[Music] foreign we would be looking at Milton’s poem Paradise Lost and I mentioned that it was an epic but I know that and some of you who were with me last semester are acquainted with the Epic because we did four of them in total.
We looked at the Odyssey we looked at Virgil’s Aeneid we looked at actually five we did briefly Ovid of its metamorphosis although we just talked about the beginning of it just to compare it to Genesis how the creation accounts differ and are similar for that matter in some ways
Uh we looked at Dante’s Divine Comedy and then we looked at the Anglo-Saxon epic Beowulf which is a little different than the others because it doesn’t follow the Greco-Roman conventions but it struck me I should say some of the things that uh or summarize what I said last semester
Even for those of you who were here um some of the things that I lecture upon um are not it’s not that you didn’t hear them it’s that you didn’t see the importance of because it seemed sort of peripheral uh the conventions of the Epic are significant in terms of identifying the
Features just from a literary perspective when we read stories we tend to be trying to derive the meaning like what’s going on in the story like who are the main characters how does the plot work
Um and and so forth and and basically we’re trying to get that out of it but from a literary perspective we’re trying to look at the devices that are used to create the meaning and the form
And the content go together and the one uh in fact I’m going to say from a literary perspective the form is what allows the content to be powerful and it’s even part of the content and that’s particularly the case with poetry most people don’t read poetry these days
Um they read blog posts they read maybe if they’re interested in fiction they might read long novels novels are can be artistic but they’re not the form of the novel is in general less sophisticated and certainly less conspicuously
Um artistic than a poem is the poem it jumps out at you particularly if it’s an older poem in which we find a meter a regular beat in the poem and things like rhyme and other literary devices well
One of the poem types of poetry that we looked at is the Epic last semester and the reason for that is actually down in the I’ve listed them here in advance because my my leash is a bit short here
And I didn’t want to yank this all down but also just to save me a bit of time is in the seventh point this is the reason that I’m looking at an epic uh in a intro to literature class
Even though there are all sorts of different types of writing I’m I’m I’ve placed a great deal of emphasis on the Epic because an epic is an encyclopedic poem you can’t read it you can come
Forward if you can’t I can’t no no any of you I I don’t know if you can read it or not down so low it’s encyclopedic what’s an encyclopedia encyclopedia is you’ll it’s just a a compository
Of books uh intended for children and it contains all the information and we WE Post 18th century we alphabetize it A to Z and there will be entries under it you’ll maybe see a picture there’ll be a little write-up and it’ll explain what’s in there and an encyclopedia is really everything
That you could know and presented at the audience at a basic level it’s not meant to be exhaustive or anything like that that’s what encyclopedia is within the word encyclopedia is that word paidea and it’s an and paideia is in reference to Children a child in Greek is Pais
A child and uh and the encyclos everything around that around childhood so it’s to educate uh children so that they understand the world around them it’s for us it’s just a form of knowledge that’s what an encyclopedia is it’s just a list it’s just information
In the Epic tradition encyclopedia contains far more than what we have reduced uh knowledge to be which is we’ve reduced it to be information and and just that but the moral component and the component of learning how to live
In other words wisdom is in part is a part of the Epic encyclopedic tradition and the purpose of it is pi Daya now what why do I mention that and why is that significant to us well because in uh Ephesians 6 4 Paul says that parents should educate
Their children in the fear and admonition of the Lord one of the words there for that is paideia admonition there is actually it’s not as it it’s it’s a bad translation um piide and nuthasia fear and abolition it’s a strange translation let me tell you
It’s got It’s not even close to the original sense there’s a interpretation going on there but it’s to bring children up in the fear of the Lord that’s why the fear is put there and that’s the right way to educate um but Paul is intensely interested in the uh
Path of Education it’s Central to the biblical witness as well so in in Deuteronomy 6 as well um Moses uh says that we should hear o Israel it’s called the Shema Shema or Israel you are to love the Lord with all your heart all your soul all your mind all your strength
You’ve heard that before who says that in your recognition it’s probably not Moses who says that that phrase and in what context sure Jesus yes yes Jesus and in response to what question was the greatest commandment and he cites Deuteronomy where Moses is talking to Israel
About teaching because he then goes on to say and you are to teach these things to your children and you’re to write them on your foreheads on your arms on the doors of your homes and on the
Gates of the city in other words it’s to govern your thoughts your actions your domestic sphere and the Public Square and that is uh part of the piidea of God it’s to teach in that context but
It’s also to live rightly now the encyclopedic Epic does the same thing I’m not saying that it is equivalent but I’m saying it’s trying to do the exact same sort of thing it’s particularly intended towards how to understand the world and how to live it and in what sense does it cover
Those things well it it has certain conventions uh I’ll skip the first one here and the second one it talks in the third one about the Council of the Gods it teaches us about the nature of the Gods
This is not just any old story most narratives don’t do this as I say an encycl an epic is a long narrative heroic poem but most heroic poems these days don’t deal with the gods the nature of
The Gods and how they relate to us but epics do they begin that way they’re written in app with epic diction so in this case it’s written in a style that is an exalted style It’s a grand Style conspicuously Grand so if you find you’re reading Milton you find this is really
Hard to read it’s written in very literary language well that’s intentional on his part he could have done otherwise but he wants it to have a a weightiness to a greatness about it and he’ll use epic similes and so forth I’ll I’ll show those to you when we come
Upon them it will also contain a descent into the underworld so it will only talk about the gods above but also what happens below in other words uh the underworld is the realm of the Dead and as I say it’s encyclopedia it will contain everything it’ll talk it’ll give us an account
Of human history we’ll find that in Paradise Lost I don’t think we’re going to look at it in this class but in Paradise Lost 11 and 12 it will give an account of human history from the beginning which is where this whole epic begins in Paradise all the way to the present day
And going forward to the second coming of Christ it will give the whole account of human history well we got that in the underworld in Homer and Virgil all that was given it was on the uh say
