IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET {MT-3) {./ / ip ^ ^ 1.0 1.1 Bio ■"^" HHl IL25 i 1.4 Hill I 1.6 Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTEA.N.Y. 14580 (716; S73-4503 m V \\ ^ "^'^^ ^""^ '"^O^ '% i/.l CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CfHM/ICMH Collection de microfiches. Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions / Institut Canadian de microreproductions historlq ues Tachnical and Bibliographic Notsa/Notes tachniquas at bibliographiquaa Tha Inatituta haa attamptad to obtain tha baat original copy availabia for filming. Faaturaa of thia copy which rhay ba bibliographically uniqua. which may altar any of tha imagaa in tha raproduction, or which may aignificantly changa tha uaual mathod of filming, ara chackad balow. D Coiourad covara/ Couvartura da coulaur I I Covars damaged/ Couvartura andommagie Covars rastorad and/or laminated/ Couverture reataurie at/ou palliculte Cover title miaaing/ Le titra da couverture manque Coloured mapa/ Cartes g6ographiques en couleur Coloured ink (i.e. other than blue or black)/ Encre cfe couleur (i.e. autre que bieue ou noire) , Coloured platea and/or illustrations/ Planches et/ou illustrationa en couleur Bound with other material/ ReliA avac d'autres documents D D D Tight binding ma; cause shadows or distortion along interior margin/ La re liure serrie peut causer de I'ombre ou de la distorsion le long de la marge int6riaure Blank leaves added during restoration may appear within the text. Whenever possible, these have been omitted from filming/ II se peut que certaines pages blanches ajouties lors d'une restauration apparaissent dans le texte, mais, lorsque cela 6tait possible, ces pages n'ont paa iti filmAes. Additional comments:/ Commentaires supplimentaires; L'Institut a microfilm* la meilleur exemplaire qu'il lui a M possible de se procurer. Les details de cet exemplaire qui sont peut-Atre uniques du point de vue bibliographique, qui peuvent modifier une image reproduite, ou qui peuvent exiger une modification dans la mithoda normale de filmage sont indiquAs ci-dessous. r~| Coloured pages/ Pages de couleur Pages damaged/ Pages endommagies Pages restored and/ci Pages restaur«es et/ou pelliculAes Pagea discoloured, stained or foxei Pages dicoiorias, tachatias ou piquies Pages detached/ Pages d6tachies Showthroughy Transparence Quality of prir Quality inigala de I'impression Includes supplementary materii Comprend du mat6riel suppl^mentaire Only edition available/ Seule Mition disponible p~] Pages damaged/ I I Pages restored and/cr laminated/ Fyl Pagea discoloured, stained or foxed/ I I Pages detached/ r~J\ Showthrough/ I I Quality of print varies/ I I Includes supplementary material/ I I Only edition available/ D Pages wholly or pertially obscured by errata slips, tissues, etc., have been refilmed to ensure the best possible image/ Les pages totalement ou partiallement obscurcies par un feuillet d'errata, une pelure, etc., ont iti filmAes A nouveau de fagon i obtenir la meilleure image possible. T ti T P o fl G b ti si o fi si o T si T VI IM dl ei b« ri( r« m This item is filmed at the reduction ratio checked below/ Ce document est film* au taux de reduction indiqui ci-dessous. 10X 14X 18X 72X 9fty ^f^r\ J "■■" 12X 16X 20X 24X 28X 32X Th« copy film«d h«r« has bMn rsproducad thanks to tha ganarosity of: D. B. Weldon Library University of Wastirn Ontario (Ragional Hittory Room) Tha imagas appaaring hara ara tha baat quality possibia considaring tha condition and lagibility of tha original copy and in Icaaping with tha filming contract spacificationa. Original copiaa in printad papar covars ara filmad baginning with tha front covar and anding on tha last paga with a printad or illustratad impras- sion, or tha bacic covar whan appropriata. All othar original copias ara filmad baginning on tha first paga with a printad or illustratad impras- sion, and anding on tha laat paga with a printad or iliustrstad imprassion. Tha laat racordad frama on aach microficha shall contain tha symbol ^^^ (moaning "CON- TINUED"), or tha symbol y (moaning "END"), whichavar appiias. IMaps, plataa. charts, ate. may ba filmad at diffarant raduction ratios. Thoaa too larga to ba antiraly inciudad in ona axposura ara filmad baginning in tha uppar laft hand comar, laft to right and top to bottom, as many framaa aa raquirad. Tha following diagrams illustrata tha mathod: L'axamplaira filmi fut raproduit grdca A la gAn^rositi da: D. B. Weldon Library University of Western Ontario (Regional History Room) Laa imagas suivantaa ont 4t* raproduitas avac la piua grand soin, compta tanu da la condition at da . nattat* da l'axamplaira film*, at an conformiti avac las conditions du contrat da filmaga. L«a axamplairaa originaux dont la couvartura an papiar aat imprim^a sont filmte an commandant par la pramiar plat at 9n taminant soit par la darniira paga qui comporta una smprainta d'impraasion ou d'illustration. soit par la sacond plat, salon la cas. Toua laa autras axamplalres originaux sont fiimte an commandant par la pramiAra paga qui comporta una amprainta d'impraasion ou d'illustration at an tarminant par la darni^ra paga qui comporta una talla amprainta. Un doa symbolas suivants apparaitra sur la darnlAra imaga da chaqua microficha, salon la caa: la symbols — »> signifia 'A SUIVRE". la symbols V signifia "FIN". Los cartaa. planchaa. tablaaux, ate, pauvant Atra filmia d das taux da rMuction diffirants. Lorsqua ia documant ast trop grand pour fttre raproduit an un saul cliche, il sat film* A partir da I'angla sup4riaur gaucha, da gaucha A droita. at da haut 9n baa, an pranant la nombra d'Imagas nicassaira. Las diagrammas suivants lliustrant la m^thoda. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 gj« i^ ^fy, ^,-^ EXAMINATION- QUESTIONS ON THE FIRST TWO BOOKS OF PBSOKDKD BT A OOnOITS YABIBTT OF GBITIOAIi OBSERVATIONS. BV THB REV. J. HUHTER, M.A. TORONTO; JAMIS OAMPBBIiIi AND SON EXAMINATION-QUESTIONS ON THE FIRST TWO BOOKS OF MILTON'S PARADISE LOST: PRECEDED BY A COPIOUS VA.UIETY OP CRITICAL OBSERVATIONS. BY THE EEV. J. HUNTEE, M.A. TORONTO : JAMES CAMPBELL AND SON. ex en 00 of of at rei di$ Fa a 1 rei Pc foi bu in pri CRITICAL OBSERVATIONS OF VAEIOUS WBITEES ON MILTON'S PAEADISE LOST. ■^^^^^%^^^^^^» 1. TIPIC POETRY describes in an imaginative form some JJ signal action, or series of actions and events, usually the achievements of some eminent hero ; it deals mainly with external facts and occurrences, and is thus distinguished from Lyrical Poetry, which directly expresses the feelings and emotions of the poet himself. Lyrical passages occasionally occur in epic poems. 