© 2006-2008 dr. martha j. bianco 1. © 2006-2008 dr. martha j. bianco 2 milton dictating paradise...

© 2006-2008 Dr. Martha J. Bianco

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Milton Dictating Paradise Lost to

His Daughters, by Delacroix, 1826


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I: Of Man’s First DisobedienceI: Of Man’s First Disobedience

Of man’s first disobedience, and the fruit

Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste

Brought death into the world, and all our

woe, . . .

Sing heavenly Muse . . .

Say first what cause

Moved our grand parents in that happy

state,

Favoured of heaven so highly, to fall

off . . . ?

Who first seduced them to that foul revolt?

The infernal serpent, he it was, . . .

The Temptation, by William Strang, 1899


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I: Hurled Headlong Flaming from the Ethereal Sky I: Hurled Headlong Flaming from the Ethereal Sky

His pride had cast him out from heaven . . .Him the almighty PowerHurled headlong flaming from the ethereal sky

Gustave Doré, Plate 1, Paradise Lost (1866) Him the Almighty PowerHurled headlong flaming from the ethereal sky


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I: Chained on the Burning Lake I: Chained on the Burning Lake To bottomless perdition . . .But his doom reserved him to more wrath . . . Chained on the burning Lake

John Martin, Satan on the Burning Lake, 1824


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I: “Better to Reign in Hell Than Serve in Heaven” I: “Better to Reign in Hell Than Serve in Heaven”

Satan:“What though the field be lost? All is not lost.Better to reign in hell Than serve in heaven.”

John Martin, Satan Arousing the Fallen Angels (1823-25)


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I: Pandemonium, the High Capital of Satan I: Pandemonium, the High Capital of Satan

John Martin, The Fallen Angels Entering Pandemonium, 1841

Meanwhile the winged Heralds by commandOf Sovran power, with awful CeremonyAnd Trumpets’ sound . . . proclaimA solemn Council forthwith to be heldAt Pandemonium, the high CapitalOf Satan and his Peers: . . .


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I: The Great Consult Began I: The Great Consult Began

Gustave Doré, Plate 5, Paradise Lost (1866), Their summons calledFrom every band and squared regiment,By place or choice the worthiest

Their summons calledFrom every band and squared regiment,By place or choice the worthiest; . . .In close recess and secret conclave satA thousand Demi-Gods on golden seats,Frequent and full. After short silence thenAnd summons read, the great consult began.


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II: High on a Throne of Royal State II: High on a Throne of Royal State

Gustave Doré, High on a Throne of Royal State

High on a Throne of Royal State, . . .Satan exalted sat, by merit raisedTo that bad eminence; . . . AspiresBeyond thus high, insatiate to pursueVain War with Heaven . . .


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II: Beelzebub: Majestic though in Ruin: Sage He StoodII: Beelzebub: Majestic though in Ruin: Sage He Stood

Richard Westall (1790s)

Which when Beelzebub perceived, than whom,Satan except, none higher sat, with graveAspect he rose, and in his rising seemedA Pillar of State; . . . his lookDrew audience and attention still as Night


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II: There is a Place, Another World, the Happy Seat II: There is a Place, Another World, the Happy Seat

John Martin, Creation of Light, 1824-1825

“There is a place, Another world, the happy seatOf some new race called man: perhaps we maySeduce the puny habitants of this new world,That God, their foe, abolish his own works.”

-Beelzebub


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II: But First Whom Shall We Send? II: But First Whom Shall We Send?

Satan:“But first whom shall we sendIn search of this new world, whom shall we findSufficient?”

This said, he sat; and expectation heldHis look suspense, awaiting who appearedTo second or oppose or undertakeThe perilous attempt; but all sat mute . . .

Until at last, Satan, unmoved, thus spake:


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II: This Enterprise None Shall Partake with Me II: This Enterprise None Shall Partake with Me

Wherefore do I assume These royalties, and refuse to reign,Refusing to accept as great a shareOf hazard as of honour? Go therefore mighty powers,Terror of heaven, though fallen, intend at homeWhat best may ease the present misery,

While I abroadThrough all the coasts of dark destruction seekDeliverance for us all: this enterpriseNone shall partake with me.


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II: Satan’s Daughter, “Sin,” and “Death,” Her Son by His Rape, Guard the Gates of Hell

II: Satan’s Daughter, “Sin,” and “Death,” Her Son by His Rape, Guard the Gates of Hell

William Hogarth, Satan, Sin and Death, 1735-1740

Before the Gates there sat On either side a formidable shape;The one seem’d Woman to the waist, and fair,But ended foul in many a scaly foldVoluminous and vast, a Serpent . . .The other shape,If shape it might be called that shape had noneDistinguishable in member, joint, or limb, . . . Black it stood as Night, . . .