De virgils or to Aeneas he was given an account of what would happen after he founded Rome what Rome would go on to do so it was looking prospectively towards the future so it was not only telling us
About the gods about the nature of of Good and Evil uh what’s happening to the dead afterwards but also the whole trajectory of human history so it’s telling us everything about everything not many not many forms of literature do this but an epic does
And we’re going to look now at Milton’s account which is a a Christian take on this so the pagans had a certain view of this the Pagan Greeks the Pagan Romans what’s the Christian view of the nature of the Gods what’s the Christian view of the nature of heroism
What’s the Christian form of the understanding of what happens in death and what’s the Christian notion of paideia all those things are going to be brought into Focus here and we’re going to see that we can compare and contrast the Greek and
The Roman understanding of these things with the Christian understanding of these things and that’s that comparison is explicit but in order to make the comparison Milton does what I think is entirely sensible to do and is the traditional way of approaching
It which is to use the uh let’s say the flagpole that’s already been set up by his foregoors and to to run up his own flag up the flagpole so when I say that Milt if I say that Milton’s Paradise loss is the greatest poem ever written
Um I could just be expressing my feelings about it but uh you might say so what I don’t feel that way myself and I don’t I think I don’t think it is the greatest I will be able to say and doesn’t mean I’m going to persuade you but I’m going to be able
To say yes but compare Milton to his uh the other candidates for the greatest poem ever written and how will we compare it well we’ll look at how they use the exact same devices and the same
Methodologies Etc and see which one is greater and we’ll be able to compare them side by side this has happened this happens today in uh in all manners of uh life usually in sports and so forth
Who is the the goat the greatest of all time that sort of stuff right music whatever well how do you do that well you compare like with like and you set them alongside one another and you’ll look at statistics and stuff like that I’m not interested in statistics here
I don’t think that’s actually a good way to compare people and I I find it in those athletic comparisons they’re always talking about athletes from different eras and looking at their points totals or number of yards or who knows what and you’ll say but the game is very different now
Than it was then and I saw that guy play and I saw that guy play and that guy who played whose stats aren’t as good as better than that guy and you’ll say okay whatever so it’s all qualitative then
Yes and this is but this is the objective form of a qualitative observation we can look at how they follow certain conventions and these are the Epic conventions and we can talk about them as a literary literary features and every successive poet who wants to
Say this poem deserves to be compared to the great poems of the past will follow the conventions even if they’re going to try and outdo the foregoing Apex but you can’t outdo them if you don’t follow in their footsteps so there is a certain um course of action that every generation follows
And this is why you go this is what education is about education doesn’t begin from Ground Zero each generation it builds on what came before it I’m speaking the English language it’s a an inheritance which is Rich and deep and long and I didn’t invent the language I don’t even invent
Many words uh and if I did you wouldn’t know what I meant by them until they started to be used and then they become uh you know fashionable for a little while and then people forget it and think
Well that was sort of yeah it was trendy at the time and oh yeah that sounds really stupid now like the word cool I don’t know if cool is cool anymore what’s the cool word for cool now
Is it anything no I don’t even know I’m too uncool to know what’s cool so I I don’t even try to do that after a while when you get old enough you realize that the worst the
Least cool thing you can do is to try to be cool when you’re old is just you know give up on that and so I have so those are the Epic features uh in general now we’re going to see how they apply
In Milton’s Paradise law so let me put this up on the screen here and I’ll have to push this out of the way try not to bring the whole house down here so it worked
So as I said the uh one of the Epic conventions the first one on the whiteboard there was that it begins with invoking a muse now what is a muse the muses there were nine of them in classical Greek
And Latin poetry they were the goddesses of memory or they were born from their mother whose memory that was her name and they were her children and the nine children were associated with particular Arts there was an epic Muse there was a muse for history Cleo there was an app
There was a muse for lyrical poetry there’s a muse for history etc etc there’s all different types of Muses there’s one specifically dedicated to the epic poem however and this is the one that Milton will uh invoke now when he does so Milton being a Christian could be accused of paganism oh
I need to backtrack a little bit I was I didn’t finish a thought which is that uh Milton is following the footstep of of foregoing poets but he could have said what does a Christian have to do with paganism at all why am I bothering following Pagan conventions
Christianity is true it’s it’s it’s it’s it’s the true revelation of who God is and all other Revelations of the gods are nothing but idolatry it’s why would I even bother with it what does Athens have to do with Jerusalem let’s just let’s let’s start all over again
As I say he could have done that and you you could have said that’s a legitimate path to to uh to follow but all I can say is that you would lose a great deal of the force of persuasion
In in Christian teaching if you ignored all the cultures of the world around you you couldn’t say look how much greater the gospel is than you’re teaching about the gods look how much more loving God is in the Christian understanding than the gods of this world if you didn’t even bother with
A comparison I’m not even going to use any forms of comparison as I say you could do that because you would say all of these are Idols they’re nothing the gods of this world are not Gods at all people worship them but there’s nothing there
But that’s not what Milton does and that’s never what people uh who uh have gone out as missionaries the world have done either they have spoken to people in the terms of the culture in which they’re living and and made the comparison so that they can understand now this is the thing
About Christianity it is a rational Faith it’s a it’s a persuasive means conversion is not beating people into submission it’s it’s drawing them helping them to understand it’s part of the piidea it’s it’s it’s showing them teaching them and you do that by comparison so you talk about
Gichi Manitou I’m going to tell you about Jesus Jesus is God the son and let me talk to you and we’ll but I’ll do it in comparison with terms of gods in which you already understand this is what happened in the Greco-Roman world and it moved into let’s say the