2. * Paradise Lost, perhaps the greatest continuous effort of human imagination, had originally the form of a urama, of which several plans remain. The epical form, however, at last asserted its superiority, although enough of the drama remains in the present poem to enable us to trace with some distinctness the shape which it probably assumed.' — P&iny Cyclopeedia, 3. Want f " 'poetical justice ' has been objected to Milton's Fable, as 'the hero [Man] is xmsuccessful, and by no means a match for his enemies. This gave occasion to Mr. Dryden's reflexion, that the Devil was in reality Milton's hero. The Paradise Lost is an epic or a narrative poem, and he that looks for a hero in it, searches for that which Milton never intended ; but if he will needs fix the name of a hero upon any person in it, it is certainly the Messiah who is the hero, both in the principal Action and in the chief Episodes.* — Addison's Spectator, M. 297. A 2 CRITICAL OBSERVATIONS ON chamcter, introduced in it k il 1 ^T '•"" ""J- »■■» of tl,o Satan, and the Me»ah, \a4 their , . "''"'• '^'''»'. leio mean the moat int^reL^'L ? «^P«<^fve partisans. If ,' Epoa, then D^den i rf;- 'iTst"'"''''!'" """"-'- » « «ean the being y„„ mottt^,^^''}^:^^''''. K > h,„ hero. If a hero mean the pmonltllw' "'°'' '^'^''" " «"> plot, and p,,thors the ffreateat T° ^ ^io tnms the tide of the tl-en the Messiah i, tl^Th ^ -^^2,?"""^ ,"'" ^'^ *h« i«"C ^abl. wMctt' :r :; -;S::f ^■>-.epieP„em i. .he wh-ch it relates k more or St ' ^h""""? " *^'' <«"•"• . tiree qualifications in it: iTiT^^^Jl'^.^'""^'"^ '«"'« feoondiy, it should be an Jfr.' 'Ll ."^ ■"■* "« «^.-«..- ko « ffnat action.- ' '^'^ ' »"''. tti«Uy, it should 'Homer fin tho 77i*r,.n j. i-tens intithe JI^^ZTh! *"" T*^ "^ "' «*-. d«eord of his princes, and arMv ^7°"""" J^"" "'*'' «■« succeeding parte „f '«, ^T^T'"^''' '" ^o »eveml 'fh.ch relates to them, md haHL?^ f »™'ything material «on. After the same Zj^r S r-'^'t *'"»' *■"« 'li«=»- Ws first appearance inX T^rf^ i" ** ^'«'^ "«k«i of Italy, because the ZZ]^^'' ^ "^^ "''^'■' 'V^' of his settling himself in LaST B° b °°'*''*'"' "«» *"' f 7 fi" a« reader to know wte baTK """^ " '"« «■»»- ".ng of Troy, and in the teel^^T' *" ""■ ^ *i« V.rg.1 makes his hero relate Tl!^ ^'^ "^ ^ ^yage, "econd and third Books ftliLJV' ^'"'""^ »^ wh,ch Books come before tUeo^t"' f^^-tents of both of the story, though, for presT^'^f "* ^^ '" "" "^^ follow them in the dispoLon o^fi ™*^ °' ''<*^, thev tion of these two g^lZ * ''°™- ""ton, in Liil - infernal councaTt.ingl"'?:^ tf m"^"*^ ^^"^ -^'' «;^«» he proposed to celebrfte • and , f ^^' "'"''''' « A-o which preceded in point of tiL .1 'S ""^ ^^"* ""ons, »d the Creation oU^wZZ^X^"'"'' °' *'"^^*'' world, (which would have entirely denominated nj one of the ^ce. 'Adam, -tisans. If a aracter in an >• If a hero ^dam is the J tide of the m the issue, '«/ JBstimate *oem is the the action tiould have ^« action: , it should bis action, I with the le several material al dissen- ^ makes iin sight was that as neoes- m in the voyage, in the of both 5 thread ^n, thej 1 imita* si with is the actions, ^gels Qtirely Milton's paradise lost. s destroyed the unity of his principal action, had he related them in the same order that they happened,) — he cast them into the fifth, sixth, and seventh Books, by way of Episode to this noble poem.' * The second qualification required in the action of an epic poem, is, that it should be an entire action. An action is entire when it is complete in all its paiis ; or, as Aristotle describes it, when it consists of a beginning, a middle, and an end. Nothing should go before it, be intermixed with it, or follow after it, that is not related to it ; as, on the contrary, no single step should be omitted in that just and reg-ular process which it must be supposed to take from its original to its consumnla- tion. Thus we see the anger of Achilles in its birth, con- tinuance, and effects ; and ^Eneas's settlement in Italy carried on through all the oppositions in his way to it, both by sea and land. The action in Milton excels, I think, both the former in this particular ; we see it contrived in Hell, executed upon Earth, and punished by Heaven. The parts of it are told in the most distinct manner, and grow out of one another in the most natural method.' 'The third qualification of an epic poem is its greatness. The anger of Achilles was of such consequence that it em- broiled the kings of Greece, destroyed the heroes of Troy, and engaged all the gods in factions. ./Eneas's settlement in Italy produced the Caesars, and gave birth to the Roman Empire. Milton's subject was still greater than either of the former: it does not deteraiine the fate of single persons or nations, but of a whole species.'- . odison. No. 207. 5. 'It is possible that the traaitions on which the Iliad and JEneid were built had more circumstances in them than the history of the Fall of Man, as it is related in Scripture. Besides, it was easier for Homer and Virgil to dash the truth with fiction, as they were in no danger of offending the religion of their country by it. But as for Milton, he had not only a very few circumstances upon which to raise his poem, but was also obliged to proceed with the greatest caution in every thing that he added out of his own invention. And, indeed, notwithstanding all the restraints he was vmder, he has filled ▲ 8 6 CRIXICAL OBS£RVATlOi\S ON his story with so many surprising incidents whJ.i, v his poem acta a part which wn^l7if J *' **^'"'**^^ ^^ other deity. His 'plcTsLe "much ^^^^^^^^^^ ^^;!! *« - manne:. aa by their dominion" yttm!]:^:^ ^ f ^' of Homer in the character of his nlU i .f ^^ '^°'* variety and novelty.' ^°®"*' ^*^ ^ to their 'If we look into the charactera nf Tir;u he ha, introduced «U C^Z^i^^^" ^^"^ «"* «■"» receiving. Tlie whole species of^.nl-^ "" "^P'"' »' at the time to which the auiw„r?^^ ™ *" *^» ?«»»»» h«ve, however, fo» d3ttt?n'' '^f'^' ^^ We see Man and Woman inZTZ^- *"" ''"^'"• fection, and in the most afet iS ? ^T""' ""* P^'" The two last characters are? indle^^*! / «""' »'' i^"»i'y- bnt the two first are not onlv ml ' '^"^ ""»»"""> and obvious; than any characte^r °trt CHf h"'' '"' r» --^ the whole circle of Nat«re.'-Jro,rivfm' " "'"* '" 'Milton has certainly trinmni,.^ eubject^the paucityt^Z otlin^ oH^^^^ ^^ ^^'^ for no one, in contemplating the ^^In nf V, ^^"^ "^'^^^ ' to exchange it for aLre^pZ^tlL S "t^ "^^^ could only be represented Jxiinrthdrl^'nn ^"'^^^^P^^'' of simple enjoyment and neg!ti^eZZ '^l' "" ^'^^^ paasions than the fear of Heaven Vn!i Ti, f' *^ ""^ °*^e' Yet from these materTals .^at a «J ? \" ^T' '^ '''^ °*^«^- Wge to the Beitrtt^ltuTXt" '^ '^'^ '' '"^^^ of theiralienationr!:c^P3rr^^^^^ honors 7. * Milton was so sensible of this defect iTZ r.