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Paradise Lost
John Milton
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Table of Contents

Poem Summary (https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/p/paradise-lost/poem-summary)

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Subjects
About Paradise Lost (https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/p/paradise-lost/about-paradise-lost)

Character List (https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/p/paradise-lost/character-list)

Summary and Analysis (https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/p/paradise-lost/summary-and-analysis/book-i)

Book I (https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/p/paradise-lost/summary-and-analysis/book-i)

Book II (https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/p/paradise-lost/summary-and-analysis/book-ii)

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Character Analysis (https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/p/paradise-lost/character-analysis/satan)

Satan (https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/p/paradise-lost/character-analysis/satan)

God (https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/p/paradise-lost/character-analysis/god)

The Son (https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/p/paradise-lost/character-analysis/the-son)

Adam (https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/p/paradise-lost/character-analysis/adam)

Eve (https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/p/paradise-lost/character-analysis/eve)

Character Map (https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/p/paradise-lost/character-map)

John Milton Biography (https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/p/paradise-lost/john-milton-biography)

Critical Essays (https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/p/paradise-lost/critical-essays/miltons-universe)

Milton's Universe (https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/p/paradise-lost/critical-essays/miltons-universe)

Major Themes in Paradise Lost (https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/p/paradise-lost/critical-essays/major-

themes-in-paradise-lost)

Milton's Grand Style (https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/p/paradise-lost/critical-essays/miltons-grand-

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for-paradise-lost)

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 Critical Essays Milton's Grand Style
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Low float breakout reports Introduction

Successful community of small cap investors offering free
enrollment now In modern times, Milton's style first
received general criticism from T. S.
Traders News Source LEARN MORE
Eliot. Eliot praised Milton in "A Note
on the Verse of John Milton" (Martz
12-18): "[W]hat he could do well he did better than anyone else has ever done." Then Eliot
added, "Milton's poetry could only be an influence for the worse, upon any poet
whatever." The general thrust of Eliot's criticism is that Milton's purposely adopted grand
style is both so difficult to accomplish and so complicated (in places) to understand that it
causes a deterioration in the poetic style of those who are influenced by it and cannot
meet its demands. "In fact," said Eliot, "it was an influence against which we still have to
struggle."

Eliot's prime example is from Book V as Satan addresses his followers concerning the Son:

Thrones, Dominations, Princedoms, Virtues, Powers,

If these magnific Titles yet remain
Not merely titular, since by Decree
Another now hath to himself ingross't
All Power, and us eclipst under the name
Of King anointed, for whom all this haste
Of midnight march, and hurried meeting here,
This only to consult how we may best
With what may be devis'd of honors new
Receive him coming to receive from us
Knee-tribute yet unpaid, prostration vile,
Too much to one, but double how endur'd,
To one and to his image now proclaim'd? (V, 772-784).

That Satan's point here is obscured by the language cannot be denied. Most readers are
probably unaware that a question is being asked until they see the question mark at the
end of the passage. The meaning here can be puzzled out, but it is difficult to call such
writing good, let alone great. Many readers, from put-upon high schoolers to experienced
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scholars took Eliot's criticism to heart. Often, they overlooked the fact that Eliot did not
 suggest that Milton was a bad poet; rather he suggested that the grand style could lead to
bad poetry, particularly by the many who used Milton's style as the paradigm of great
English poetry.

Defenders of Milton quickly appeared to answer Eliot. C. S. Lewis, in his work A Preface to
Paradise Lost, and Christopher Ricks in Milton's Grand Style both mounted vigorous
defenses of Milton's style. Lewis in particular argued that Milton needed this particular
style for a "secondary epic," his term for an epic meant to be read rather than the "primary
epic," which was presented orally in a formal setting and meant to be heard. Lewis' basic
point was that the grand style provided the formality of setting that the secondary epic,
by the nature of its composition, lost.

Both Lewis and Ricks offered numerous counter examples to show that Milton's style was
sublime. Certainly, aside from Shakespeare, no other writer in English could manipulate
the language as Milton did. His justly famous description of Mulciber falling soars:

     from Morn
To Noon he fell, from Noon to dewy Eve,
A Summer's day; and with the setting Sun
Dropt from the Zenith like a falling Star (I, 742-745).

Or consider the pathos, poignancy, and hopefulness that fill the last few lines of the epic:

Some natural tears they dropped, but wiped them soon;

The world was all before them, where to choose
Their place of rest, and Providence their guide.
They hand in hand, with wand'ring steps and slow,
Through Eden took their solitary way. (XII, 645-650)

However, the questions about Milton's style cannot be answered by playing a game of bad
line versus good line. The answer to the question posed by Eliot and opposed by Lewis and
Ricks is of such a subjective nature that it can never be truly settled. Arguments about
Milton's style will persist just as they do about the styles of Henry James, Jane Austen,
even James Joyce. One man's sublimity is another's conundrum.