Germanic world into uh every country of the earth now and so there it was used comparatively anyway so sorry going back to this so he begins with an invocation of a muse but he also
Begins with his theme his great theme Here because I said to you as I think it was point eight that each epic writer seeks to compare himself to the foregoing epic writers but also to outdo them
To outdo them well what were the Greek and Roman epics for those of you who didn’t do them here um what was the main theme well in The Iliad the first great epic it was the Rage of Achilles the very first line the word first word was Roth the wrath
Of Achilles that was what the whole of the Epic was about and then the question was why is he angry and he was angry because he was being shown disrespect by Agamemnon and uh he said I deserve the utmost of respect I need to be treated as the greatest among the
Greeks and you’re not treating me so so it’s about Achilles sense of greatness and his and his pride in other words uh the Odyssey by Homer is about a man by the name of Odysseus who is wise it was about the wisdom of Odysseus in both cases they’re just Greek princes dealing with
Individuals the Roman epic goes a bit further than that because that’s just for the Greek world that uh Achilles and Odysseus are considered great although Alexander the Great slapped with a copy of The Iliad under his bed when he went and conquered the whole known world so it’s not that
It had no influence it was part of his paideia to look up to Achilles and to want to be like Achilles and he became Alexander the Great but Aeneas in Virgil’s rendition uh he be the Virgil
Begins his poem of arms and of a man I sang a reference to the war of uh Troy and of the man Odysseus so the two epics of Homer are being compared to the one Epic of Virgil and he’s
Saying my my man is greater and why because the Roman Empire is far greater than the Greeks he is this this hero is going to go on to found Rome which is the greatest city of its time in
Fact there’s a whole empire it it encompasses the whole Known World and here’s the beginning of that so it’s not just an ancient historical epic it’s related to the present here and now and it will be
An Empire which will um we’re living in a golden age says Virgil so it’s a greater epic says he ah I’ll skip over the other epics let’s just come to this one here’s Milton’s theme of Man’s first disobedience and the fruit of that forbidden tree which brought death into our world and
All our woe with loss of Eden till one greater man restore it and regain the Blissful seat sing Heavenly Muse that on the secret top of orobor of Sinai okay sing Heavenly Muse so is he referring
To the muses of the of memory the Pagan Muses no it’s the Heavenly Muse well and there’s only one and in this case we probably say it’s the Holy Spirit well why would we say that because he makes repeated references to inspiration he refers to Aura Mount Orab or Mount Sinai did
Inspire that Shepherd who first taught the chosen seed who is that well that’s Moses he’s appealing to the same spirit that taught Moses to write down the the first five books of the Bible the pentateuch or a reference to soloa’s Brook that flowed fast by the Oracle
Of God again references to the Holy Spirit Milton is invoking the holy spirit as his God as his Divine Muse to tell this story so even in the invocation of his Muse he’s out doing the foregoing epics because this is a grand theme by God himself not
One of the nine Muses dedicated to memory but the god of Gods who is always taught but note he mentions two men here this is very interesting a man’s first disobedience till one greater man restore us who are these men
Yes yes very good so Man’s first Disobedience that will be Jesus or Adam not Jesus that would be a problem and yet he will also include a second man or as it says in Paul’s Epistles the second Adam
And he will restore what was lost now this the Epic here is called Paradise Lost but it will include within it not only how Paradise was lost but how it will in future be restored that’s not
The subject matter of this poem but it’s being it will be brought to our attention at the end of the poem it’s not all lost there here’s what’s going to happen in the future to redeem what you
Adam have lost your one of your seed well regain what all you lost and will restore Paradise to you but note how it begins and note the style it long sentences I I said you should read it aloud and
This is the reason because it if you don’t read it aloud it’s easy to get lost in the in the long uh uh Clauses and the lengthy syntax which is often uh twisting and turning and so forth but there he
Wants us and he announces his subject matter he’s going to describe the loss of Eden and its restoration and us to sing of these or if it’s not going to the height of the mountain where we first where God reveals himself to Moses and gives him the Ten Commandments and
Also reveals to him the account of his human history from its early Beginnings rights in Genesis remember this is the these are the books of Moses Moses wasn’t there for this it’s been revealed to him here’s what happened here’s how creation began Etc or if you don’t want to talk
About it in terms of the the Mountaintop let’s talk about it as a little Brook silos Brook the water that symbolizes the holy spirit in a very like it’s trickling Beneath Your Feet it’s not up on the mountain where you’re terrified it’s down here but Milton invokes
Thy Aid Thai is a reference a personal reference to God here I invoke thy Aid to my adventurous song that and here’s the again the attempt to outdo with no middle flight intends to soar above the aeonian amount above the Greek Mountain far above
While it pursues things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme and chiefly thou o Spirit the dust prefer before all temples the upright heart and pure oh I didn’t even want to use this one this one instruct me for thou knowest thou from the first was present
And with Mighty Wings outspread Dove like shots brooding on the vast abyss and made strip pregnant what in me is dark illumine what is low raise and support that to the height of this great argument I may assert Eternal Providence and justify the ways of God to
Man now no poet has ever claimed to or even tried to do what Milton’s trying to do here Dante did not try to do it in his Divine Comedy there is no claim to uh call upon the holy spirit like this at the outset and to recount these things
And to outdo the foregoing epics it was not it was never so explicit Milton is very bold others will be very critical of Mr Milton for what he will eventually do which is depict God himself speaking that Dante does not do that
He gets it at the end of The Divine Comedy there’s a vision of the trinity which he can barely uh comprehend he can’t even look at it it’s So Glorious so there’s an element of humility that’s not here in Milton Milton is is saying here’s how God has revealed himself so
I will be bold if he has said this is the way I am to be understood I will not say I’m being humble by denying that I’ve seen this I will I will lean on the Revelation and say that it is so
But note that he is going to do things unattempted yet in proza rhyme to assert Eternal Providence Eternal Providence so it’s going to comprehend all of human history is it greater than the epics before well of course it is because it’s not confined