- his poem, and of the few character it ^IJordt ''''1'^ he haa brought into it two actors of « T^ ^'""^ *^*' nature, in the persons of Sin anT Berth twh"^^ '^"'^"^ has wi-ought into the body of his Fabl/^ ^ l'^ """^"^ ^^ weU-invented Allegory But „' ™^ \^«0' beautiful and goiy. But, notwithstanding the fitness of ch bear so rit, that it out giving multitude litted into ible to no i by their tely short » to their find that apable of persons led. We persons, and per- nfimiity. obvious ; oi-e new, ideed in 7 of his agents ; H wish bly pair beinga > other 1 other, ►f their horrors feet of a, that titious ms he tl and ess of Milton's pakauise lost. f this Allegory may atone for it in some measure, I cannot think that persons of such a chimerical existence are proper actors in an epic poem; because there is not that measui-o of probabUity annexed to them which is requisite m wntmgs ofthiskind.'— Addison, iVo. 273. 'Where he tells us that Victory sat on the right hand ot tho Messiah when h« marched forth against the rebel Angels, that at the rising of tfc e Sun the Hours unbarred the gates of Light, that Discord was the daughter of Sin; where, describir- the singing of the nightingale, he adds, Silence teas pleased; and, upon the Messiah's bidding peace to the chaos, Confimm heard hia voice: it is plain that these instances, in which persons of an imaginary nature are introduced, are such short allegories as are not designed to be taken in the literal sense, but only to convey particular circumstaiices to the reader, after an unusual and entertaining manner. But when such persons are intro- duced as principal actors, and engaged in a series of adventures, they take too much upon them, and are by no means propel for an heroic poem, which ought to appear credible in all its principal parts.'— Addison, No. 357. „ . , ' . 'The Allerroiy of Sin and Death is a very finished piece m its kmd, when it is not considered as a part of an epic poem. The genealogy of the several persons is contrived witn great delicacy. Sin is the daughter of Satan, and Death the ofT- Bprinff of Sin. The incestuous mixtm-e between Sm and Death produces those monsters and hell-hounds which from time to time enter into their mother, and tear the bowels of her who gave them birth : these are the terrors of an evil conscience, and the proper fruits of Sin, which naturally rise from the apprehensions of Death. The reader will observe how naturally the three persons concerned in this AUegoiy are tempted by one common interest to enter into a confederacy together; and how properly Sin is made the Porti-ess of Hell and the only being that can open the gates to that world of tortures.'— Addison, iVo. 309. Gilfillan refers to the Allegory of Sin and Death as an example of the grotesque ; but he adds, ' It abounds m most powerful poetry. For eloquence, interest, terrific suspense, a4 CBITICAL OBSERTATIOxXS ON •Pparent absmdity is redeemed hwf ? I*" '"''' *'"'' «"« 'If we look i4 the fllot of M-.'"' ° "'°^*''°''°'*'7-' find it full of ^mpri^St^W ' ^"''''' ""'"«'' ^« with a due measure Tpiarr"''''''"" '""'P^^' e^eptiou to the Limbo of Vad^' J^T* """^ ""*« «» and Death, and some of the im^^' ^ '"' ^^^^^ "I Sin Ttoe passages are a^touilh u. TurZt'^r^^, ^ '." ''^'°»- fnot so far impose upon hfrnsrif "°*/ *"°' *■" ««*« them; they a« the desStfrif^ *° "^ * P'»="'"i<7 <« «fthin^orpe„ona'-Ss:;ltr "' *"'"" a.emy^t^'i^rlhis^lt'^^'poem is the great voyage than Ulysses, Zs Sl^!?"^ °"*^' » "'"'"' Cr "ratagems, and mJhZeuIT """^ "'"'^ ^«» »d and appearances.'-A;CJ'r2r3 ''"*" '""'^ "'^"^^ -/^d^srpXri girrt tir^^"" - «-" Pnde, envy and revenge, ob^tinaTv ^ ■ "^"' "' "»• Hi» «« aU of ftem ver^ :r^fXt>tL^"'''r* '"Penitence, »peeeh is a complieaTion of Xu tW •- ^" '^'»-*' "»•' fi'^' themselves separately in sevill oth/'^'T '""^'' ""»»'« The whole part of this gi^lrPn ""''7P<""=''«« in the poem. ««oh incidents as are veHptt^f T""' '^ ^"«» 'rith' •magination. Of this ^ Jje is T.^ • *""? *' '»""«'« awakens out of the gener^T™ .'"^ ** «"' that tn^ing lake, his ristag fon>Tt ''7"? ^'^ ^^^ ™ ^e »WeId and spear; towLhwe^ .f' ''''""?*''>" "^ W^ Angels that lay fWrd I'dlreTed fn t "*" ^ '""^ ^"^^ there as no single passage in the whl'""'"'"' ^nt greater sublimity than that whSil r" ""*"" "P '" " le interview that to the >ne between e» too, the the poetry.' though we r suited to I tempered ' make an >de of Sin his Chaos, ihe reader sibility in lows, not he great 3h longer rtles and of shapes of Satan m. His mitence, his first discover J poem, ed with, reader's It that on the of his fallen But P to a Jed, in esture, [•acter, most 2 I Milton's paeadise lost. » depraved nature. Amidst those impieties which this enrw^ed Spirit utters, the author has taken care to introduce none that is not big with absurdity, and incapable of shocking a religious reader : his words, as the poet describes them, bearing only a semblance of worth, not substance. He is likewise with great art described as owning bis Adversary to be almighty. What- ever perverse interpretation he puts on the justice, mercy, and other attributes of the Supreme Bemg, he frequently confesses his omnipotence, that being the perfection he was forced to allow him, and the only consideration which could support his pride under the shame of his defeat. Nor must I here omit that beautiful circumstance of his bursting out in tears upon his survey of those innumerable spirit^" whom he had involved in the same guilt and ruin with hiiuscx.. — Addison, No. 303. < The Miltonic Satan is undoubtedly one of the most stupen- dous and awfid creations of poetry, — one of its grandest studies ; but there is an heroic gi'andeur in it which wins, do what you will, a human sympathy. It h impossible to look on the apostate Angel without awe, and somewhat of admi- ration rather than abhorrence} sometimes, perhaps, without something of pity, as in that fanious passage, '' Thrice he essayed," &c. It was from such a representation of Satan as is given throughout the poem, that Arnold's deep religious feelinpf revolted,' &c. — Eeed's Mig. Literature. ' That superior greatness and mock-majesty which is ascribed to the Prince of the fallen Angels, is admirably preserved in the beginning of the second Book. His opening and closing the debate, his taking on himself that great enterprise at the thought of whic^ the whole infernal assembly trembled, his encountering the hideous phantom who guarded the gates of Hell, are instances of that proud and daring mind which could not brook submission, even to Omnipotence. The same boldness and intrepidity of behaviour discovers itself in the several adventures which he meets with during his passage through the regions of anfonned matter, and particularly in his address to those tremendous powei-s who are described as presiding over it.' — Addison, No. 309. « and expected, no^t^W^thite »S aT'""^"'*''''' power,' but to reduce him from bein«- ^Z ^' ? ^ "*"""' being a fa out as the fiercest Sn^tll, ^%* Vr""* ^^ ^^ « -"aried represent dXltrillf'-^'i' •'" ''^™- ™'»-' •"« in the assembly to rive 1 7 ®T' ™ **" ^'^ *■»' "»«» Wmself abruprfofwi^ JdZ' ^l^-^-^'^' i' doc^aros F / lor war, and appears incensed at his com- MILTON ': PARADISE LOST, 11 las carefully > alcohol of tn serve in to denial of make, and 8 particular haracter he sufferance, ■ height of Bnsed most ms to give in deadly 11 of God J person, the can con- itence the Eghj' he ^ of God; ' * utmost eaven ' to of Mani- >ire with i deemed be at all.' Tmg that itroying; I, full of the rest, le blood parents marked ton has at rises leolaros 5 com- panions for losing so much time as even to deliberate upon it. All his sentiments are rash, audacious, and desperate. Such is that of arming themselves with their tortures, and turning their punishments upon him who inflicted them. His pre- ferring annihilation to shame or misery, is also highly suitable to his character ; as the comfort he draws from their disturbing the peace of Heaven — that if it be not victory it is revenge — is a sentiment truly diabolical, and becoming the bitterness of this implacable Spirit.'