The Complete Poetry of John Milton (75 page)
Read The Complete Poetry of John Milton Online
Authors: John Milton
Tags: #English; Irish; Scottish; Welsh, #Poetry, #European
615
For sight no obstacle found here, nor shade,
But all Sun-shine, as when his Beams at Noon
Culminate from th’
Æquator
, as they now
Shot upward still direct, whence no way round
Shadow from body opaque can fall, and th’ Air,
620
No where so cleer, sharp’n’d his visual ray
To objects distant farr, whereby he soon
Saw within kenn a glorious Angel stand,
The same whom
John
saw also in the Sun:
36
His back was turnd, but not his brightness hid;
625
Of beaming sunnie Raies, a golden tiar
Circl’d his Head, nor less his Locks behind
Illustrious on his Shoulders fledge with wings
Lay waving round; on som great charge imploy’d
He seemd, or fixt in cogitation deep.
630
Glad was the Spirit impure; as now in hope
To find who might direct his wandring flight
To Paradise the happie seat of Man,
His journies end and our beginning woe.
But first he casts to change his proper shape,
635
Which else might work him danger or delay:
And now a stripling Cherub he appeers,
Not of the prime, yet such as in his face
Youth smil’d Celestial, and to every Limb
Sutable grace diffus’d, so well he feign’d;
640
Under a Coronet his flowing hair
In curls on either cheek plaid, wings he wore
Of many a colourd plume sprinkl’d with Gold,
His habit fit for speed succinct, and held
Before his decent
37
steps a Silver wand.
645
He drew not nigh unheard, the Angel bright,
Ere he drew nigh, his radiant visage turnd,
Admonisht by his ear, and strait was known
Th’ Arch-Angel
Uriel
,
38
one of the seav’n
Who in Gods presence, neerest to his Throne
650
Stand ready at command, and are his Eyes
39
That run through all the Heav’ns, or down to th’ Earth
Bear his swift errands over moist and dry,
O’re Sea and Land: him
Satan
thus accosts.
Uriel
, for thou of those seav’n Spirits that stand
655
In sight of Gods high Throne, gloriously bright,
The first art wont his great authentic will
Interpreter through highest Heav’n to bring,
Where all his Sons thy Embassie attend;
And here art likeliest by supream decree
660
Like honour to obtain, and as his Eye
To visit oft this new Creation round;
Unspeakable desire to see, and know
All these his wondrous works, but chiefly Man,
His chief delight and favour, him for whom
665
All these his works so wondrous he ordaind,
Hath brought me from the Quires of Cherubim
Alone thus wandring. Brightest Seraph tell
In which of all these shining Orbs hath Man
His fixed seat, or fixed seat hath none,
670
But all these shining Orbs his choice to dwell;
That I may find him, and with secret gaze,
Or open admiration him behold
On whom the great Creator hath bestowd
Worlds, and on whom hath all these graces powrd;
675
That both in him and all things, as is meet,
The Universal Maker we may praise;
Who justly hath drivn out his Rebell Foes
To deepest Hell, and to repair that loss
Created this new happie Race of Men
680
To serve him better: wise are all his wayes.
So spake the false dissembler unperceiv’d;
For neither Man nor Angel can discern
Hypocrisie, the only evil that walks
Invisible, except to God alone,
685
By his permissive will, through Heav’n and Earth:
And oft though wisdom wake, suspicion sleeps
At wisdoms Gate, and to simplicitie
Resigns her charge, while goodness thinks no ill
Where no ill seems: Which now for once beguil’d
690
Uriel
, though Regent of the Sun, and held
The sharpest sighted Spirit of all in Heav’n;
Who to the fraudulent Impostor foul
In his uprightness answer thus retuind.
Fair Angel, thy desire which tends to know
695
The works of God, thereby to glorifie
The great Work-Maister, leads to no excess
That reaches blame, but rather merits praise
The more it seems excess, that led thee hither
From thy Empyreal Mansion thus alone,
700
To witness with thine eyes what some perhaps
Contented with report hear onely in heav’n:
For wonderful indeed are all his works,
Pleasant to know, and worthiest to be all
Had in remembrance alwayes with delight;
705
But what created mind can comprehend
Thir number, or the wisdom infinite
That brought them forth, but hid thir causes deep.
I saw when at his Word the formless Mass,
This worlds material mould, came to a heap:
710
Confusion heard his voice, and wild uproar
Stood rul’d, stood vast infinitude confin’d;
Till at his second bidding darkness fled,
Light shon, and order from disorder sprung:
Swift to thir several Quarters hasted then
715
The cumbrous Elements, Earth, Flood, Air, Fire,
And this Ethereal quintessence of Heav’n
Flew upward, spirited with various forms,
That rowld orbicular, and turnd to Starrs
Numberless, as thou seest, and how they move;
720
Each had his place appointed, each his course,
The rest in circuit walls this Universe.
Look downward on that Globe whose hither side
With light from hence, though but reflected, shines;
That place is Earth the seat of Man, that light
725
His day, which else as th’ other Hemisphere
Night would invade, but there the neighbouring Moon
(So call that opposite fair Starr) her aid
Timely interposes, and her monthly round
Still ending, still renewing through mid Heav’n,
730
With borrowd light her countenance triform
40
Hence fills and empties to enlighten th’ Earth,
And in her pale dominion checks the night.
That spot to which I point is
Paradise
,
Adams
abode, those loftie shades his Bowr.
735
Thy way thou canst not miss, me mine requires.
Thus said, he turnd, and
Satan
bowing low,
As to superior Spirits is wont in Heav’n,
Where honour due and reverence none neglects,
Took leave, and toward the coast of Earth beneath,
740
Down from th’ Ecliptic, sped with hop’d success,
Throws his steep flight in many an Aerie wheel,
1
not created. Thus the Holy Light is identified with the Son.
2
Orpheus, who descended to Hades, won back his wife by his musical art, but reascending broke the difficult covenant made with Pluto.
3
total blindness (
gutta serena
); “Suffusion” is partial blindness. For a reexamination of the nature of Milton’s blindness, see William B. Hunter, Jr.’s article in
Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences
, XVII (1962), 333-41.
4
Homer. Thamyris is mentioned in
Iliad
, II, 595; Phineus, blinded by the sun, was victimized by the Harpies.
5
everlasting.
6
broken widely apart.
7
The word also retains its etymological meaning of places “encompassed in early times” (by light).
8
Mercy is to be granted through the love of the Son, who will atone for human disobedience and thereby pacify the wrath of the, Father, guardian of Divine Justice. C. A. Patrides (
PMLA
, LXXIV, 1959, 7-13) makes clear that the atonement demanded by the Father here was accepted by both contemporary Protestant thinkers and earlier writers.
9
in like substance.
10
a basic doctrine of Calvinism. Although salvation is available to all men, some have special grace. Lines 183-97 indicate Milton’s differences from the Calvinist doctrine of the elect.
11
fundamentally a statement of Arminianism.
12
hardest, most glorious, most loving.
13
in spite of.
14
place.
15
the Last Judgment.
16
The symbol of the phoenix indicated immortality; it is appropriate here in conjunction with the Son since it was the embodiment of the Egyptian sun-god.
17
See 2 Peter iii. 12-13, which refers to Isa. lxv. 17-25.
18
1 Cor. xv. 28: “And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself become subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.”
19
dark.
20
a mountain in the Himalayas.
21
both in the modern sense and with the meaning “unnatural.”
22
e.g., Ariosto.
23
Enoch and Elijah.