To the Roman Empire the Roman Empire which in Milton’s day is now no longer an Empire and he has one final feature of it which is an interesting one here there’s a recognition despite the boldness of his attempt that he is not only unable to articulate it on his own but his own
Person is darkened by what we Christians will call sin he has a a moral problem a spiritual problem which is that he’s a sinner that’s not the epics of the Pagan world don’t even acknowledge the category of sin as as such they understand
Moral transgression and so forth they do that but they they they’re not going to acknowledge that they are morally incapable of telling the tale while telling the tale so Melton needs God to be able to tell about God
So this is a real appeal it’s and and you can only see that by comparison with the foregoing epics how different this is how comparable it is but also how different it is so this uh
Beginning here is is often called the prologomina or just the uh invocation of the Muse by the way there’s going to be four of them in Paradise Lost there’s one here there’s another one in book three which will be the place where we will go down to the underworld which in Milton’s
Understanding is actually not the underworld he’s going to go to heaven in book three when he goes to see God and describe the courts of God he will invoke The Muse again
He’ll do it in book Seven he’ll also do it in book nine he’ll do it in book Seven when he’s going to describe the heavens as in the uh the Stars astronomy and he’ll do it again in book nine
We’ll see this in a couple classes when he talks about the fall of mankind so four times he invokes The Muse and he does it with slightly different language but I’ll look at those as we do it as
Well any comments or questions about this thus far I spend a fair bit of time on the beginning here and throwing a fair bit at you yes yes in what sense do you mean that though well well his Revelation was the one that ended up in the Bible
No he’s not trying to add to revelation I mean at the end of John’s uh Revelation it says that no man if anyone who seeks to add to this will be anathema right there’s a he’s not going to
Add to Revelation he is going to take what is a revelation and put it in the clothes of the Pagan epic and he’s going to show the man that is in these clothes is like the Hulk he pops the
Clothes apart this is a man that can’t be constrained by the clothes of Bruce Banner that’s sort of what’s going on here right so here’s the man and let me show you what becomes of the man when the Christian story comes in it and what I’ve said there is inappropriate in
The sense that his notion of heroism is going to be the exact opposite of worldly heroism the the uh understanding of worldly heroism we’re about to meet him in in book one his name is Satan
The proud Satan the indomitable Satan the man who or or the being who will not bow to anyone who’s going to be the greatest he’s going to beat his chest like Achilles he will be angry and he will
Be proud and he will bow to no one that’s not Milton’s heroism so he’s gonna he’s also going to completely reforge the understanding of heroism when he comes to give his Christian paidea to us
And again we see this by looking at the Pagan epic and how it develops and then take the Christian epic and alongside it by the way when I say the Pagan epic that’s the Greco-Roman one but I would
Say it’s the world’s epic like that the idea of human greatness a great man leading his country that’s in every country of the world not just the Greco-Roman to our day think of the pop stars the athletes whatever these are the heroes
You know what it’s not just that they’re athletically gifted it’s they have an indomitable Spirit they get up when they get knocked down and they will not stop they’re Relentless we admire their Spirit that’s what makes them great Milton’s heroism is going to be far greater than that how
While he’s going to talk about it at the end of the Epic his hero will be humble and he will bear the sins of the world the sins that he did not have for a people that he loved but they did not deserve him it’s a totally different way of
Understanding heroism it’s not the sly lying Odysseus it’s not the proud indomitable Achilles it’s the humble Shepherd born of a virgin in a Backwater of Jerusalem right right or on the outskirts of Jerusalem in Bethlehem born in a manger that’s going to be his hero okay who’s the
Anti-hero then well let’s come and meet him now say first says Milton now he’s speaking to the muse or the Holy Spirit say first for heaven hides nothing from thy view nor the Deep tract of hell say first what cause moved our grandparents in that Happy State
Favorite of heaven so highly to fall off from their creator and transgress his will for one restraint Lords of the Earth the world besides who first seduced them to that foul revolt answers his own question The Infernal serpent he it was whose guile stood up with envy and
Revenge deceived the mother of mankind what time his pride had cast him out from heaven and all his hosts of Rebel Angels by whose Aid aspiring to set himself in glory above his peers he trusted to have equaled the most high if he opposed and with ambitious aim against the
Throne and monarchy of God raised impious war in heaven and battle proud with vain attempt so how did it happen and who did it who brought this all about Satan and when did it begin it actually did
Not begin in the Garden of Eden it began before that so Milton is going to give us a count which predates what we read in Genesis but is mentioned in Scripture there’s a there was a war in heaven and Satan and the rebel Angels were thrown down a third of
Them from the courts of God they rebelled against him Satan was once Lucifer he was the he was the bearer of light he was one of the angels of God he sought to be on par with God to be a god-like gods
And he for his sin and sin we’re going to come to the origins of sin he was cast down that’s who and he’s going to go backtrack and show us what began before the beginning there’s a supernatural element to human life there’s a war amongst the gods if you will or
In this case between God and the one who pretended he could be God it was him and what happened so we’ll we’ll give the account now he’s going to begin this unlike the foregoing epics he’s going to begin it in hell
Having begun with the invocation he says well how did this fall from Paradise happen it happened because of Satan well now that I’ve mentioned him let’s look at him for which reason some people later and I say so he brings the underworld right to the front of the
Epic and usually it doesn’t come till much later so in in the Odyssey I believe it’s in book 11. Odysseus goes down to the underworld to find information about his uh his father and and how to get home and all that sort of stuff in the Aeneid
Aeneas goes down to the underworld in book six he goes down a Trojan he comes up a Roman very different character but note it’s in the middle of the book Milton pulls it to the front of the book and so for some people they have suggested that Milton’s hero is actually Satan
Because we’re going to be introduced to this Grand character of Satan at the beginning and he has terrifically powerful and persuasive speeches and uh so one romantic author William Blake says that Milton was of the devil’s party without knowing it he was too successful