— Addison, No. 309. 10. * Belial is described in the first Book as the idol of the lewd and luxurious. He is, in the second Book, pursuant to that description, characterised as tiuioious and slothful. We find his sentiments in the infernal assembly every way con- formable to his character. Such are his apprehensions of a second battle, his horrors of anniliilation, his preferring to be miserable rather than not to be. I need not observe that the contrast of thought in this speech and that which precedes, gives an agreeable variety to the debate.' — Addison, No. 309. 11. 'Mammon's character is so fully drawTi in the first Book, that the poet adds nothing to it in the second. We were before told that he was the first who taught mankind to ransack the earth for gold and silver, and that he was the architect of Pandeemonium. His speech in this Book is every way suitable to so depraved a character. How proper is that reflection, of their being unable to taste the happiness of Heaven were they actually there, in the mouth of one, who, while he was in Heaven, is said to have had his mind dazzled with the outward pomps and glories of the place, and to have been more intent on the riches of the pavement than on the beatific vision.' — Addison, No. 309. 12. 'Beelzebub is reckoned the second in dignity. There is a wonderful majesty described in his rising up to speak. He acts as a kind of moderator between the two opposite parties, and pro- poses a third imdertaking, which the whole assembly gives in to. The motion he makes of detaching one of their body in search of a new world, is groimdod upon a project devised by Satan, and cursorily proposed by him in the first Book.' — Addison, No. 309. ▲ 6 12 In CRITICAL OBSERVATIONS ON 13. * He has diTided the general angel or fiend element into a variety of finely individualised forms; and he has adapted the language to the character of each. Satan, Moloch, Belial, Mammon, Beelzebuh, ~ all are faUen, eloquent, bold, — all in torment, hate, and hell, but distinct as are columns of dif- ferent architectures. Satan is the infernal egotist; Moloch is rash and desperate, his fury vents itself in rugged laconics in gasps and howls of hatred; Belial is the subtle, far-reyolvin- them as the demons afterwards destined to mislead mankind under the guise of the deities of classical mythology. '-Shaw's Miff. Literature. .i.*r;-T^Ti'^°°*^^' ^^^'^"°i«tance in the principal actors of the Iliad md^md, -the authors having chosen for their heroes persons so nearly related to the people for whom they wrote Achilles waa a Greek, and ^neas the remote founder of Rome' By this means their countrymen (whom they principaUy pro^ posed to themselves for their readers) were particularly atten- tivo to all the parts of their story, and sympathised with their heroes m all their adventures.* * Milton's poem is admirable in this respect, since it is im- possible for any of its readers not to be related to the persons who are the pnncipal actors in it. But what is stiU infinitelv more to its advantage, the principal actors are not only oi^ progenitors but our representatives : we have an actual interest m everythmg they do, and no less tL.. our utmost happiness ^conceitied md lies at stake in all their behaviour. '-Addison, Milton's paradise lost. ift ement into is adapted ch, Belial, i; — all in ns of dif- Moloch is iconics, in -revolving stream of n, and his 1 speeches, k is just of grave, w-fiends.' ality and ise Loat is iriety and nsidei'ing- mankind -Shaw's actors of dr heroes J wroto. f Rome, iilly pro- y atten- ith their t is im- persons ifinitely inly our interest ppiness DDISON, I 4 16. * In Milton the machinery • is of more importance [than in Homer and Virgil], and less separable from the poem; and for this plain reason, that the supernatural beings are themselves the heroes of the poem, and the human compara- tively secondary and episodical characters. Yet, what would the poem be but for the scenes in Eden, and the human pair which it shelters, " imparadised in one another's arms " ? It is in reference to them, and their fortunes and fate, that all the supernatural machinery around them acquires interest and sig- nificance ; that we share in the interest produced by the debate of the fallen cherubim, and watch with an ominous presenti- ment the onward flight of Satan, " coasting the wall of Heaven on this side Night," upoii that evil mission of which the object was the fall of man.' — Edinburgh Bemew, vol. Ixvi. 17. ^ Homer and Virgil introduced persons whose characters are commonly known among men. Milton's characters, most of them, lie out of Nature, and were to be formed purely by his own invention. It was much easier, therefore, for Homer to find proper sentiments for an assembly of Grecian generals, than for Milton to diversify his infernal council with proper cJiaracters, and inspire them with a variety of sentiments. The loves of Dido and ^Eneas are only copies of what has passed between other persons. Adam and Eve, before the Fall, are a difterent species from that of mankind who are descended from tliem ; and none but a poet of the most unbounded invention, and the most exquisite judgment, could have filled their con- versation and behaviour with so many apt circumstances during their state of innocence.'— Addison, No. 279, 18. < Milton's chief talent, and indeed his distinguishing excellence, lies in the sublimity of his thoughts. There are others of the moderns who rival him in every other part of poetry ; but in the greatness of his sentiments he triumphs over all the poets both modern and ancient. Homer only ex- cepted. It is impossible for the imagination of man to distend itself with greater ideas than those which he has laid together * That is, • the supposed control exercised over human thoughts and actions by the influence of immaterial and invisible beings, or intimations derived in some way or other from ai.other wovli.' —Edinbureh Ret tew, vol. ixvl. 14 CRITICAL OBSERVATIONS ON in his first, second, and sixth Books. The sflvfin+T, «i,- i. ™blm^ though -ot so apt to stir ap emotion in the nund of fte reader, nor consequently so perfect in the epic way of ^tog,becau« it is filled with less action.'