The Complete Poems (Penguin Classics)

by John Milton

  277. six wings like the Seraphim in Isa. 6. 2.

  279. mantling covering as with a mantle. Raphael is naked but for his wings.

  281. zone belt.

  282. Skirted bordered.

  284. mail plumage (OED 5), suggesting also scale-armour (OED 2).

  285. grain dye.

  Maia’s son Mercury, messenger of the gods.

  286. shook… fragrance So, in Fairfax’s Tasso, Gabriel descending ‘shook his wings with rory [dewy] May dews wet’ (Gerus. Lib. i 14).

  288. state rank and stateliness of bearing.

  289. message mission, errand.

  293. odours aromatic substances.

  cassia a cinnamon-like spice.

  nard spikenard, source of an aromatic ointment.

  balm balsam.

  295. Wantoned… prime Cp. Shakespeare, Sonnet XCVII: ‘Bearing the wanton burthen of the prime’ (7). Wantoned means ‘revelled’, but the pejorative sense has appeared often enough (e.g. i 414, iv 768) for its exclusion to be ominous.

  played at will both ‘freely acted out’ and ‘sported amorously with carnal desire’ (OED ‘play’ 10c, ‘will’ 2).

  297. enormous both ‘immense’ and ‘unfettered by rules’ (OED 1), with proleptic overtones of ‘wicked, outrageous’ (OED 2).

  299. in the door Cp. Gen. 18. 1–2: ‘[Abraham] sat in the tent door in the heat of the day; and he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him’. Adam’s entertainment of Raphael is modelled on Abraham’s entertainment of the three angels.

  300–302. mounted… womb The sexual metaphor is probably intended. Cp. Earth’s erotic invitation to Phoebus in Elegia V 81f. The sun’s rays were thought to penetrate the earth (see iii 609n).

  306. *nectarous.

  milky often applied to the fruit juices (OED 1b), and here modifying Berry and grape as well as stream.

  321. mould model, pattern (OED sb3 5) and earth regarded as the material of the human body (OED sb1 4).

  Adam (Hebrew, ‘red’) was thought to have been named for the red earth (Hebrew adamah) from which he was made (Gen. 2. 7).

  322. inspired given the breath of life.

  store… store reserve… abundance.

  324. frugal economical (from Latin fruges, ‘fruits’).

  327. gourd any fruit of the melon family.

  335. inelegant *wanting in aesthetic refinement (OED 2) and ill-chosen (from Latin eligere, to select). Cp. ix 1017.

  336. upheld sustained, continued.

  kindliest most natural.

  338. Earth all-bearing Mother translates the Greek and Latin titles ∏aμμτop γ, Magna Mater and Omniparens.

  339. India Indies.

  339–41. middle shore includes Pontus, the south coast of the Black Sea (abundant in grain, fruit and nuts) and the Punic (Carthaginian) coast of the Mediterranean, famous for figs.

  341. Alcinous King of the Phaeacians on the mythical island of Scheria. His gardens contained trees that never failed to bear fruit, winter or summer (Homer, Od. vii 112–32).

  342. rined rinded (‘rine’ was a variant form of ‘rind’).

  345. must unfermented grape-juice.

  meaths (non-alcoholic) mead.

  348. Wants lacks.

  349. *unfumed naturally scented, not burned for incense.

  350. primitive original (OED 1), as in ‘Adam in his primitive estate’ (1630).

  353. state stateliness of bearing (OED 18a), bodily form (OED 9a), imposing display (OED 17a).

  354–7. tedious… *agape M. contrasts Adam’s naked majesty with the kind of pomp that accompanied Charles II’s entry into London on 29 May 1660. From his hiding-place in Bartholomew Close, M. would have heard what John Evelyn saw: ‘a Triumph of above 20,000 horse & foote, brandishing their swords and shouting with unexpressable joy: The wayes straw’d with flowers, the bells ringing, the streetes hung with Tapissry, fountaines running with wine: The Major [Mayor], Aldermen, all the Companies in their liver[ie]s, Chaines of Gold, banners; Lords & nobles, Cloth of Silver, gold & vellvet every body clad in, the windos & balconies all set with Ladys, Trumpets, Musick, & myriads of people flocking the streetes & ways as far as Rochester, so as they were 7 houres in passing the Citty’.

  354. solemn awe-inspiring (OED 7).