In fact he’s going to say that his Satan is more admirable than his God is we’ll come back to that when we look at Milton’s God next time but he raised and Pious war in heaven and battle proud with vain attempt the attempt fails him the almighty power hurled headlong flaming from the
Ethereal sky with Hideous Rune and combustion down to bottomless Perdition there to dwell in adamantine chains and penal fire who dirstify the omnipotent to Arms nine times the space that measures day and night to Mortal men he and his horrid crew lay vanquished so now they’re on the
Floor of hell if you could call it a floor because it’s not a floor it’s a Lake of Fire rolling in the fiery Gulf confounded though Immortal but his Doom that is Satan’s Doom reserved him to more wrath for now the thought both of lost happiness and Lasting pain torments him
Here’s Satan’s problem he is not only left the place of utmost Joy beholding God to a place where he not only does not see God but he remembers what he’s lost in seeing God and he’s he’s surrounded
By Everlasting pain will he will he recant will he seek to uh call for forgiveness he will not for all of the things that he has lost for all the pain that he suffers he will not relent
And so we’ll come to a speech and that but he looks around he throws his baleful eyes that witness huge Affliction and dismay mixed with object pride and steadfast hate at once as far as angels can he views the Dismal situation waste and while the dungeon horrible on all
Sides around as one great furnace flamed yet from those Flames no light but rather Darkness visible served only to discover sites of Woe regions of Sorrow doleful Shades where peace and rest can never dwell hope never comes that comes to all but torture Without End still
Urges in a fiery Deluge fed with ever burning sulfur unconsumed such place Eternal Justice had prepared for those rebellious hear their prison ordained in utter darkness and their portions set as far removed from God and Light Of Heaven as from the center Thrice to the utmost Pole
I will come back to that in a second but note these uh things note the comparison between Darkness and Light first of all God’s presence is associated with light Jesus is the light of the world God is presented as uh Thy Word is a lamp unto
My feet and a light unto my path God is presented as light his word is presented as light not only because it illumines us but because it shows us which way we should walk right but God is associated with light what is Hell associated with then Darkness
Because God is not present in hell he is removed from hell in some sense hell is this is characterized by being removed from everything that is good which God is now Milton’s problem here is that how can he describe what he’s going to describe
In in hell if there’s no light there because you need light in order to see you could just have Satan hearing terrible scary noises like you know when you’re in your bedroom and you’re having nightmares and it’s total pitch darkness and you hear things and you’re terrified
He could have done that he instead uses a bit of a paradox he calls it Darkness visible there’s it’s it’s it’s metaphysically and physically impossible the darkness is not visible you need the light to
See it but he no longer has God and so he he can’t see he’s blind literally but he describes the uh landscape of hell and it’s painful to him what he Milton is doing is using the augustinian notion of of Good and Evil God is good evil is the
Absence of good God is associated with light Hal is associated with the absence of light it’s the privation of the good it’s a way it’s a an orthodox way of describing evil and it’s necessary to hold on to the Orthodoxy here because otherwise we will be fall into the Trap
And misunderstanding that the romantics did of seeing Satan as a sort of com um competitor to God in which case you fall into the problem of of dualism and manichaeism for that matter there’s there’s a there’s a good power and there’s an evil power
And they’re opposite to one another and there’s the fight between good and evil and it’s it’s too equal and opposite powers vying for Supremacy here that’s not Milton’s account Milton’s account is that God is supreme and there is only one God and Satan is his creature and he
Is also his slave he’s his drudge he’s going to serve God’s purposes that’s Christian teaching again the romantics don’t understand this or they misrepresent it in part because they have departed from Christian Orthodoxy on this and they misread the text but it’s quite clear if you
Read Milton’s words that Milton calls one God and the other is just simply not he claims to be God simply because again as a spiritual being he has been created and his he’s not going
To be destroyed by virtue of the fact that he’s been thrown down to Hell so in that sense he has Eternal existence but that’s only been granted to him by God so there’s no comparison there but he is the adversary he is Satan Satan means adversary in Hebrew
He will set him up so but he sees this and he sees what how unlike the place from whence they fell there the companions of his follow overwhelmed with floods and whirlwinds of tempestuous fire he soon discerns and weltering by his side one next to himself in power and next in crime long
After known in Palestine and named Beelzebub Milton’s going to name here in book one a whole series of gods recognized in the ancient world in in the Old Testament they’ll talk about Baal he’ll talk about Malik right these will be gods that are recognized in ancient and worshiped as Gods
Um Milton is following the the church fathers in understanding these Gods as demons in disguise they have deceived men to uh lead them to think that these are gods and they will follow the God’s bidding to appease the gods and that will include the Greek and Roman gods for that matter Zeus and
And so forth but those are not the ones mentioned in scripture the ones mentioned in scripture are the Canaanite Gods like Malik Malik who who demanded child sacrifice to appease him put the baby on the scalding hands of the of the idol like they they heat a metal uh Idol with
His hands out until he’s burning hot and then you put your your newborn baby on that and it fries up that’s Malik worship part of the uh worship of that horrid God which even the Israelites did in gehenna the valley of hanom you know gehenna where’s that
What that word yahanna have you heard that word before that’s what Jesus describes Hellas he uses the word gehenna it’s where the city garbage dump was located outside Jerusalem and there’s a fire burning in that in the garbage dump to burn the garbage
But they also that’s where they set the uh this metal statue of Malik and burnt their own babies at one point that’s how horrible so Jesus describes the garbage dump where the fires are always burning the trash is always going up in a horrid smell with the idolatry that happened there
As well that’s what hell is like where your babies are sacrificed to a god who’s a demon he describes that as hell some biblical Scholars say well Jesus was not talking about what we call hell he was just talking about the garbage dump what happened in the garbage dump malach worship
He’s identifying a feature of human cultures that have gone demonic that they sacrificed their babies he says that’s like that hell is like that where the where your future because if you think about your your future it’s in your offspring
Human beings are going to die if you want a future you will have children you’ll be fruitful and multiply and fill and subdue the Earth you’ll teach your children to love the Lord your God I don’t think you can burn them up if you are going to do that