- Ai,Lo.,,JV^o: ' SublMty is the pre-eminent characteHstic of (he Pororfi, ^. The subhmest parte are the revelations of Miltot f^ ^tr-^:re:"rz^t P^r i^'trj" proceeds with a hnd of fear and trembling, whUst he describes the senfamente of fte Almighty. He d«L not give hlT^a pnafon.te full play, but chooses to confine hij^l^t Z w XM H ezpresMona as may be met with in Scrip, tare. The beauties, therefore, which we are to look for in ftese speeches are not of a poetical nature, norso pLt " d"vln%r -"'-»?» of g„.ndenr, as' with tho^S S devotion. The passions which they are designed to raise am « diyme love and «Iigiou« fear.--A»i>isoi,, M. 315 ' With regard to MUton's hardihood in carrying his imarina tion mto the mysteries of the being of the MostS ITl um^served freedom with which the F.th« ^fthe iL" ' «t before us in (bis dramatic epic, I beltetafe^^Z^e:: sensitive reader mast be conscious of >n instinctivrshAikr' from m«,y passages of tie poem. It is in (iis, evin mI m the chaiaoter of the arch-fiend, that the J-aracZ^Zy blunt the sense of adoration, and lower. insta«^ r,e^ ■ ^ Of the emotions Which sacred poet^:;,r^^^^^^^ The language of irony contained in one SDeel nf f», ff ' mighty, Bk. V. II. 719-732, and the JZa!^lVl ^' MILTON S PARADISE LOST. 15 ath, which onderfully le mind of ic way of ISDN, No. > Paradise Milton's xeatness.' t it is in ire intro- le author describes his ima- to such )rthodox tt Scrip- k for in roper to aghts of se are a nagina- ind the our are tie least pinking re than st may 1, some Heed, le Al- luman ^ouslv ; does ^mself is in every line of the Paradise Lost. His Satan, his Adam, his Raphael, almost his Eve, are all John Milton; and it is a «jense of this intense egotism that gives me the greatest plea- sure in reading Milton's works. The egotism of such a man is a revelation of spirit.'— Coleridge's Table Talk. < The poetry of these great men [Milton and Dante] has in a considerable degree taken its character from theur moral quali- ties. They are not egotists. They rarely obtrude their idio- syncrasies on their readers.' * Yet it would be difficult to name two writers whose works have been more completely, though undesignedly, coloured by their personal feelmgs.'— Macatjlay's Critique on MiUon. ai. < It is not sufficient that the language of an epic poem be perspicuous unless it also be sublime. To this end it ought to deviate from the common forms and ordinary phrases of speech. The judgment of a poet veiy much discovers its-lf in shunning the common roads of expression, without falling into such ways of speech as may seem stiff and unnatui-al; he must not swell into a false sublime, by endeavouring to avoid the other extreme. In some authors the affectation of great- ness often hurts the perspicuity of the style, as, in many others, the endeavour after perspicuity prejudices its greatness.' — Addison, No. 285. 22. ' The idiomatic style may be avoided, and the sublime formed, first, by the use of metaphors. I must, however, ob- serve that the metaphors are not so thick sown in Milton, which always savours too much of wit ; that they never clash with one another; and that he seldom has recourse to them where the proper and natural words will do as well.' * Another way of raising the language, and giving it a poetical turn, is to make use of the idioms of other tongries. Virgil is full of the Greek forms of speech which the critics call Hellenisms. I need not mention the several dialects which Homer has made use of for this end. Milton, in con- formity with the practice of the ancient poets, and with Aristotle's Rule, has infused a great many Latinisms, as well as Grc^cisras, and sometimes Hebraisms, into the language of his poem. Uade^ this nead may be reckoned the placing the Hi 18 CBITICAL OBSERVATIONS ON fo«ip. modes of ZX^l,f^^"°' ^'* »=^««' oti™ give W8ve«e the I^j''f*V°»' i"" '""-^«li^«i to 'MUton, bv the^riceTfi; J^?""'"°'"<'^P~»»•• which ou/toUVtZX^Lrt'cr; ■»■*, ''^" to « greater height than any of tte E„I^ »«r language done before or after him «^ "'""^ -English poets have ever equal .» that of hlsenu^nt t" ''b'^"'""""^"' "" '''"> think his style, though admirable it ^tLTin"'''"' T ' too much stiffened and obs™™^ k !! / ' ' "" ™™ P'^™ methods which Aristot hiTtriled foT"-"^" "' '"o- 'What Aristotie caUs Z^IT, *^^ "^"^ "^ i*-' h-a so ve,7 much en„ched7riff ""^''' 7^* """'' ™'«» language of his poem, ITCt^ ^^^'^ *'"''™»'J. «•« lis poem is writL in ZlclTe AT '"'f "^''' ''^<^- assistance, throws the languZ off ft ' """""'* ^^ »*«'• makes an indifferent phr^eTJ, T"' ™* ™'7 °««n verse is not built upl rhyme T'^"''^' ■"" ""«"> ^"^ energy „f expression, U mS *m" '"""^ »' »<>"»<1, and thostyIe.'_Ai,Mso2,, A^aS P '^"^"^'^T. *» support lime^tlattruSTrebtn^'''" T" "» -""^rf""- »"<- sented them inleitSl ZnXZ l'",'™ "> '"'™"P- reconrse to these foreim J^l^ »°<1 beauty, without having l.im,and was unJ^^Z^^i:' °7'»«»«ge «».k undef I.im with such gloLl conclrntr''l°' =""' ^"'='' '""i'l'ed 'The comiection of tb?T* ~^'""""'' "^o- 297. wo«ls are e.,ui;tV j^L^^X? "' ''^- P"'""" "' «" cording to the logic ofZXn 'nr • T"^"" "' ^^'r ac- logio of gramma? imZlT ?'■"'''' '"S^"' *'««' *» *!"» langimge fbey the Io™f Is „?'',*" ""^'^ "" E"K'i»'' Latin. He„; th, „" ^31^ ^ ^^*^^ "' «" ««>ek and CoLMDOE, Xerf^/x ''°'' " "" """'truotion.'- 'Milton has been accused of },» i, • frequent obscmty, but his dark™!, ^'^'of- ellipses, and never deliberate, and seldom xZP '""'* ^n-ember, is ef l.is thought sometim 3 d?p2 Z2 T "'"^ '"^ ''^- as the -. body „f beav.n in it' clolts.^il'^^CuJ:. '"''"^' Milton's paradise lost. 17 23> ' Digressions are by no means to be allowed of in an epic poem. If the poet, even in the ordinary course of his narra- tion, should speak as little as possible, he should certainly never let his narration sleep, for the sake of any reflections of his own. Milton's complaint for his blindness, his panegyric on marriage, his reflections on Adam and Eve's going naked, of the angels eating, and several other passages in his poem, are liable to exception j though I must confess there is so great a beauty in these very digressions, that I would not wish them out of his poem.'— Addison, No. 297. 24. ' Several of Milton's sentiments are too much pointed, ond some degenerate even into puns ; of this last kind, I am afraid, is that in the first Book, where, speaking of the Pyg- mies, he calls them that small infantry.'— AnTilQQ^, No. 297. 25. * Another blemish that appears in some of Milton's thoughts is his frequent allusion to heathen fables, which are certainly not of a piece with the Divine subject of which he treats. I do not find fault with those allusions where the poet himself represents them as fabulous, as he does in some places, but where he mentions them as truths and matters of fact.' — Addison, No. 297. 