The middle years of John Milton's career were devoted to prose. Caught up in the Puritan movement and the English Civil War, he penned political pamphlets and idealistic treatises on religious freedom and the glory of the new Commonwealth. True, a...
[more]The middle years of John Milton's career were devoted to prose. Caught up in the Puritan movement and the English Civil War, he penned political pamphlets and idealistic treatises on religious freedom and the glory of the new Commonwealth. True, a peculiarly personal sensibility revealed itself in the occasional poem; "Lycidas" (1637), a classical-style lament for a drowned friend, is one example. But apart from this and a few other lyrical outbursts, politics presided over his time and efforts. In fact, for almost 20 years, Milton wrote no poetry at all.
It wasn't until his faith in England's politics crumbled that Milton's poetic instincts staged their timely return. Charles II was installed as king, the Commonwealth was dead, and Milton was out of government. From retirement he published "Paradise Lost" (1675), one of the greatest epic poems ever written. If his early years were characterized by idealism and optimism, the attitude expressed in this later masterpiece signals an abrupt transformation: the theme of "Paradise Lost" is man's fall from grace.
In order to treat this theme in epic style, Milton went back to the very event of evil's entry into the world. Milton wrote from the perspective of Satan, an angel whose rebellion against God leads to a division of the universe into Hell and Heaven. To the consternation of many critics, Milton depicted Satan as an almost praiseworthy figure, bearing many of the features of the classical Greek hero: Satan is strong, courageous, and charismatic. Of course, all these virtues are marred by his pride and egocentrism. Still, Milton's Satan is rather sympathetic -- he's an emotional figure who destroys himself by bad decisions and fatal weaknesses. It's a fate that mankind suffers in an all-too-similiar fashion.
Satan's offer of freedom is too tempting for mankind to resist. As Satan poisons the garden where the first man has been created, "Paradise Lost" becomes decidedly tragic. Adam and Eve's surrender to evil eclipses God's divine light, leaving the world to wither in darkness. Milton does offer the hope of redemption, but this he confines to an "inner" possibility -- the world at large is apparently lost.
Things begin to look brighter with "Paradise Regained," the preordained sequel to Milton's masterpiece. If Milton painted Adam and Eve as the beginnings of worldly doom, his depiction of Jesus Christ illustrated the path to salvation. Through integrity, humility, and unshakeable conviction, Milton's Christ overcomes the legacy of Satan. If the poet had been misunderstood as glorifying the king of Hell, here he corrected the error by developing the virtues of the true Christian hero.
Milton managed to envision this redemption of light and hope despite his personal sufferings -- he was blind for the entire last part of his life. His major poems were all dictated to friends and family at night, when he was ready, as he used to say, "to be milked." The sonorous quality of his verse perhaps reflects this mode of composition, dependent on sound and memory.
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