(Return to the Unit 16 Home Page) Unit 16 Study GuideWritten in 1667 when John Milton (1608 - 1674) was already blind, Paradise Lost repopulates The Old Testament's Garden of Eden with its original cast for the objectives to "renovate in verse, revolutionize interpretation, and liberate the intellect.," purpose that would seem almost antithetical to the interests of retelling the mythologized Genesis story of the fall from God's grace in the Garden of Eden. Nevertheless, essentially, that's exactly what the poet does: Milton retells Biblical account of the "Fall of Man" in the Garden of Eden following the betrayal of Eve, Adam's natural wife--and flesh of his own flesh--with her indiscretions with Satan-as-snake and the "Tree of Life." But Milton's work is no simple Sunday school abstraction of those pivotal events in the life of the race with all its heavy implications, but rather a reinterpretation constituting "twelve capacious books of epic verse, which he fleshed out with his vast knowledge of the classics, history, theology, and science" (text). The original mythology of Genesis, by comparison, frames only an outline of the complex and sophisticated interpretation of Milton's recasting. Milton's poem meticulously explicates the subtleties of Adam's fine reasoning and reactions, and Eve's ambivalences toward principle and policies, even if they are the Lord's. "She's taken up with a snake now," Adam affably reports in Mark Twain's The Diary of Adam and Eve. In short, Milton's Paradise Lost is a topical piece with resonance for reflective humanism in our own time. "Milton," says our editors, "committed himself intellectually to disrupting the received wisdom of the classics and the Church in order to discover truths verifiable by experience. In the story of Genesis he discovers questions central to the Renaissance and Reformation: how do we know things? to what extent should 'external help' such as warnings govern us? how much more rewarding--and dangerous--is the wisdom of experience? can we learn from vicarious experiences, such as sympathy and interpretation (a possibility that enlargers the moral role of art)?" ReadingsRead the Introduction to John Milton, pp. 2192 - 2197Read Paradise Lost, pp. 2197 - 2256. Study Questions1) Who bears the final responsibility for the "Fall" in Milton's interpretation of the Genesis myth? Why? How does that differ--if it does--from more conventional assignments of that responsibility?2) How does Milton's Satan differ from the serpent in the Genesis version? Which is more "appealing" to a contemporary audience? 3) What subtleties of torment does Adam experience that suggest his loss of innocence? 4) Reconstruct Satan's argument for knowledge through the voice of the serpent. Key ConceptsReasonMilton's version of the fall places the emphasis on reason, not so much to its condemnation, however, for the implications of reason are serious and have significant consequences, even though yet unforeseen. Reasoning (argument based upon observation) is just as much a gift of God as is our ability to reflect upon the His glory in the creation we would explore. The danger comes in the schism between the act of inquiry and our willingness to celebrate the glory that unfolds before our quest. The sin is our loss and separation from God in the fine subtleties of our arguments. Perhaps that is what lies in Rafael's admonition of Adam to "be lowly wise" . . ."Dream not of other worlds." and is maintained by Dr. Geoffrey A. Grimes.
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