by John Milton
300. front forehead.
sublime of lofty aspect.
301. hyacinthine Cp. Odysseus’s hair that ‘hung down like hyacinthine petals’, shining like ‘gold on silver’ (Homer, Od. vi 231–2).
301–8. locks… sway Cp. I Cor. 11. 14–15: ‘Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him? But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her: for her hair is given her for a covering’. The A.V. marginal gloss explains that the woman’s ‘covering’ is a ‘sign that she is under the power of her husband’.
306. wanton sportive, luxuriant (OED 3, 7a), but with proleptic overtones of the pejorative sense, which M. often uses elsewhere (e.g., i 414, 454, iv 768, ix 1015).
310. coy shyly reserved (OED 2), not ‘coquettish’.
312. mysterious secret, awe-inspiring (as in a religious rite). See 743n below. The etymology (Greek muein, ‘to close lips or eyes’) is paradoxical when nothing is hidden. Contrast Donne, ‘Elegy 19’: ‘[women] are mystic books, which only we… May see revealed’ (41–3).
313. dishonest including ‘dishonourable’, ‘unchaste’ and ‘unseemly to the sight’ (OED 1, 2, 3).
321. hand in hand a recurrent motif. Cp. iv 488–9, 689, 739, ix 385–6, 1037, xii 648.
323. goodliest most handsome and well-proportioned.
323–4. since… sons The syntax was not unidiomatic. Bush cites Browne, Pseudodoxia I i: ‘he [Adam] was the wisest of all men since’.
329. recommend cool Zephyr ‘make a cool breeze welcome’ (Zephyr was god of the west wind).
332. Nectarine sweet as nectar (OED), though the nectarine peach was also known.
compliant including *‘pliant’ (OED z).
333. *recline recumbent (sole instance in OED).
334. damasked woven with rich designs, variegated (OED 1, 3).
336. *brimming OED’s earliest participial instance.
337. purpose conversation (OED 4b).
*endearing OED’s earliest participial instance.
338. Wanted were lacking.
dalliance caressing (OED 2).
341. chase unenclosed parkland (OED 3) and (ominously, since there were no carnivores) hunted animals (OED 4a).
343. ramped stood on his hind legs - ‘a threatening posture’ (OED ‘ramp’ 3a), but here benign. Cp. vii 466.
344. Dandled the kid Cp. Isa. 11. 6: ‘the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fading together’.
ounces lynxes.
pards leopards.
348. Insinuating winding (Latin insinuare), with a proleptic hint of ‘dark suggestions’ (ix 90).
Gordian twine coils as convoluted as the Gordian knot, which only Alexander could disentangle (by cutting it with his sword).
352. ruminating chewing the cud.
353. prone career descending course and headlong gallop (the chariot of the sun).
354. Ocean Isles the Azores (identified in line 592).
ascending Scale The sun is in Aries (x 329), so the stars ‘rise in Libra, the Scales, the portion of the sky exactly opposite’ (Fowler).
358–62. What… Little inferior Cp. Ps. 8. 4–5 (and Heb. 2. 6–7): ‘What is man, that thou art mindful of him… / For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, / And hast crowned him with glory and honour’.
359. room place. Cp. ‘vacant room’ (vii 190).
360. mould bodily form (OED sb3 Iob) and earth regarded as the material of the human body (OED sb1 4). Cp. ii 355.
370. so happy such happiness.
376. strait intimate (OED 14) and strict, severe (OED 6).
381. freely give Satan parodies Matt. 10. 8: ‘freely ye have received, freely give’.
381–3. Hell… kings Cp. Isaiah’s prophecy of the fall of Babylon: ‘Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming: it stirreth up the dead for thee, even all the chief ones of the earth; it hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations’ (Isa. 14. 9). This analogue suggests that Satan is gloating, but cp. also Claudian, De Rapt. Pros, ii 276–306, where Pluto genuinely tries to console the abducted Proserpine by telling her that Hades is spacious. He concludes: ‘kings in purple robes will kneel at your feet’ (300). Cp. iv 269, ix 432, and ix 838–42.
382. entertain an ambiguous word, which could mean ‘treat in (any) specified manner’ (OED 8), even torture, as in ‘entertained with all variety of persecution’ (1611). Satan plays on ‘receive’, ‘show hospitality to’ (OED 12, 13), but Hell’s gates will also ‘admit and contain’ mankind (OED 11). Cp. Satan’s offer to prepare ‘Fit entertainment’ for the Messiah (v 690).