  360. bowing low Abraham ‘bowed himself toward the ground’ before angels (Gen. 18. 2), but when St John fell at an angel’s feet ‘to worship him’, the angel said: ‘See thou do it not: I am thy fellow servant’ (Rev. 19. 10). Cp. ii 478n.

  365. want miss, be parted from.

  371. Virtue Raphael was a ‘Seraph’ at line 277 and will be an ‘Archangel’ at vii 41. M. uses these titles freely, in accordance with Protestant tradition.

  378. Pomona Roman goddess of fruit-trees. Cp. ix 393–4.

  381–2. fairest… strove alluding to the judgement of Paris, who chose Venus over Juno and Minerva as the most beautiful goddess. Venus’s prize was the apple of discord. Cp. Marlowe, Hero and Leander (1598): ‘Where Venus in her naked glory strove’ (i 12).

  384. virtue-proof armoured in virtue, but the counter-inference ‘proof against virtue’ also suggests itself. Fowler hears a further nuance: ‘proof against Raphael, the angelic virtue (line 371)’. Raphael and Eve are both naked (see above, 279n), so Eve is to be doubly commended for not needing a veil.

  no thought infirm Cp. Spenser, Epithalamion: ‘That suffers not one looke to glaunce awry, / Which may let in a little thought unsownd’ (236–7).

  385–7. Hail… second Eve Cp. Luke 1. 28: ‘Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women’. A Roman Catholic tradition derived Ave from Eva (inverted because Mary restored what Eve lost). M. celebrates Eve’s nature, by placing her uninverted name alongside the word that had supposedly inverted it. Cp. Adam’s hailing of Eve at xi 158.

  388. mother of mankind Cp. Gen. 3. 20: ‘Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living’.

  396. No fear lest dinner cool Fire was discovered only after the Fall (cp. ix 392, x 1070–78). M.’s vegetarian joke might also make a political point. John Simon, in N&Q n.s. 31 (September 1984), 326–7, hears an allusion to Shakespeare’s Timon of Athens III vi 67–8: ‘Make not a city feast of it, to let the meat cool ere we can agree upon the first place’. Simon notes: ‘another consequence of the Fall was the jockeying for place and preferment to be found in courts’. Cp. M.’s contempt for marshalled (carefully ranked) feasts in ix 37.

  397. author ancestor (OED 2a).

  406. of by.

  407. No ingrateful pleasant (with a hint that God’s gifts should be gratefully accepted).

  408. Intelligential substances angels. Cp. viii 181.

  412. concoct, digest, assimilate Three stages of digestion.

  417. fires heavenly bodies, of which the moon is lowest.

  419–20. spots… turned Contrast i 287–91, where M. follows Galileo’s theory that lunar spots are landscape features.

  424. alimental nourishing.

  429. mellifluous honey-flowing.

  430. pearly grain manna. Cp. Exod. 16. 14.

  433. nice difficult to please.

  434. nor seemingly not just in appearance. In insisting that Raphael really did eat, M. follows Gen. 18. 8 and 19. 3 (‘they did eat’) rather than Tob. 12. 19, where Raphael says: ‘I did neither eat nor drink, but ye did see a vision’. Most Reformers shared M.’s interpretation of Genesis, but not his materialist view that angels need food (414).

  435. in mist both ‘mystically’ (OED ‘mist’ sb2) and ‘in vapour’. Orthodox theologians saw angels as immaterial beings that took bodies of air. See e.g. Donne, ‘Air and Angels’.

  gloss both ‘deceptive appearance’ (OED sb2 1b) and ‘comment inserted in the margin’ (OED sb1 1).

  437. concoctive digestive (OED 1), with overtones of the alchemical sense ‘bring to a perfect or mature state by heat’ (OED ‘concoct’ 2).

  438. transubstantiate con
vert from one substance into another (OED 1). By using the word of digestion M. mocks the doctrine of ‘transubstantiation’ and the real (437) presence championed by Catholic theologians.

  redounds remains undigested.

  transpires passes out as vapour through the pores (OED 3a).

  440. empiric experimental (OED 1b), with overtones of the pejorative sense ‘impostor, charlatan’ (OED 2b).

  445. crowned filled to the brim (a classical metaphor, see e.g. Homer, Il. i 470).

  446–8. if ever… sight Gen. 6. 2 tells how the ‘sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose’. The sons of God were usually identified as human sons of Seth (see xi 622n), but M. here follows a patristic tradition identifying them with angels (see PR i 179–81 and note).

