Season 3 Podcast 168 Milton's Paradise Lost Bk VI, Pt XI, The War in Heaven, Pt I, The Introduction

The War in Heaven Pt I IntroductionSome critics are astonished that Milton, inspired by only a few verses from Genesis, was able to write Paradise Lost. Strictly speaking, that is too narrow a view of the scope of Paradise Lost. I want to continue to keep at the forefront Milton’s stated theme:Of Man’s first disobedience, and the fruitOf that forbidden tree whose mortal tasteBrought death into the World, and all our woe,With loss of Eden, till one greater ManRestore us, and regain the blissful seat,Sing, Heavenly Muse, that, on the secret topOf Oreb, or of Sinai, didst inspireThat shepherd who first taught the chosen seedIn the beginning how the heavens and earthRose out of Chaos: or, if Sion hillDelight thee more, and Siloa’s brook that flowedFast by the oracle of God, I thenceInvoke thy aid to my adventurous song,That with no middle flight intends to soarAbove th’ Aonian mount, while it pursuesThings unattempted yet in prose or rhyme.And chiefly thou, O Spirit, that dost preferBefore all temples th’ upright heart and pure,Instruct me, for thou know’st; thou from the firstWast present, and, with mighty wings outspread,Dove-like sat’st brooding on the vast Abyss,And mad’st it pregnant: what in me is darkIllumine, 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 men.Look again at the words of Milton. His theme is clearly “to justify the ways of God to men.” However, in his introduction in just a few lines he makes the following assertions·      Man’s first disobedience·      The fruit of that forbidden tree whose mortal taste brought death into the world·      Loss of Eden·      Till one greater Man Restore us·      And regain the blissful seat.The scope is far broader than the verses in Genesis. In Paradise Lost Milton covers the history of the Holy Bible, beginning with Genesis and ending with The Book of Revelation.  Unquestionably Milton was a premier scholar, one of the most educated men of his time, and this is during the Renaissance. If I were dividing the book according to historical, literary, and Biblical allusions, I would guess that a quarter can be attributed to historical and literary allusions, half to Biblical allusions, and a quarter to Milton’s own genius and poetic inspiration. The Holy Bible dominates Paradise Lost in many and sometimes subtle ways.  Biblical allusions are the fabric that holds everything together. It would be eye-opening to go through Paradise Lost and mark every Biblical allusion with a specific reference from the Holy Bible itself. Milton was blind when writing Paradise Lost. One can only assume Milton had virtually memorized the Bible. In return Milton assumes a broad understanding of the Bible from his readers. Let me just give a brief example which is just one of the hundreds of assumptions Milton makes about his readers.Book VI, for example, covers only three days. That is how long the War in Heaven Lasts in Paradise Lost.  The problem, of course, is that from our perspective, we assume three twenty-four-hour periods when in fact in Milton’s war, three days measured in Biblical time which means the war in heaven lasted three thousand years.In Bk IV Milton refers to the length of the war three times, speaking of days.1.     And if one day, why not eternal days?2.     Two days, as we compute the days of Heaven,Two days are therefore past, the third is thine;For thee I have ordained it; and thus farHave suffered, that the glory may be thineOf ending this great war, since none but ThouCan end it.