387. for in place of.
393–4. necessity, I The tyrants plea Cp. M.’s contempt in Eikonoklastes for Royalist appeals to ‘the necessity of the times’ (IT3.373). But ‘necessity’ was really Cromwell’s word. Legend later had it that he had stood over the body of King Charles and muttered ‘Cruel necessity!’ He pleaded ‘accident and necessity’ against the Levellers, ‘providence and necessity’ when trying the King, and la nÉcessitÉ when dissolving the Rump. M. approved of these acts, but he may have had misgivings when Cromwell ‘saw it was necessary’ to dissolve the Barebones Parliament (as they were debating tithes) and become Lord Protector, assuming regal pomp ‘of necessity’. See Antonia Fraser, Cromwell: Our Chief of Men (1973), 210, 229, 274, 293, 423, 447, 449, 462–3.
402. A lion now he stalks Cp. I Pet. 5. 8: ‘your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour’. Contrast the playful lion of line 343.
404. purlieu outskirts of a forest (OED I).
410. Turned him all ear Adam’s words turned Satan all ear. Fowler thinks that all ear might be M.’s coinage, but Drummond had used the phrase in his Sonnet XXV. Cp. also A Masque 560.
411. Sole… sole only… chief (with a pun on ‘soul’).
423–4. Tree / Of Knowledge In accordance with Gen. 2. 16–17, the name ‘Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil’ antedates the Fall (cp. viii 323–33). Some biblical commentators had thought that so deceptive a name must be Satan’s invention. Cp. ix 1070–73 and see Arnold Williams, The Common Expositor (1948) 105–7.
425. whate’er death is Adam and Eve as yet barely grasp the notion of annihilation (cp. ix 695,775). After the Fall they have difficulty in thinking of death as anything else (see ix 826–33, x 770–816).
427. pronounced both ‘passed sentence’ and ‘uttered a vocal sound’. Death is as yet an empty word in Paradise. Contrast ii 788 where ‘Hell trembled at the hideous name’.
447. odds the amount by which one thing exceeds another (OED ib). Eve means that Adam is superior, but her syntax allows herself to be Pre-eminent in enjoying him.
451. of] Ed II; on Ed I.
459. lake not a ‘pool’, though critics repeatedly write of ‘Eve at the pool’. Eve’s liquid plain (455) is a genuine geographical feature (260–63), far grander than the small woodland pool in which Narcissus lost himself (Met. iii 407–12). Sandys uses ‘liquid plain’ to translate Ovid’s campoque… aquae (Met. i 41–2): a description of earth’s primeval ocean. See further, McColley (77).
460–68. As… thyself The allusion to Ovid’s proud Narcissus (Met. iii 402–510) need not convict Eve of sinful pride. Eve did not know that the beautiful face was her own, and (unlike Narcissus) she turned from her reflection when she learned the truth. Bush cites a tradition that ‘some of the newly created angels looked up to God, others fell in love with themselves’. But cp. also the Self-love of Spenser’s ‘High Eternal Power’: ‘It loved itself because itself was fair; / (For fair is loved)’ (An Hymn of Heavenly Love 29–30).
466. vain futile. There may be overtones of ‘indulging in personal vanity’, but OED does not cite that sense before 1692. Cp. Spenser’s Britomart gazing into Merlin’s ‘glassie globe’: ‘Her selfe a while therein she vewd in vaine’ (FQlll ii 22).
467. a voice belonging to God (viii 485–6) or possi
bly an angel (iv 712).
470. stays awaits (OED 14) and hinders. The former sense refers to Adam, the latter to Eve’s reflection.
472. shall So all early editions. Many editors emend to ‘shalt’, and so make thou the sole subject of enjoy. But shall enjoy could be governed by he (with thy soft embraces as object). See Adams (90).
474–5. thence be called / Mother of human race Cp. Gen. 3. 20: ‘And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living’. ‘Eve’ means ‘life’. In Genesis, Adam names ‘Eve’ only after the Fall, when he and she are subject to death. Some commentators thought that Adam chose the name in defiance of God. Others associated it with misery and sin. M. rejects this misogynistic tradition by giving ‘Eve’ prelapsarian status. Adam bestows the name in line 481. Cp. v 385–8, xi 156–71.
476–91. Cp. Adam’s recollection of these events at viii 481–520.
478. platan plane tree.
486. individual both ‘inseparable’ (OED A 2) and ‘distinguished by attributes of [her] own’ (OED A 4).