Anyway um Beelzebub Lord of the Flies one of the demons worship there but here presented as a fallen angel and they will get into a conversation here I’m going to we’ll look at some of the speeches that Satan presents here because they’re just terrific here
And this is Lucifer or one who Lucifer means the light bearer Pharaoh is to bear and luche is light in in Latin and he’s going to look at Beelzebub and say man you look bad
You know last time I saw you looked really good and now boy you uh you’ve fallen on Hard Times of course he doesn’t realize how bad he looks but never mind if thou BST but oh how Fallen how changed from him who in the hoppy Realms of light clothed with Transcendent brightness to
Outshine myriads though bright if he whom Mutual League United thoughts and councils equal hope and hazard in the Glorious Enterprise joined with me once now misery hath joined an equal ruin into what pit thou seeest from what height fall and so much the stronger proved he with his Thunder
And till then who knew the force of those dire arms so what is he what is he saying he’s saying you were with me in the beginning when we rebelled against God and uh we’ve been catastrophically defeated but how could we have known
Because he was God and you weren’t maybe because he was Almighty and you weren’t Maybe you know how did we know that we’re going to get beaten down against the almighty God who created us until we fought against him well I think that’s pretty so what you will find here
Among Satan’s speeches the reason I mentioned this is not to just point out the irony and humor there but the sense in which Satan’s logic uh always flatters himself and always distorts reality Satan is the father of Lies he always lies and part of his lies he believes his own lies
He lives in unreality that’s what happens when you lie and when you live in unreality by lying you can’t see your way to the truth which is why you need revelation you can’t reason your way up to God although reason has a a functional capacity to help you to
Do that it’s it reasoning is also perverted by the Fall people cannot come to the conclusion that God exists on their own they can dimly apprehend it or him and they do do that in the sense that they
Recognize that there are gods and that there’s a divine order of things and there is a hierarchy and a principle and there’s good and evil and so forth that you can see that but you can’t see who
The good one actually is that needs to be revealed to you the Holy Spirit needs to convert you you need to repent but you need to be brought to repentance Satan does not have the mind of Christ he does not have God’s way of looking at things he’s lost that when he rebelled
But here’s the grand speech who knew the force of those dire arms yet not for those nor what the potent Victor and he speaks of God as if he were a big Cosmic bully
All he had was Force he had thunder and lightning and so forth okay he’s just got so he has no moral legitimacy at all he just has power whereas the it’s the other way around Satan has no
Moral legitimacy all he sought to do was to seek for and grasp power and he didn’t care about the means and he didn’t care about the consequences he didn’t care about his fellow angels in fact he didn’t care about anyone but himself but he’s going to accuse God of all those things the
Romantics take Satan’s at his word and think that he is morally Superior to God why because God wins so they’re going to stick with the loser anyway but he says not what the potent Victor in his rage can an else inflict do I repent or change though changed in outward luster
So I’m I’m changing the outside but inside there’s a lot of light here it doesn’t I know it doesn’t look that way but I’ve got I’m I’ve got my mojo eye of everything that I always had and even more
So now because I’ve learned from experience that’s what effectively he’s gonna say but what does he have that won’t I won’t repent or change though changing outward luster that fixed mind and high disdain from sense of injured Merit that with the mightiest raised me to contend so it’s God’s fault
That I rebelled against him because he made me so glorious that I wanted to be even more glorious and to the fierce contention brought along innumerable force of spirits armed that Durst dislike his Reign and me preferring his utmost power with adverse power opposed
In dubious battle on the plains of Heaven and shook his throne all this is a Lie by the way there was a battle in heaven but it was one-third of the Angels the battle was never dubious it was
Never in doubt you can’t win against the almighty the definition of the almighty you can’t win since he’s also omniscient he will know what’s going on before you even can see what you you like how can you beat defeat God it’s it’s absurd
Satan drinks his own Kool-Aid and shook his throne what we’re going to find in book six when the account is told that he doesn’t even get anywhere close to the throne let alone shaking it but here’s the grand speech what though the field be lost all is not lost the unconquerable will
And study of Revenge Immortal hate and courage never to submit our yield and what is else not to be overcome That Glory never shall his wrath or might extort from me to Bow and sue for Grace
With supplant knee and deify his power who from the terror of this arm so late doubted his Empire that we’re low indeed that were an ignominy and shame beneath this downfall since by Fate the strength of gods in this Imperial substance cannot fail
Sense through experience of this great event in arms not worse in foresight much Advanced we may with more successful hope resolve to wage by force Argyle Eternal War irreconcilable to our grand foe who now triumphs and then the excess of Joy Soul reigning holds the tyranny of heaven so again lies
Upon lies upon lies he refers to this to to the Fate in reference to his creation he no longer acknowledges himself as a creature of God he says that it’s fate that overruled these things now
Fate I mentioned to you uh when I taught the Graco Roman epics the fates were also gods that the um the gods of um uh the uh the sky Gods Zeus and others had no power over
And I said that this is one of the you know if you want to see Jupiter or Zeus as the great Gods he’s called the father of gods and man and you want to compare him to the Eternal god of the Christian
Faith there is no comparison because he doesn’t even have any control over the future the fates do that and the fates are blind they just they’re three of them they cut the cord human life is as
Measured a certain way and and Zeus can’t change what’s faded it’s his job to do what is faded here Satan is appealing to the faiths which uh Orthodox understanding of God will utterly contradict God is remember Milton’s own phrase he’s going to assert
Eternal Providence God sees all things he provides for all things past present and future Satan is suggesting he’s not God at all and he calls the God who is a gracious and just King he’s calling him a tyrant so it’s lie built upon lie and the only reason that he does
Uh hold to this narrative is simply because he wants to be the god that’s it so therefore it’s unjust it’s unjust that I’m not God that’s his argument and if if I’m supposed to be God then of course he’s an illegitimate ruler he’s a tyrant we wish we shall see by the fruits
