Paradise Lost 12

Adam deals with the sovereignty of God in this chapter. It is a complex discussion that Milton evokes, "O goodness infinite, goodness immense! That all this good of evil shall produce and evil turn to good more wonderful than that which by Creation first brought forth light out of darkness!" (469-474) What of evil in the world, does God allow it by stepping away from it? Or, will he turn all of it to good eventually? It is a comfort to think that latter, and Adam seems to take refuge in this last chapter.

Paradise Lost 11

The revealing of the future to Adam serves to establish more backstory, in an odd way, but also ties this epic, which exists in a portion of the Bible to a larger part of the Bible. The scope of this chapter seems to be greater than all of the previous epics combined, with the fate of humankind in question, instead of just that of a nation. This marks another deviation from the epic tradition that Milton seems to be pioneering.

Paradise Lost 10

"What better can we do than to the place repairing where He judged us prostrate fall before him revernet and there confess humbly our faults and pardon beg, with tears watering the ground and with our sighs the air frquenting, sent from hearts contrite to sign of sorrow unfeigned and humiliation meek? Undoubtedly He will relent and turn from His displeasure, in whose look serene when angry most he seemed and most severe What else but favor, grace and mercy shown?" (1086-1096) So far, this is one of my favorite passage in the book. This is a beautiful response to the sorrow that Adam and Eve both have and their want for death and outlines how they can respond to it. This is the contrast to Satan, again, and what Milton seems to have as the didactic purpose of the book. These passages are indeed an important element of the epic.

Paradise Lost 9

In contrast to the last time Adam and Eve make love, now that they have taken the fruit, they are in sin. Having gone outside of God's will, they have lost "Just Confidence and Native Righteousness And Honor from about them" (1056-1057). He then ties them to other old testament stories, Dalilah and Samson. Sexual sin seems to be a large topic of examination in this epic. Why was it a sin? Because they had eaten the fruit. I'm a little confused about this still. It does seem similar to the warnings against furor in the older epics, but now is more obvious.

Paradise Lost 8

Adam learns a lot from the angel, but is warned to not ask seek out too much. Is this a relevant statement for today? Science is often a blessing, but sometimes is a curse. Here we find an early critique perhaps of positivism. Do we do something with science just because we can? Do we do it for the sake of science? Is it really right to inquire how to do certain things that perhaps shouldn't be done? While it may seem dated and backwards, the critique is actually relevant today.

Paradise Lost 7

Milton calls upon the Muse, paying tribute to older epics, but also making it relevant by invoking the Holy Spirit. It serves to tie this epic to the past epics while also establishing it as something distinct. The accounts of Genesis are related and expanded upon. The extensiveness of the backstory in Paradise Lost also distinguishes it from the older epics, which have backstories but do not necessarily go so far in telling them in the main narrative.

Paradise Lost 6

Abdiel's repentance foreshadows and demonstrates God's grace and plan for the redemption of humanity, where he turns back to God in contrast to Satan's refusal to do so. The battle in heaven is very epic, with cannons (!) on the side of Satan. Is this a jab against technology by Milton? The evil side uses cannons, while the angelic side uses more natural means.

Paradise Lost 5

Interesting in this chapter is where Milton seems to deviate from the doctrine of the trinity that I assume was around at his time. "This day I have befot whom I declare my only Son and on this holy hill Him have anointed whom ye now behold At My right hand." (603-604) Instead of a trinity godhead that each together have the traits of God (omnipotent, eternal, omnipresent, etc.), Milton instead defines Christ as having an originating point instead of being consistently eternal backwards and forwards in existence.

Paradise Lost Book 4

Satan briefly considers repentence: "But say I could repent and could obtain By act of grace my former state." (94-95) but chooses not to. This mirrors Adam and Eve's sin later when they do not consider repentance, at least for Eve's sin initially. It was interesting that Satan posed as a large bird as he ran rampant through the garden in this account. Important in this chapter also is how Adam and Eve making love is not viewed as sinful but instead as how God intended.

Paradise Lost 2, 3

Paradise Lost 2
The council of devils and their different plans are an interesting take. Freedom to do whatever they choose seems to be their main goal. Are they being portrayed as heroic? The rumors circulating of the invention of man set the devils on their new course of action instead of the other alternatives they had thought of. What if they had followed Belials plan? Would man have still fallen?

Paradise Lost 3
Despite all of the machinations of the devils and the coming fall of mankind, God is still described as, having “sov'reign sentence” for mankind. The heavenly choir makes me think the Handel's Messiah and paints a more vivid scene in my mind of heaven. I liked the reference to “Elysian flow'rs” in heaven. Once again, Milton subtly ties this to epics of the past and makes it a more seemless connection to call this epic.

Paradise Lost 1

This chapter portrays the throngs of hell, the armies of the dead. Among them, we find the Greek gods and the chief of the underworld, Satan. Milton appeals to a heavenly muse to find inspiration for his writing. The muse, however, is different from the muses of past epics. Instead, here, we find an appeal to a heavenly muse and the Holy Spirit. This is a Christian work that does not hesitate to define itself as different from the religious traditions of the older greek and roman works. I thought it was interesting the Beelzebub and Satan were different characters, I thought they were supposed to be the same?