  449. *unlibidinous not given to lust (sole instance in OED).

  467. yet what compare? ‘yet how can one begin to compare them?’

  468. hierarch *commander of a celestial hierarchy (OED 2).

  472. one first matter M.’s universe was created out of Chaos (ii 916, vii 233), not out of nothing. In CD i 7 M. argues that the primal matter was good and had its origin in God: ‘it was good, and it contained the seeds of all subsequent good. It was a substance, and could only have been derived from the source of all substance. It was in a confused and disordered state at first, but afterwards God made it ordered and beautiful’ (trans. Carey, YP 6. 308). Many critics have nevertheless doubted whether the Chaos of PL is good. See ii 890–1039n. M. in CD does not call the primal matter ‘Chaos’, and in PL he does not say that Chaos came from God. He describes Chaos as ‘eternal’ and ‘unoriginal’ (ii 896, iii 19, x 477).

  478. bounds both ‘limits’ and ‘leaps’. Notice Springs (480). M.’s universe is both hierarchical and dynamic.

  479–83. The root, stalk, leaves, flow’r and fruit are literal and metaphorical, providing an image for the universe and one illustration of its dynamism. Raphael is also justifying his eating of fruit.

  481. consummate complete, perfect.

  483. gradual scale The etymologies (Latin gradus, ‘step’, scala, ‘ladder’) point to the scala naturae or cosmic ladder. See lines 509–12 and cp. iii 501–25.

  sublimed elevated (OED 2a), refined (OED 2b). The word had alchemical overtones.

  484. spirits See iv 805n. The usual hierarchy (in ascending order) was natural, vital and animal spirits, with the immaterial soul distinct from all three. Stephen Fallon (104) notes that M. omits natural spirits and adds intellectual spirits, which are ‘his own invention’. Since the soul receives her being from the spirits (487), M. implies that the soul is material.

  488. Discursive, or intuitive Aquinas had distinguished angelic intuition (the immediate apprehension of truth) from human reason (the arguing from premisses to conclusions). M. acknowledges that this distinction holds most of the time, but his angels sometimes reason (see e.g. v 831f.), while Adam and Eve sometimes intuit (see viii 354, xii 610–13).

  493. proper my own.

  497–500. Your bodies… dwell a clear indication that God did not intend the prohibition to last for ever. Adam and Eve are on probation in the Garden until they have proved their worthiness to ascend. Cp. vii 157–61 and see Lewis (68), Danielson (178).

  498. tract duration, lapse.

  499. as we See v 79 and note. Unlike the dream-angel, Raphael is clear that he can ascend to Heaven.

  502. entire including ‘wholly devoted’, ‘sincere’ (OED 3c, 10).

  505. incapable unable to contain (OED 1).

  509. scale of Nature the scala naturae (ladder of Nature) or ‘Chain of Being’, extending from God down to the lowest dregs of the universe (see e.g. Macrobius, In Somnium Scipionis I xiv 15). It was often identified with Jacob’s ladder and M. makes this connection at iii 510–18.

  518. apprehend feel emotionally (OED 7).

  525. persevere including ‘continue in a state of grace’ (OED 1e).

  538. surety ground of certainty or safety (OED 6).

  547. Cherubic songs See iv 680–88.

  552. yet in addition, besides (OED 1a).

  557. Worthy of sacred silence translating Horace, Odes II xiii 29–32: sacro digna silentio. Horace describes Alcaeus and Sappho singing in Hades. Alcaeus sang of war and the expulsion of tyrants. M. cites Horace’s lines approvingly in his Defensio (YP 4. 441).

  558. large day most of the day.

  566. remorse pity, compassion (OED 3a).

  571. dispensed permitted (OED 5b).

  574–6. earth… like The doctrine that our world is but a shadow of the divine is from Plato, Republic x. M. stresses the likeness of the two worlds, not their differences.

  578–9. earth… poised echoing Sandys’s Ovid (Met. i 12): ‘the self-poiz’d Earth’.

  580–82. For time… future M.’s belief that time existed before the creation of our universe runs counter to a long philosophical tradition. Plato (Timaeus 37–8), Aristotle (Physics iv 11–12), and Augustine (City of God xi 5–6) all argue that time began with the universe. In CD i 7 M. conjectures that Satan fell before ‘the first beginnings of this world. There is certainly no reason why we should conform to the popular belief that motion and time, which is the measure of motion, could not, according to our concepts of “before” and “after”, have existed before this world was made’ (trans. Carey, YP 6. 313–14).