Who is the just God and who is the false and who is the Tyrant it’s clear from to Milton by the way he’s not trying to persuade us he’s trying to to tell what Christian theology already tells right this is not Milton’s understanding of God it’s the Christian understanding of God
Satan is a tyrant he’s the prince of this world all the tyrants and princes of this world uh follow his path when they seek power and oppress their opponents when they ignore Justice when they ignore compassion and mercy when they reject Grace when they take human life when they sacrifice
The innocent they’re acting in Satan’s with Satan’s counsel so spake the apostate Angel if you’re wondering what Milton thinks about him the apostate Angel though in pain vaunting aloud but rocked with deep despair and him thus answered soon his bold computer I’ll skip over that
Because I want to come to Satan’s speech here this is uh so Beelzebub answers asks a question and the arch fiend replies to him in this speech here is important for identifying Milton’s notion of heroism and how utterly incomprehensible it is to Satan
Here’s the speech Fallen cherub to be weak is miserable doing or suffering but of this be sure to do ought good it should be a u g h t to do ought good never will be our task to do any good
Never will be our task but ever to do ill our soul Delight why as being contrary to his high will whom we resist if then his Providence out of our evil seek to bring forth good our labor must
Be to pervert that end and out of good still to find means of evil which oftimes may succeed so as perhaps shall grieve him if I fail not and disturb his inmost counsels from their destined aimed
Let me just stop there for a sec so here is the one of the great highlights of that will demonstrate Milton’s notion of heroism is how mil Milton Satan disparages his notion of Satan or of heroism which is he regards weakness as purely miserable being a creature means being weak
You’re dependent you’re not utterly self-reliant he can’t tolerate that he cannot tolerate being a creature he cannot tolerate being dependent he cannot tolerate the fact that he is not God and so he rejects it he will not admit it even to
Be weak is miserable doing or suffering now if we flip forward 10 books of this we will get his notion of heroism presented to us his being militants which is Christ who became weak who suffered naked defenseless at the cross in the hands of his enemies betrayed by his friends
And did not accounted to be a misery but rather accounted it the way in which the power of God would be displayed because he was after he was crucified and died he rose from the dead because death could not hold one who was sinless
Right but he sees that weakness as there’s no power in that there’s no strength in that there’s no goodness in that at all he sounds like Achilles the wrath of Achilles he could not be less than any man he’s like he is the model of pagan heroism is Satan when he speaks so
When the romantics said that Satan is Milton’s hero they clearly don’t understand the gospel they simply don’t they haven’t understood the nature of Christian heroism but here it’s articulated in its antithesis to be weak as miserable doing her suffering not so but from Satan’s vantage point this is deplorable disgusting
Everything wrong with this but here he sounds like again the world’s an ocean of heroism as I said indomitable what do we admire about the great athletes they go down and they get back up
You can beat them down but they’re going to get back up and they’re going to win in the end who doesn’t admire that I admire that I people who are show the perseverance and character to get up when they’re knocked down very important in life for sure but is that alone going to
Like an indomitable spirit is that going to save you and bring you to Eternal happiness not so you will end up in the Underworld you’ll end up dead just like everybody else you haven’t taken a truthful account of who you are in relation to God but he sees the
Problem here and now he mentions his Providence he knows about God’s Providence well what what is he like well he’s going to bring good out of evil that’s the problem here and if he tries to do that that will world will will fix him we’ll make him okay so he says all that
And so then he and and he noticed that God has pulled back the thunder and lightning which drove them down to Hell to begin with and he says okay we’ve got a little a little pause
Here now we have a chance let’s go back Adam and there’s a little Council in the Underworld that goes on between Satan and the other Devils about what they should do next Malik wants to run at
Him again let’s go after them like a second time let’s charge and the rest of them I don’t think we want to do that like like the the full frontal assault that didn’t work very well the first time
And I think we’re going to fail again he doesn’t care we’re going to go back at him uh Mammon wants to dig down into under the Lake of Fire to see if there’s some like gold or other stuff like that or
You want like wealth maybe there’s stuff dug you know under here which we can make us rich rich the underworld in the pagans conception was presided over by Pluto who was regarded as the richest of all the gods because he inherits everything right
God of death gets everything all the riches that you can’t take with them who gets those ultimately um but a council comes forth which they eventually fall upon as better which is they’re going to try and pervert what God is doing so not by violence but rather through guile through deceit through
Lies through trickery That’s the Way Forward God created by his word we will deceive by our words we will mimic God’s path in following a better path so not Direct Hit we will come about it in a roundabout way and that’s how we’ll do it and Satan likes this Council
And decides to follow it and the council is one that he himself proposed and put a subordinate up to here but he he goes across he’s compared when he moves in across the lake of fire to uh uh Titanium or earthborn that Ward on Jupiter briarius or Typhon so ancient serpents
Whom The Den by ancient Tarsus held or that Sea Beast Leviathan so you can refer to Pagan uh precedent you can refer to biblical precedent either of those will do and what he oh this is an epic simile so I talked about
Epic diction we have a long extended simile now what does Milton do in his epic similes he tends to do what he tends to compare his figures here with all sorts of uh precedents that are like this and compiles them together to create a new image so here he’s being compared to
Uh a invoke as huge as whom the as whom here is the simile a simile is a comparison using like or as so he’s being compared to the great beasts of that men are mentioned in the classical world uh
In mythology or in biblical epics in this case Leviathan mentioned in job right the Sea Beast uh and he goes onwards and onwards and onwards and and he’s allowed to move and this is the important thing about Providence what happens here
He had he would never have been able to leave the Lake of Fire had not risen or heaved his head but that the will and high permission of all ruling Heaven left him at large to his own dark design so God let Satan off the floor of the Lake of Fire how come
Does he not know what’s about to happen what is about to happen well he’s about to go up and pervert mankind that’s going to be his intention does God not foresee this he does foresee it and he lets him go he lets him choose to go