What can be accomplished is a clear description regarding what Milton's grand style
consists of and how he made use of it in the poem. With this information, the reader can at
least have an objective foundation on which to base his subjective opinion.
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Allusions and Vocabulary
 The first aspect of the grand style that most readers notice is the number of allusions and
references, many of which seem obscure, along with the arcane and archaic vocabulary. In
just the first few lines of the poem references to "Oreb" (7), "That Shepherd" (8), "chosen
seed" (8), "Siloa's Brook" (10), and "Aonian Mount" (15) occur. The purpose of the
references is to extend the reader's understanding through comparison. Most readers
will know some of the references, but few will know all. The question thus arises whether
Milton achieves his effect or its opposite. Further, words such as "Adamantine" (48),
"durst" (49), "Compeer" (127), "Sovran" (246) and many others, both more and less
familiar, add an imposing tone to the work. Paradise Lost was not written for an
uneducated audience, but in many editions the explanatory notes are almost as long as
the text.

Sentence Construction

Besides the references and vocabulary, Milton also tends to use Latinate constructions.
English is a syntactical language using word order in sentences to produce sense. Latin, in
contrast, is an inflected language in which endings on words indicate the words' functions
within a sentence, thereby making word order less important. Latin verbs, for example,
often come at the end of the sentence or a direct object may precede the subject. In
Paradise Lost, Milton seems purposely to strive for atypical English syntactical patterns.
He almost never writes in simple sentences. Partly, this type of inverted, at times
convoluted, syntax is necessary for the poetics, to maintain the correct meter, but at
other times the odd syntax itself seems to be Milton's stylistic goal.

In this passage from Book VIII, the exact meaning of the words is elusive because of the
Latinate syntax:

     soft oppression seis'd

My droused sense, untroubl'd though I thought
I then was passing to my former state
Insensible, and forthwith to dissolve (VIII, 291-296).

Lewis, and others who admire the grand style, argue that in passages such as this, the
precise meaning matters less than the impressionistic effect, that the images of drowsing,
insensibility, and dissolution occurring in order show the breakdown of a conscious mind,
in this case Adam's, as God produces a dream vision for him. Certainly this passage, as
difficult to understand literally as it is, is not bad writing. The reader understands what
Adam is experiencing. However, in the hands of lesser talents than Milton, such writing
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becomes nonsense.

Extended Similes
 Another aspect of Milton's style is the extended simile. The use of epic similes goes back
to Homer in the Iliad and Odyssey, but Milton uses more similes and with more detail. A
Miltonic simile can easily become the subject of an essay, perhaps a book. Milton's similes
run a gamut from those that seem forced (the comparison of Satan's arrival in Eden to the
smell of fish [IV, 166]) to those that are perfect (Eden compared to the field where
Proserpine gathered flowers [(IV, 268]). But, in all cases, a critical exploration of the simile
reveals depths of unexpected meaning about the objects or persons being compared.
Once again, Milton achieves a purpose with his highly involved language and similes. The
ability to do this seems almost unique to Milton, a man of immense learning and great
poetic ability.

Repeated Images

Besides extended similes, Milton also traces a number of images throughout the poem.
One of the most apparent is the image of the maze or labyrinth. Over and over in the
poem, there are mentions of mazes — like the tangled curls of Eve's hair — which finally
culminate with the serpent confronting Eve on a "Circular base of rising folds, that tow'r'd
/ Fold above fold a surging maze" (IX, 498-499). Other images also run throughout the
poem as a kind of tour de force of imagination and organization. Each image opens up new
possibilities for understanding Milton's ideas.

No doubt, particular aspects of Milton's style could be presented at great length, but
these are sufficient. Milton intended to write in "a grand style." That style took the form of
numerous references and allusions, complex vocabulary, complicated grammatical
constructions, and extended similes and images. In consciously doing these things, Milton
devised a means of giving the written epic the bardic grandeur of the original recited epic.
In so doing, he created an artificial style that very few writers could hope to emulate
though many tried. As with the unique styles of William Faulkner and James Joyce,
Milton's style is inimitable, and those who try to copy it sometimes give the original a bad
name.

Milton's style is certainly his own. Elements of it can be criticized, but in terms of his
accomplishment in Paradise Lost, it is difficult to see how such a work could be better
written in some other style. Milton defined the style of the English epic and, in a real
sense, with that style, ended the genre. After Milton and Paradise Lost, the English epic
ends.

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 After both Adam and Eve have
eaten the fruit, what is the first
thing they do?
Cower under the wrath

Have sex

Put on clothes

Worship the tree

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