Season 3 Podcast 198 Milton's Paradise Lost, Bk VIII, Pt XVII, "The Story of Creation," Pt III

“The Story of Creation” Pt IV As Adam ponders the questions—Who am I we? Who created me? Where did I come from? Why am I here on this earth?—the answer comes in a dream. On a green shady Bank profuse of FlowersPensive I sat me down; there gentle sleepFirst found me, and with soft oppression seis’dMy drowsed sense, untroubled, though I thoughtI then was passing to my former stateInsensible, and forthwith to dissolve:When suddenly stood at my Head a dream,Whose inward apparition gently movedMy Fancy to believe I yet had being,And lived: One came, methought, of shape Divine,And said, thy Mansion wants thee, Adam, rise,First Man, of Men innumerable ordainedFirst Father, called by thee I come thy GuideTo the Garden of bliss, thy seat prepared.So saying, by the hand he took me raised,And over Fields and Waters, as in AireSmooth sliding without step, last led me upA woodie Mountain; whose high top was plaine,A Circuit wide, enclosed, with goodliest TreesPlanted, with Walks, and Bowers, that what I sawOf Earth before scarse pleasant seemed. Each TreeLoad’n with fairest Fruit, that hung to the EyeTempting, stirred in me sudden appetiteTo pluck and eat;  Adam woke from his dream and discovers the dream was real. He discovers himself standing in the presence of God. Whereat I waked, and foundBefore mine Eyes all real, as the dreamHad lively shadowed: Here had new begunMy wandering, had not he who was my GuideUp hither, from among the Trees appeared,Presence Divine. Rejoicing, but with awIn adoration at his feet I fellSubmiss: he reared me, & Whom thou soughtst I am,Said mildly, Author of all this thou seestAbove, or round about thee or beneath.This Paradise I give thee, count it thineTo Till and keep, and of the Fruit to eat: Adam is given charge of the Garden. In fact, he inherits the garden. He has access to every fruit for it is his; however, Adam is forbidden to eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Of every Tree that in the Garden growsEat freely with glad heart; fear here no dearth:But of the Tree whose operation bringsKnowledge of good and ill, which I have setThe Pledge of thy Obedience and thy Faith,Amid the Garden by the Tree of Life,Remember what I warn thee, shun to taste,And shun the bitter consequence: for know,The day thou eat’st thereof, my sole commandTransgrest, inevitably thou shalt dye;From that day mortal, and this happy StateShalt loose, expelled from hence into a WorldOf woe and sorrow. Sternly he pronouncedThe rigid interdiction, which resoundsYet dreadful in mine ear, though in my choiceNot to incur; but soon his clear aspectReturned and gracious purpose thus renewed.Not only these fair bounds, but all the EarthTo thee and to thy Race I give; as LordsPossess it, and all things that therein live,Or live in Sea, or Aire, Beast, Fish, and Fowle. God explains the curse that is placed upon the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The price is death and loss of happiness and loss of the garden. He shall be expelled from Eden and sent into a world of sorrow and woe.  It was a dreadful curse; however, Adam soon forgot the horror and focused on the present. He was made Lord of the earth and everything in it. He was Lord of everything that lived in the Sea, on the land, or in the Air. Adam is commanded to name the animals.