  583. Great Year the cycle completed by the heavenly bodies when they have returned to their original positions (Plato, Timaeus 39D). A common estimate was 36,000 years.

  583–4. empyreal… imperial Raphael’s pun carefully preserves imperial authority for God. Contrast Beëlzebub’s ‘imperial Powers’ (ii 310).

  588. Ten thousand thousand Cp. Dan. 7.10: ‘ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him’.

  589. gonfalons banners hanging from cross-bars, often used in ecclesiastical processions.

  598. flaming Mount Exod. 19. 19.

  599. Brightness… invisible Cp. ‘darkness visible’ (i 63).

  600. progeny of Light The angels were created by the Son (v 835–7), so Light probably refers to him. Cp. iii 1–8.

  603. This day I have begot echoing Ps. 2. 7 (‘Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee’) and Heb. 1. 5 (‘For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, This day have I begotten thee?’). M. in CD i 5 takes these verses to mean that ‘God begot the Son in the sense of making him a king’. Thus the ‘begetting’ is metaphorical and refers to the Son’s ‘exaltation above the angels’ (trans. Carey, YP 6. 207). Many have thought that M.’s interpretation is strained, but it has biblical precedent in Acts 13. 33 and Heb. 5. 5. M. believed that the Son was created before the angels, whom he created (see v 835–40 and note).

  605. anointed Cp. M.’s Brief Notes Upon a Late Sermon (1660): ‘who is [God’s] Anointed, not every King, but they only who were anointed or made Kings by his special command’ (YP 7. 475).

  606. head Cp. Col. 2. 9: ‘ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power’.

  607. by myself have sworn Cp. Gen. 22. 16: ‘By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord’.

  607–8. bow / All knees Cp. Phil. 2. 9–11 : ‘at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth’.

  609. vicegerent exercising God’s authority (OED 2).

  610. individual indivisible (OED 1).

  611. him who disobeys ‘whoever disobeys him’.

  614. utter outer and total.

  618. solemn of days or seasons: set apart for religious ceremonies (OED 2).

  621. fixed the fixed stars.

  622. mazes intricate Cp. Virgil’s Aen. v 575f., where lulus leads the Trojan boys in a mazelike ride on horseback, ‘interweaving circle with alternate circle’, tracing a course like the Cretan labyrinth. Heaven’s mazes have their counterpart in the ‘wand’ring mazes’ of Hell (ii 561).

  623. Eccentric an
off-centre planetary orbit (see viii 83n).

  *intervolved intertwined.

  625. their refers both to angels and planets and so associates angelic singing with the Music of the Spheres. Cp. Job 38. 7: ‘the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy’.

  627. now Added in Ed II.

  637–40. They… show’red] Ed I reads: ‘They eat, they drink, and with refection sweet / Are filled, before th’ all bounteous King, who show’red’.

  637. communion fellowship, esp. ‘an organic union of persons united by common religious faith’ (OED 4).

  639. full measure only bounds only full measure bounds.

  642. ambrosial night Cp. Homer, Il. ii 57: ‘a divine dream came to me through the ambrosial night’. The allusion is ominous, since Agamemnon’s dream lured him into a disastrous attack. See below, 673n.

  645. night comes not there Cp. Rev. 21. 25: ‘There shall be no night there’.

  646. roseate *rose-scented (OED 3), with a pun on Latin ros, ‘dew’.

  652. living streams… Trees of Life Cp. Rev. 22. 2: ‘On either side of the river, was there the tree of life’.

  657–8. but not so waked / Satan Cp. Virgil’s description of Dido’s sleeplessness (Aen. iv 529). It was night, and all other creatures were sleeping, ‘but not the soul-wracked Phoenician queen’ (at non infelix animi Phoenissa).

  658. former name Patristic tradition took Isa. 14. 12 to mean that Satan’s original name was ‘Lucifer’. Raphael likens Satan to Lucifer the morning star (v 708,762, vii 131), but he never says that Satan was named ‘Lucifer’. Satan’s former name has been blotted from the books of life (i 361–5) and so is heard no more.

  659–60. of the first, / If not the first Raphael’s ambiguous wording leaves open the question of Satan’s precise rank.

  664. Messiah Hebrew ‘anointed’.

  669. dislodge leave a place of encampment (OED 2b) and drive a foe out of his position (OED 1c). The latter sense has God’s throne (670) as object.