Page 213 - DENG405_BRITISH_POETRY

British Poetry

Notes God, in Paradise Lost, is less a developed character than a personification of abstract ideas. He is
unknowable to humankind and to some extent lacks emotion and depth. He has no weaknesses,
embodies pure reason, and is always just. He explains why certain events happen, like Satan’s
decision to corrupt Adam and Eve, tells his angels what will happen next, and gives his reasoning
behind his actions in theological terms. God allows evil to occur, but he will make good out of evil.
His plan to save humankind by offering his Son shows his unwavering control over Satan.

The Son

For Milton, the Son is the manifestation of God in action. While God the Father stays in the realm of
Heaven, the Son performs the difficult tasks of banishing Satan and his rebel angels, creating the
universe and humankind, and punishing Satan, Adam and Eve with justice and mercy. The Son
physically connects God the Father with his creation. Together they form a complete and perfect
God.
The Son personifies love and compassion. After the fall, he pities Adam and Eve and gives them
clothing to help diminish their shame. His decision to volunteer to die for humankind shows his
dedication and selflessness. The final vision that Adam sees in Book XII is of the Son’s (or Jesus’)
sacrifice on the cross—through this vision, the Son is able to calm Adam’s worries for humankind
and give Adam and Eve restored hope as they venture out of Paradise.

22.6.3 Grand Style of Paradise Lost

Milton’s style is first of all epic; he is consciously writing an epic poem, modeling it after the great
epics of the classical past. His language used is Latinate; he considered writing the poem in Latin, and
adapts many terms from Latin. This makes his style seem more formal, and makes many terms more
complex than if drawing on more familiar English words. It is written in blank verse, and iambic
pentameter.
He uses many allusions to classical and exotic topics, adding weight and grandeur to the style. The
so-called “grand” or lofty style of Milton’s Paradise Lost is significant to the poem in numerous
ways, chiefly because it struck Milton as by far the style most appropriate to the lofty subject matter
he had chosen for his poem. Rather than choosing a “low” (that is, a common or colloquial) style or
the kind of “middle” style used in much conventional poetry, Milton chose an elevated style because
it seemed the only style that could do justice to the important matters he meant to discuss and
depict.
Several elements of Milton’s “grand style” might be listed as follows:
• A tendency to use long and complex sentences
• A tendency to employ learned allusions, especially to the Bible and to the Greek and Roman
classics
• A relative absence of obvious humor, especially any crude humor
• A tendency to choose unusual words in place of simple, common words
• A tendency to construct sentences in ways that resemble sentence structures often found in
Latin
• A general (but not total) tendency to avoid crudeness of any kind, especially sexual crudity
• A tendency to display the learning of the poet and to expect similar learning in the poem’s
readers
Many aspects of this “grand style” that illustrate its significance can be seen at the very beginning
of Book 3, when Milton invokes divine inspiration by addressing a hymn to “holy Light”. Here

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