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II: Into this Wild Abyss . . . He Had to CrossII: Into this Wild Abyss . . . He Had to Cross

Gustave Doré, Gulf of Chaos,

Of neither Sea, nor Shore, nor Air, nor Fire,But all these in their pregnant causes mixtConfusedly, and which thus must ever fight,Unless the Almighty Maker them ordainHis dark materials to create more Worlds,Into this wild Abyss the wary fiendStood on the Brink of Hell and looked a while,Pondering his Voyage; . . . He had to cross.


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III: To Stoop with Wearied WingsIII: To Stoop with Wearied Wings

Gustave Doré, Coasting the Wall of Heaven

. . . he then surveyedHell and the Gulf between, and Satan thereCoasting the wall of Heaven on this side NightIn the dun Air sublime, and ready nowTo stoop with wearied wings, and willing feetOn the bare outside of this World . . .


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III: So Will Fall Man . . . Whose Fault?III: So Will Fall Man . . . Whose Fault?

Now had the almighty Father from above Thus to his only Son foreseeing said:

“Only begotten Son, seest thou what rageTransports our Adversary . . . So will fallMan and his faithless progeny: whose fault?Whose but Man’s own? I made him just and right.Sufficient to have stood, though free to fall.”


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III: Behold Me Then, Me for Him, Life for LifeIII: Behold Me Then, Me for Him, Life for Life

William Blake, 1808

“Father, thy word is passed, man shall find grace;And shall grace not find means, that finds her way,. . . Happy for man, so coming; he her aidCan never seek, once dead in sins and lost;Atonement for himself . . . Indebted and undone, hath none to bring;Behold me then, me for him, life for lifeI offer, on me let thine anger fall;Account me man; I for his sake will leaveThy bosom, and this glory next to theeFreely put off, and for him lastly die . . .”


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III: And Now a Stripling Cherub He AppearsIII: And Now a Stripling Cherub He Appears

The Angel Uriel and Satan, Disguised as a Cherub, by Edward Burney

To Paradise the happy seat of Man,His journey’s end and our beginning woe.But first he casts to change his proper shape,Which else might work him danger or delay:And now a stripling Cherub he appears . . .Where no ill seems: Which now for once beguiledUriel, though Regent of the Sun, and heldThe sharpest-sighted Spirit of all in Heaven; . . .


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IV: Satan Views a Heaven on EarthIV: Satan Views a Heaven on Earth

Gustave Doré

Beneath him with new wonder Satan viewsA heaven on earth, a paradise, all kindOf living creatures new to sight or strange:


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IV: Two of Far Nobler Shape Erect and TallIV: Two of Far Nobler Shape Erect and Tall

Gustave Doré

Two of far nobler shape erect and tall,Godlike erect, with naked honour cladIn naked majesty seemed lords of all. . .Adam the goodliest man of men since bornHis sons, the fairest of her daughters Eve.


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IV: Her Unadorned Golden TressesIV: Her Unadorned Golden Tresses

Milton Blake

Her unadorned golden tresses woreDishevelled, but in wanton ringlets waved . . .


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IV: God Hath Pronounced It Death to Taste that TreeIV: God Hath Pronounced It Death to Taste that Tree

Francis Haymond

Adam:“Sole partner and sole part of all these joys, Dearer thyself than all; . . .Be infinitely good, and of his goodAs liberal and free as infinite, . . . he who requiresFrom us no other service than to keepThis one, this easy charge, of all the TreesIn Paradise . . . not to taste that only TreeOf Knowledge, . . . for well though knowstGod hath pronounced it death to taste that Tree,The only sign of our disobedience left . . .”


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IV: Sleep On . . . If Ye Seek No Happier State, and Know to Know No More

IV: Sleep On . . . If Ye Seek No Happier State, and Know to Know No More

William Blake

. . . Sleep on,Blest pair; and O yet happiest if ye seekNo happier state, and know to know no more.


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IV: Him Thus Intent Ithuriel with his Spear Touched Lightly

IV: Him Thus Intent Ithuriel with his Spear Touched Lightly

Edward Burney

In search of whom they sought: him there they found . . .Assaying his Devilish art to reach . . . Phantasms and Dreams, . . . Vain hopes, vain aims, inordinate desires . . .Him thus intent Ithuriel with his SpearTouched lightly; . . .


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IV: And With Him Fled the Shades of NightIV: And With Him Fled the Shades of Night

Richard Westall, 1790s

Gabriel: “Satan, I know thy strength, and thou knowst mine,Neither our own but given; what folly thenTo boast what Arms can do . . .

. . . for proof look up, . . . Where thou art weighed, and shown how light, how weak,If thou resist.” The Fiend looked up and knewHis mounted scale aloft: nor more; but fledMurmuring, and with him fled the shades of night.

© 2006-2008 dr. martha j. bianco 1. © 2006-2008 dr. martha j. bianco 2 milton dictating paradise...

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