Down this course now this is Milton presenting Christian theology God sees what is about to he sees the fall foresees the fall I’ll deal with this when we come to book three next class God sees what’s going to happen and he allows it to happen is he responsible for it
Well we’ll see Milton’s response or Milton’s God’s response to this he’s going to say in response to that that he’s not responsible for the actions of those that even oppose him they have free will to do these things until they enslave themselves
And in this case he’s going to bring out good out of evil Milton Satan has just said this he’s going to bring good out of evil itself that’s his path but he left him to his own dark designs
That was reiterated that with reiterated crimes he may Heap on himself damnation while he sought evil to others and enraged might see how all those malicer but to bring forth infinite goodness grace and mercy shown on man by him seduced but himself trouble confusion so Milton’s already given away
The whole story which is that God is going to allow him to succeed in perverting mankind but God is going to show mankind Grace and it’s he’s going to fail even though he succeeds right so Milton’s audience knows the gospel they’ve heard the Christian story he’s not
Introducing anything new to them remember he’s writing in the 17th century he’s writing in English to Englishmen they’ve heard these things before Milton is not uh creating a story that has not been told he is expressing the truths of Christian theology in the story
Fourth with upright he rears from the pool his mighty stature on each hand the Flames driven backwards up he goes and downwards and then another speech is this the region this the soil The Climb so then the Lost archangel
This the seat that we must change for heaven this mournful Gloom for that Celestial light be it so since he who now is Sovereign can dispose and bid what shall be right farthest from him is best whom reason hath equaled Force hath made Supreme above his equals
Farewell happy Fields where Joy forever dwells hail Horrors hail infernal world and thou profoundest hell receive thy new possessor one who brings a mind not to be changed by place or time and the famous words here the mind is its own place and in itself can make a heaven of hell
A hell of Heaven what matter where if I be still the same and what I should be all but less than he whom Thunder hath made greater here at last we shall be free the almighty hath not built here for his Envy will not drive us hence here we may Reign secure and
In my choice to Reign is worth ambition though in hell better to reign in health and serve in heaven but wherefore let we then our Faithful Friends the associates think of Partners of our lost lie thus astonished on the ability so Satan is Satan is giving these Grand speeches meanwhile
As his his friends and comrades are lying face down in the water and you say oh yeah oh but why have we left them there oh yeah okay up you go doesn’t care anyway but note these phrases here he
Claims that the mind is its own place there’s an internal world which God is Not Conquered and as long as I my mind is on conquered I can think that I’m in heaven even though I’m in hell
And I can declare that what is Heaven Is Hell because I have the capacity to imagine it Satan is the Great wielder of the human imagination we can call good evil and evil good that’s what he’s asserting here have you not heard
That before in Scripture woe to those who call evil good and good evil this is Satan he also says that it’s better to reign in Hell than serve in heaven again articulating what I said about weakness there he would rather be Reign Over the worst
Possible place and he will make play he will make Earth by the way the worst possible place he can rather than serve in the courts of the Almighty which would be far greater if he would just humble
Himself but not so so here’s the mind of the satanic one it’s the mind of the of the man of this world as well and it’s it’s juxtaposed but note here the mind is its own place and the idea
Of an internal geography it’s going to be very important because we’re going to lose Paradise in this account of Paradise Lost it’s a physical place they’re going to be cast out of paradise but the consolation that they will find is that there is a paradise within happier far it’s
Better than what than the place the physical location that you were thrown out there is a paradise within a spirit filled consolation and knowledge of the presence of God which you will
You have now is a foretaste but will one day see uh when you see God you will see him face to face that’s the paradise within even though you’re no longer in Paradise but this idea of an inter the mind being its own place and me being able to imagine and
Conceptualize and if I think it so it is so I can imagine that I’m God even though I’m Satan in hell I can if I just think I’m God then I’m going to be God he self-identifies as God think of the way in which this is used today self-identification Satan is the
First to self-identifier by the way that follows this this wretched path of saying he is something which is exactly the opposite of what he is clear lies so he speaks and Beelzebub answers they all decide uh that they should pervert mankind
Two minutes and then the question is who’s going to go do this and they ask around and there’s silence no one wants to do it and then Satan has been waiting for this moment and says I’ll do it and they’re all like Yay cheers of course we intended on doing
It to begin with but he sets up a council in which he’s going to be nominated as the one who will do this and then he goes up and does it now I didn’t get to book two I’ll do that next time I’m going
To do it around if you want to do the reading in advance from around 5 50 Book 2 550 on to 700 or thereabouts and we’ll see that he winds his way up from Hell through chaos and comes to the gates
Of hell and there he meets two figures I’ll talk about them next time and once he gets Beyond them having created a sort of a a covenant with them he will then go uh and will come to book three
Which is as I say we go from hell to heaven and Milton will invoke The Muse again and then we’ll look at what Milton says about heaven and the characters that we see there we’ll see God the Father speaking to God the son about what Satan is doing and planning to do yes
Absolutely and preface to Paradise loss which I mentioned last time this this book is profoundly influential on countless people it this is the I for me this is the greatest work in the English language I know what’s interesting about that is he is just using the account from Genesis
As as the base of the story the sort of the kernel of the story it’s it’s scripture but he fuses it with the great epic tradition and does it with the terrific Language by the way remember I or I don’t know if I remember I don’t even if I told you
He doesn’t write this he dictates it because when he he writes this he’s blind he dictates it to one of his daughters and she writes it down he’s he’s doing it from memory it’s in his head the words in fact he I’ll come to that next time when we look
At the the invocation of the muse uh how this comes about he will talk more about that specifically but yes I do think that it was influential on Lewis and as I say countless others anyway I’ll see you next time
#John #Milton #Paradise #Lost #Book
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