488. other half Cp. Plato, Symposium 189d-193e.
493. unreproved irreproachable. See ix 5n;.
499–500. Jupiter… clouds Jupiter was god of the sky and Juno goddess of the air, and their union was sometimes allegorized as the marriage of Aether and Aer. See e.g. Natale Conti, Mythologiae (1567) II iv. Conti cites Iliad xiv 346–51, where Zeus and Hera make love under a cloud. Notice, however, that M.’s Jupiter impregns the clouds, not Juno. The substitution of clouds for Juno is troubling because it recalls Ixion, who fathered the centaurs on a cloud that he mistook for Juno. M. compares Eve with Ixion’s cloud in Tetrachordon (YP 2. 597–8).
507. happier Eden See 27n above.
511. pines torments.
515. knowledge forbidd’n Satan speaks here as if he believed the fruit really could give knowledge. Contrast x 485–7.
522. ruin fall (Latin ruina), but foundation and build also suggest the paradox of building ruins.
530. A chance but chance ‘An opportunity, even if only a fortuitous one’.
538. *roam act of wandering (coined from the verb).
539. utmost longitude uttermost west.
541. with right aspect directly.
548. Still continually.
549. Gabriel Hebrew ‘Strength of God’. Muslim and cabbalistic lore made Gabriel a ‘warrior’ (576); M. might also have known a tradition (embodied in I Enoch 20. 7) which gave Gabriel charge of Paradise and the Cherubim.
552. unarmed Cp. the devils’ more warlike games (ii 532–8).
555–6. gliding… star Cp. Tasso, Gerus. Lib. ix 62, where an angel descends to earth as ‘in the stillness of a moonshine even / A falling star so glideth down from Heaven’ (trans. Fairfax); also Homer, Il. iv 75–9.
555. even both ‘evening’ and ‘nearly even sunbeam’ (Empson2 157). See below, 590n.
557. thwarts both ‘traverses’ (OED 1) and ‘frustrates’. Cp. ‘checks the night’ (iii 732).
vapours fired ignited exhalations (thought to cause shooting stars).
567. God’s latest image God’s first image was the Son. M. neither denies nor explicitly states that angels bear God’s image.
described traced (OED 5) with the eye. Uriel had given Satan directions (iii 722–35), but he is here referring to what he saw, not what he said. Adams therefore urges modernizing editors to print ‘descried’. He points out that ‘descry’ and ‘describe’ were often confused in the seventeenth century. No editor has followed Adams’s advice, though most agree that Uriel means ‘descried’. I retain described because it suggests that Uriel never took his eye off Satan, whom he closely marked. ‘Descry’ would imply that Uriel merely caught sight of Satan.
568. gait journey (OED ‘gate’ sb2 6) and manner of flying.
572. shade trees.
580. vigilance vigilant guards.
590. beam sunbeam and balance beam (now raised because the sun has set, allowing Uriel to slide downward).
592–5. whether… there As at iii 573–6, M. does not commit himself to either the Ptolemaic or the Copernican system. Ed lana Edil spell ‘whither’ thus admitting a pun.
592. prime orb either the sun or theprimum mobile (both move with incredible speed in the Ptolemaic system).
594. Diurnal in the space of one day.
volúble moving rapidly (OED 3) and capable of ready rotation on its axis (OED 2).
600. accompanied both ‘joined their company’ and ‘played a musical accompaniment’.
603. descant warbled song, melodious strain (OED 3).
605. Hesperus Venus, the evening star.
608. Apparent plainly seen (OED 1), with a play on ‘heir apparent’ (notice queen). Cp. Ariosto’s erotic description of the moon breaking through clouds: ‘The moon at this petition parts the cloud… As fair as when she offered herself nude / To Endymion’ (Orl. Fur. xviii 185).
617. unemployed *idle (OED 2a). OED’s earliest instance modifying sentient creatures.
620. regard observant attention and esteem.
627. walk] Ed II; walks Ed I.
628. manuring cultivating of plants (OED 2b) and inhabiting (OED ib) of Paradise.
632. Ask riddance need to be cleared.
635. author one who gives existence (OED 1) and one who has authority (OED 5).
disposer ruler (OED 2).
640. seasons times of day.
641–56. Sweet… sweet Many critics liken Eve’s embedded lyric to a sonnet, but M.’s rhetorical figure has a closer analogue in Hector’s farewell to Andromache (Homer, II. vi 447–55). Like Eve, Hector lists the things that are dear to him, then he repeats his list with negatives, before directly addressing his spouse in the second person. In both cases it is the direct address that turns the preceding double enumeratio into a declaration of love.