'His use of the Pagan mythology has often been objected to him as inconsistent with his reverence for the true belief and the Book of God. But he never introduces the heathen gods except as tributaries and captives. His Dagons fall down before Jehovah. He has preserved in his poetry, as in a vast museum, not a temple, the images of the fallen deities, with the word Idoh labelled on them, — objects not of belief or reverence, but of curiosity or poetic interest.' — Gilfillan. 26. ' He often affects a kind of jingle in his words, as in the following : — < " And brought into the tvorld a world of woe ; " " Beseech- ing or besieginff;-' "Which tempted our attempt;" "At one slight bound high overleaped all bound." '—Addison, No. 297. 27. ' The last fault which I shall take notice of in Milton's style is the frequent use of what the learned call technical words, or terms of art. I have often wondered how Mr. Dry- deu could translate a passage out of Virgil in the following manner : " Tack to the larboard, and stand oS to sea." Milton M CBITICAL OBSEBVATIONS OS malccs u,e of larboard in the same manner Whan >,. • ample of Home, and the p Jept 0^0^" T-' '° "^ «- a work which turns in a meat m.„. ■ " """^tion to World, is very proper rdetTtrr''™*^^™'*'"«f*» in those books fL wCoe „ur t^fl Z ''^''^i^ Moses to the Holy Spirit who is LZ rep^ltT '" ^""J^"*' '«'' a particular m«,ner in the first Zw?r» *" "P'"""? ■*' exordium risesvery happilytrnX T^"'^- ^"''"'°1« measure from its describing th. T^' ,^ ™'' "" »«'«»« «Wpped, by those boautifu?m*al'''ri:;^t fc ^ T ^"- the ancient poets. The autlm. u a \ V "^®^"ent among Homer's Ca^ogue ofsli :t vtirst'st 5w ''' ^'^'' View.'— Addison, JVb. 303 ^'^o'^^^^st of Waniors in hia '^^2:Z:^X^'^^ "" ^'"-- deities, it and thirty very Cif!l'tes rVTf 41 " °"^ ''™^-^ large and learned syntagma! wlicf f u' ^?-«21] the two that abstruse subjek'-^^BO^^f 5) 7^" ""^^'•'^ «» w ^rinirr^^tttu" *"' '"' ^"' -'«^=*«^ •nthor. Such is the de^p in 07/^7.' °" Peculiarto the infernal standard which heCLu " '"'"^' "»<» ^e light by which the fiends a„rit' " "^"^ *""" ghastly of tormen.»,_the shor„7ao wb^r^"*'' ^ ""^^ P'"'' ''hen drawn up in battle „av 1,1 ^°'' °^ ^""^ Anjels ""*' -- -mal a^^Tfa;-:;^:- - -- .^ MILTON S PARADISE LOST. 19 •Tien he is upon cornice, nloze, you meet with I the subject of are perhaps as hole poem, in self to the ex- 8 invocation to Creation of the nspired Moses is subject, and )perating after e. This whole ■nd sentiment, tely beautiful 56 of learning ses in a great iy were wor- juent among I this place, arriorsinhia m deities, it ne hundred 1] the two )mposed on H, Note in P-onderfully uliar to the e, and the at ghastly their place en Angels he Leader I appeared upon the drawin;^ of their swords, — the sudden production of the Pandeemouium, — and the r.rtificial illuminations made in it.' .—Addison, No. 303. 31. ' How strikingly is the Picturesque displayed in the de- scription of Beelzebub rising like a pillar of state. Milton has been charged with being rather a musical than a picturesque poet \_Coleridge, Lect. X.] ; but many passages confute the charge. Indeed, his blindness was certain to increase the out- standing distinctness and clearness of his imagery, as well as his sense of harmonious sound.' — Gilfillan. 32. ' There are several noble similes and allusions in the first Book. And here I must observe, that when Milton alludes either to things or persons, he never quits his simile till it rises to some very great idea, which is often foreign to the occasion that gave birth to it. The resemblance, perhaps, does not last above a line or two, but the poet runs on with the hint, till he has raised out of it some glorious image or sentiment, proper to inflame the mind of the reader, and to give it that sublime kind of entertainment which is suitable to the nature of an heroic poem. Those who are acquainted with Homer's and Virgil's way of writing, cannot but be pleased with this kind of structure in Milton's similitudes. In short, if we look into the conduct of Homer, Virgil, and Milton, as the great Fable is the soul of each poem, so, to give their works an agreeable variety, their episodes are so many short fables, and their simi- les so many short episodes; to which you may add, if you please, that their metaphors are so many short similes. If the reader considers the comparisons of the Sun in an eclipse, of the sleeping Leviathan, of the bees swarming about their hive, of the fairy dance, in the view wherein I have here placed them, he will easily discover the great beauties that are in each of those passages.' — Addison, No. 303. ' If there be one circumstance more than another which sets him above Virgil and Homer, it is this, that he takes more vio- lent possession of the mind of his reader by crowding upon him a phalanx of thick-coming thoughts. Satan's legions lie en- tranced upon the sea of fire thick as the leaves in the brooks of Vallombrosa, Here another poet might have ended; not bo w OUnCAt OBSEHTATIONS ON »liho„M):.-T are, moreo.„,lil„ the Mattered sedee on tl,. e««t of th. Ked Sea when Or.or, hath vexed H^th « whe. h, .Mne, th.„,h the t^ .li ^U^^^ 1^;, ^ imnjc It enough; he presses on with another maroiBcent fe. tare -the ed pse; nor is this all : the concomitS h„™« o"f the disasters it is belieyed to portend,- perolexitvto 1 v and revolution i„ „..: perplexity to monarcha ohlTwldnt' "" -I-'«dded,_and then th, mdtr 'lit °' *"' f"'"™" «" P°«t " "Oehted to hi, reaaing. buch copiousness can only belnno- f^ +1, . T civiH.edage,-^the poet who canlatllf^Snl: .tores of generations past,- whose possessions arTbv nLri T: "-" -t.^ «1»---t: without this, "e would be apt to weary his reader for wnnf nf .m , n>atter..-QW.n.vKK;™vol ,:"r" ""' ™'"'^ "' 33. In the very able article on • Todd'q TVnifn., ' ^ ra:;r,':r;c:i:r^;-rr"'^^^^ ««ie.7,-the advanceln nrvi;r.att, td 1° "Tr.-"' «.d inteUectual eonstitutior^uriCpl' T"" '"''"' fevoumbly or unfavourably on poe^' M°7 { 1 °''™" ™;iroff.i^ru:Cnt^^^^^^^^^^ the unfavourable influence to some extent, rconte,!^;<^ jever^ advantages with which poetry i. benefited by oNi.^ J^».*„r^A JW, maintained the unfavoumble view of the eff cts of civihzation on the arts, and considered ther^fl tha t!t : Tilr h"*^"' *""»>"' "- ^-mstaocesho^^o he says .;«?•,?'"""''