourning in pastoral poetry is almost universal.  Nature joins in mourning the shepherd’s death in ‘Lycidas’, private sorrow giving place to public sorrow.  Lines 37-49 in Lycidas describes the mourning.  Woods and caves once haunted by Lycidas now mourn for him.

The inquest over the death is another tradition found in Pastoral poems.  In lines 50-63, Milton charges the nymphs with negligence.  But the next moment it dawns on him that they would have been helpless.  Triton, the herald of the sea questions every wind and is assured that the air was calm when Lycidas set sail.  The conclusion drawn is that the fatal ship that sank Lycidas was built during the eclipse and fitted out in the midst of curses.

Then comes a description of the procession of mourners as found in all pastoral elegies.  Camus, representing Cambridge university and leadership, leads the procession.  The last among the mourners is St.Peter mourning the loss to the church incurred by the death of Lycidas.  With a denunciation of the corrupt clergyman, St.Peter disappears.  Lines 88-111 are occupied with this description.

Post-Renaissance elegies often included an elaborate passage in which the poet mentions appropriate flowers of various hues and significance brought to deck the hearse.  Lines 133 to 151 carry such a description.  Among the primrose, the crowetoe, the pink and the woodbine, the amaranth alone signifies immortality with its unfading nature.

In orthodox pastoral elegies there is a closing consolation.  The poet accordingly asks the shepherds to weep no more, for Lycidas is not dead, but has merely passed from one earth to heaven.  Lines 165 to 185 offer consolation.  In Christian elegies, the reversal from grief to joy occurs when the writer realizes that death on earth is entry into a higher life.  But Milton adds that Lycidas has become a genius of the shore to play the guardian angel to those who wander in the dangerous flood.

Milton has followed the conventions in pastoral poetry, but he has mingled in it Greek mythology and Christian theology.  In addition there are two digressions from pastoral strain: a) a discussion on the true values of life, and, b) a bitter criticism of the clergyman of the day. He introduces St.Peter into the list of mourners which shows the deepening puritanical fervour of the poet.  In the other parts of the poem he has merely used the images handed down from classical ages.  But when questions about the religious state of England rose in his mind, he could not restrain himself.  He puts into the mouth of St.Peter a trade against the corrupt clergymen of his day.  He prophesies that the domination of the corrupting leaders is doomed.   The note of keen personal regret is conspicuous by its absence.  Milton here laments the loss of the church, for Edward king was intended for the church.  He would have certainly set an example of purity and devotion to the other priests.  In addition, the poet is bewailing the loss of another poet, who also knew “to build the lofty rhyme”.

‘Lycidas’ is unquestionably a pagan poem.  But Milton, the austere puritan could not help introducing Christian elements into it.  Thus with its curious mixture of pagan loveliness and Christian austerity, it becomes the offspring of Milton’s unparalleled genius.  The poem starts with an apology for breaking the poet’s resolve not to write any poetry until his poetic talent has matured fully.  The concluding eight lines from a sort of epilogue in which Milton speaks directly, having stepped out of the character of the shephered.  Having passed through many moods and sung in different strains, the shepherd draws his clock around him and leaves the spot.