642. charm the blended singing of many birds (OED).
648. solemn bird the nightingale (see line 602).
660. accomplished complete, perfect.
661. Those Perhaps a misprint for ‘these’ (as editors since Newton have conjectured), but Adam might well prefer to look at Eve than at the stars.
664. light prepared Ps. 74. 16 (see below, 724–5n;).
668. kindly natural and benign.
669. influence see Nativity 71n.
foment cherish with heat.
670. Temper heal or refresh by restoring the proper ‘temper’ of elements or humours (see ii 276–7).
674. *unbeheld.
676. want… want lack… lack.
685. rounding walking the rounds (see line 862) and singing ‘rounds’ (responsive each to other’s note).
688. Divide the night both ‘divide the night into watches’ and ‘perform with musical “divisions” ’ (OED 11a). Cp. Passion 4.
690. blissful bower recalling Spenser’s Bower of Bliss (FQ II xii), but cp. also Venus’s ‘blisfull bowre of joy above’ (FJ 2.H I vi 95).
691. Planter Cp. Gen. 2. 8: ‘God planted a garden’. God is also the planter of a new world colony. Cp. i 650–53 and see J. M. Evans, Milton’s Imperial Epic (1996) 4: ‘God… is ”the sovran Planter”, a periphrasis that links him with the royal patron of England’s first transatlantic colony’.
694. Laurel and myrtle emblems of Apollo and Venus.
698. jessamine jasmine.
699. flourished luxuriant, adorned with flowers.
701. Crocus, and hyacinth The same plants spontaneously arise when Hera seduces Zeus on Mount Ida (Homer, Il. xiv 347–9).
703. emblem ornament of inlaid work (OED 1), with a play on the emblematic properties of the flowers: ‘the humility of the violet, prudence of the hyacinth, amiability of the jessamine* (Fowler).
705. shadier] Ed I; shady Ed II.
707–8. Pan or Silvanus… Faunus wood-gods represented as half man, half goat. All were fertility gods and Silvanus was also associated with gardens and limits.
708. close secret.
711. hymenean wedd
ing hymn. Hymen was the ancient god of marriage. Cp. L’Allegro 125 and Elegia F105–8.
712. genial presiding over marriage and generation. At viii 484–7 Eve is led by her Maker, not an angel.
714. Pandora Greek ‘all gifts’, the first woman, created at Jove’s command. Prometheus (‘Forethought’) and Epimetheus (‘Afterthought’) were sons of Iapetus (jfaphet). Prometheus stole Jove’s fire for man. Jove, to be avenged, sent Hermes to Epimetheus with Pandora as a gift. She came with a sealed jar containing the world’s ills. In Renaissance versions, Epimetheus opened the jar, but Hesiod credits Pandora with the act (WD 93). In Theog. he dispenses with the jar, as if woman were punishment enough. M.’s simile is compatible with any of these versions.
717. Japhet Noah’s son (Gen. 9–10). His identification with the Titan Iapetus was traditional.
719. authentic belonging to himself (OED 7), original (OED 4).
724. pole sky.
Thou also mad’st Eighteenth-century critics applauded the ‘masterly transition’ whereby the poet’s voice ‘passes into’ that of Adam and Eve (Addison, Spectator, no. 231). The effect is lost when quotation marks are placed before Thou.
724–5. the night… the day Cp. Ps. 74. 16: ‘The day is thine, the night also is thine: thou hast prepared the light and the sun’.
730. wants lacks.
735. gift of sleep Ps. 127. 2, Homer, Il. ix 712–13, Virgil, Aen. ii 268–9.
739. Handed *joined hand in hand (OED 3), a sense coined by M. in DDD:
‘if any two be but once handed in the Church’.
741. meen surmise.
743. Mysterious awe-inspiring, sacred. St Paul calls the union of husband and wife ‘a great mystery’ (Eph. 5. 32), dignified by Christ’s marriage to his Church. Cp. also the ‘mysterious rites’ of marriage in Jonson, Hymenaei 137.
744–9. hypocrites… foe Cp. I Tim. 4. 1–3: ‘in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; forbidding to marry’. M. dignifies sex by having Adam and Eve make love before the Fall.
747. commands to some I. Cor. 7. 1.
748. Our Maker bids increase Gen. 1. 28.
751. propriety right of possession or use (OED ia). Before the Fall, monogamous marriage was the only property right.