? °^ ^°°^ P°»*7- •P°«'7,' lantern p , i,., , ,.. .,,u3,„„ „„ ^^ ^^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ P Milton's paradise t^ost. tl magic lantern acts beat in a dark room, poetry effects its purpose most completely in a diurk age. As the liKiit of knowledge breaks in upon its exhibitions — as the outlines of certainty become more and more definite, and the shadey ,f probability more and more distinct — the hues and lineaments of the phantoms which it calls up grow fainter and fainter. We cuimot unite the incompatible advantages of reality and deception, the clear dis- cernment of truth and the exquisite enjoyment of fiction.' Sft. * In tiie angelic warfare of the poem, Milton has done whatever human genius could accomplish.' — ' The warlike part ci Paradise Lost was inseparable from its subject I feel too strong a reverence for Milton, to suggest even the possibility that he could have improved his poem by having thrown his angelic warfare into more remote perspective ; but it seems to me to be most sublime, when it is least distinctly brought home to the imagination. What an awful effect has the dim and un- defined conception of the conflict which we gather from the opening of the first Book I There the ministers of Divine ven- geance and pursuit had been recalled,— the thunders had ceased « to bellow through the vast and boundless deep," and our terrific conception of the past is deepened by its indistinct- ness.' ' The array of the fallen Angels in Hell, the unfurling of the standard of Satan, and the march of his troops, — all this is magic and overwhelming illusion : tha imagination is taken by surprise. But the noblest efforts of language are tried with very unequal effect, to interest us in the immediate and close view of the battle itself in the sixth Book ; and the martial demons, who charmed us in the shades of Hell, lose some por- tion of their sublimity, when their artillery is discharged in the dayliglit of Heaven.' — Campbell's JSssay on Poetry. 35. 'Many of the images which it [imagination] suggests, and the effect of which upon the mind is immediately felt by all lovers of poetry to be beautiful, can by no means be justified upon the principles of logic, or their coherence made clear to the understanding. " Wh( n Milton teUs us of darkness visible;' says a writer on poetry, {Edinburgh Remexo, 1825,) "we feel that he has uttered a fine paradox j we/t^e/ its truth, but can- 99 CRITICAL OBjiEBVATIONS ON i" I pava.on, .sp«.d wMo on the J^^m^^ZZ^V^ How the. /J ^-^^Z'iHlli^f^' *"" ""'^^^ the aidof Iteht P A«/„;«i, ' ' ''^*'' ™ '«» only by which Jrbyoi1aTdAlrh*"''''""'™"'"™»«°'U tifled b, the 4sT:eltf'Ne7erei:fi*:?'''"° •■'^■"■ cent as words can make it J, i/Tl^ ' " '^ " ""^^• pandenr, and pre^runon ^Z f '» a dark and spectml wh"-it'™Sdts:tht iff '? ".''^"^ o'*" '^^. description of .o,«conrilT„ v ''°' satisfy itself with the Jeavin^, a .idd.: Stfn^Xt^T^'T^ ""'^**'°-'^' imagination than any other wC if ^ «PPropnate to the between images. As soo^as t "s &:d 1 '' "^"' '■°™""« comes understanding- but whill •*' 7 "° '"'^S''' '* ">«- tween them, attacW l! T^ " "'"'"'^ ""■ ''avering be- gination. ^uch is tie^fi *f P!™a»»tly to none, itislna- [Bk. II. E fl^_e73 3 "° "'^"I"'™ "f D^a*^ » MUton.'- ca;jd;rrCduraX';r\*' '"•«^''«°- <» ing of the mind, stiS oaSg whaT,^ °™' ''"',? f »"« -ov- ereating what is again Kiectod th. v"'""'^' "'"'' '«'^ wishes to impress, na^dirt. ' ^.r"?^' ''^'"g ^I"** the poet of the unin.a^nab.:ri' tr re*^-^' -"»» feeLg CoLEEiME : F/Z ° ~~ Collier's Lectures qf ing peculiarity of each -but tf ^'^ '"' ^' '^^ distinguish- proceed from the intpt ' ^*'°^'"' °^ ^^"^e seems to -ma .«,er to sprin, .„, .V^^JJ^ ;2t„fi';t iC %.' MILTON S PARADISE LOST. 88 gination. Milton affects us less (at least in bis more terrible and sublime delineations) by what he says, than by what he leaves unsaid.' — Shaw's Englinh Literature. * The most striking characteristic of the poetry of Milton is the extreme remoteness of the associations by means of which it acts on the reader. Its effect is produced not so much by what it expresses, as by what it suggests ; not so much by the ideas which it directly conveys, aa by other ideas which are connected with them. He electrifies the mind through con- ductors. The most unimaginative man must imderstand the Iliad. Homer sets the images in so clear a light that it is im- possible to be blind to them. Milton does not paint a finished picture, or play for a mere passive listener. He sketches, and leaves others to fill up the outline. He strikes the key-note, and expects his hearer to make out the melody.* ' The only poem of modem times which can be compared with the Paradise Lost is the Divine Comedy. The subject of Milton, in some points, resembled that of Dante ; but he has treated it in a widely different manner. The images which Dante employs speak for themselves ; they stand simply for what they are. Those of Milton have a signification which is often discernible only to the initiated. Their value depends less on what they directly represent, than on what they re- motely suggest.' — Macatjlat's Critique on Milton. 38. ' Against one insuperable difficulty Milton had to wrestle, all the way through his subject,— the inexplicable and inex- tricable confusion continually recm-ring between the properties ot matter and spirit in his preternatural agency.' — Montgomeet's 3femoir of Milton. * Milton wrote in an age of philosophers and theologians. It was necessaiy, therefore, for him to abstain from giving such a shock to their understandings as might break the charm which it was his object to throw over their imaginations. This is the real explanation of the indistinctness and inconsistency with which he has often been reproached. It was impossible for the poet to adopt altogether the material or the immaterial system. He therefore took his stand on the debateable ground. He left the whole in ambiguity.' 24 CKITICAL OBSERVATIONS. writer H « f "■■' ™'*° "■"'^ "^ «''»■»' »" othe' wntera. H,s iends, in particiUar, are wonderful creations They are not metaphysical abstractions. They are not ^'S men. They are not ngly beasts. Their characters aT like their fo^s, marked by a certain dim resemblan e to Ze oj men but exaggerated to gigantic dimensions, and veM in mystenousg«,m.'-MACArrAT-s Oritijue on Matm. ^". brthrj: ::=. Tsite^t^-^ a great sensibility of taste, an ear nnerSnl c t«" C fined tW^^ '?'^'' ^"'^'^''^' ^^ '^'^ «-^^^«, are so unde- nned, that, according to the ta.sffi of fi,^ ^ u \ , predetermined for the line.' ® *^^^ /Milton frequently innovates upon the hi^h l,«^. • r his accenjferf verse with thp «iiKo+V *• . ^ harmonies of occu^ the mta'r :^ ^ :;ZTrc '7 1 4r ^^^ in vol. xxxvi. of the Quarterlv R«T ^o ,;,P '"'°"'^' *"^ *^« ^^te' Critical EsM.ate/(:„S^^^^^^^^ Memoir.' (in Bohu'a edition of the Poems) ^' ^ Montgomeor's fc all other creations, aot wicked J are, like ;o those of veiled in ad should is requires ect. The necessary aic. The this mea- 80 imde- i may be )erieiiced ner, that 1 be pre- i he had EXAMINATION - QUESTIONS ON THE riRST TWO BOOKS onies of ; some- Imirable ijesty of ihekind Satan.* ff 2fb. 3. 01' MILTON'S PAEADISE LOST. Milton, le writer ton, and ;omerjr's B 1. 2. 8. 4. 5. 6. EXAMINATION- QUESTIONS ON MILTON'S PAEABISE LOST, CHIEirX.T FOUNDED ON BOOKS I. AND H. t^inir>r< ■^'mti'iI* 1. Give tbe history of the composition of the Paradise Lost. 2. Write some remarks (a) on the question — whether a rude or a civilized age is more favourable to poetic genius ; and (6) on the merits of Milton's poetry in relation to that question. 3. State and explain the distinguishing excellence of the Paradise Lost as a poem. Which of the books are especially characterised by that excellence ? 4. What is (a) epic poetry? (J) heroic poetry ? (c) blank verse ? 5. Examine the propriety of calling the Paradise Lost an heroic poem. 6. Write some remarks on the merits of Milton's blank verse ; and quote, if you can, from Book I. or XL, any remarkable instances of imitative harmony or ex- pression. 7. What is Alliteration ? Quote, if you can, examples of Milton's use of it. b2 28 EXAMINATION-QUESTIONS ON 8. (a) What ia meant by the Action of an epic poem ? (6) Examine the resemblance which the Paradise Lost bears to the Iliad and ^neid in the main features of the Action. 9. Examine the difficulty of the theme of Milton's Para- dise Lost,— (a) in relation to the paucity of materials which it afforded him; (&) in relation to the peculiar nature of the characters. 10. Compare Milton's gi'eat poem with those of Homer and Virgil, as to the interesting nature of the theme. IL (a) What is the machinery of an epic poem ? (6) What importance belongs to the machinery of the Paradise Lost, as compared with that of the Iliad or the ^neid ? 12. What objection has been made to Milton's use of the Pagan mythology ? Refer to any passage, in Book L or IL, that seems liable to such objection. 13. Compare Milton with Dante and with Shakspeare as regards the indications which their poetry gives of their own personal feelings. 14. Compare Milton and Dante with respect to the general character of their imagery. 15. Does Milton represent the fallen angels as material or immaterial beings ? Write a few expl aatory obser- vations on this point. 16. Write some observations (a) on the comparative feeble- ness, and {h) on the want of due reverence, — im- puted to Milton's representations of the Divine Persons as speakers. 17. (a) What state of things does it appear that Satan had expected to bring about by opposing the Most High? (6) What is the moral of the Paradise Lost? MILTON'S PARADISE LOST 29 (c) Explain the following passage :— The mind is its own place, and in itself Can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven. What matter where, if I be still the same, And what I should be, all but less than He "Whom thimder hath made greater ? 18. (a) What axe the main features in the character of Satan ? (6) Quote some passages descriptive of his external ap- pearance. 19 (a) In what way has Milton's delineation of Satan been supposed unfavourable to piety ? (5) How has that supposition been shown to be ill founded ? 20. (a) Who, next to Satan, are the four chief speakers m * the Stygian council ' ? (b) What distinction is assigned to each of them in Scripture? (c) Sketch their several chsxacters, as distinguished m the Paradise Lost. (d) What axe the principal sentiments expressed by any one of them respecting their fallen condition and theur prospects ? , ,> , . u ( ) Give reasons why Moloch was the first and Beelzebub the last speaker. 21 (a) What spirits are enumerated as *the prime an order and in might,' who advanced one by one to the clear space where Satan and Beelzebub stood ? (h) Which of the speakers of the infernal assembly is not included in that enumeration ? and why is he omitted? . (c) What appears to have prompted Milton to introduce that enumeration? and what are its poetical merits ? 22 Refer, if you can, to any instances, in Book I. or H., of Milton's digressing to bring in reflections of his own. B 8 30 EXAMINATION-QUESTIONS ON l 23. Milton has been accused of too frequently introducing technical words, or terms of art, deemed unsuitable for epic poetry : — can you refer to any particular instances of this fault in Book I. or II. ? 24. (a) What various means has Milton employed to give sublimity to his language ? and (b) what faults have resulted from his immoderate use of some of them ? 25. (a) What is the purpose of similies in poetry ? (J) In what consists the peculiarity of many of Milton's similies? ^ • (c) Specify the various images occurring in his descrip- tion of Ihe intranced angels ; and shew that the whole of the description is proper to the occasion. 26. Refer to any passages, in the first two Books, that seem to you remarkably characterised by (a) poetic inven- tion, (b) sublimity, (c) picturesque description. 27. Quote, or refer to, passages, in the first two Books, con- taining dewcriptions in which sublimity is raised— (a) by vague or indefinite comparison ; lb) by paradox, or a blending of contradictions ; (c) by the substitution of a feeling of the unimaginable for a mere image. 28. Quote, or refijr to, passages in which Milton shows his appreciation of the power of music. 29. In what senses, now unusual, does Milton employ (in Book I.) the following words: battle — witnessed — urges fail — vast — afflicted — populous — frequent — prone. 30. Specify, with brief remarks, literaiy beauties which you may discover in the following passage, as re- gards (a) simile, (&) antithesis, (c) alliteration, (d) inversion, («) use of abstract for concrete terms, (/) variety in the arrangement of analogous construc- tions, (g) variety in the position of the caesura, or metrical pause :— milton's paradise lost 81 Cruel his eye, but cast Signs of remorse and passion, to behold The fellows of his crime, the followers rather, (Far other once beheld in bliss), condemned For ever now to have their lot in pain ; Millions of spirits for his fault amerced Of Heaven, and from eternal splendours flung For his revolt ; yet faithful how they stood. Their glory withered 1 as, when Heaven's fire Hath scathed the forest oaks or mountain pines, With singed top their stately growth, though bare, Stands on the blasted heath. (h) Refer to a passage of Scripture that may have suggested to Milton the supposition of one lost spirit being capable of lamenting the condition of another.* 31. (a) Describe briefly the poetical character of the exordium of the Paradis'^ Lost. (6) Give a general grammatical analysis of the sub- joined passage (Book H. 1 — 6). (c) Compare that passage with the first six lines of Book I., as regards the position of the principal sen- tence ; and assign a grammatical reason for that position. (d) Point out the csesural variety of the lines — High on a throne of royal state, which far Outshone the wealth of Ormus and of Ind, Or where the gorgeous East with richest hand Showers on her kings barbaric pearl and gold, Satan exalted sat, —by merit raised To that bad eminence. ♦ It has been argued against tliis supposition, that feai of aggra- rated torment, from reproaches on account of evil example, &c., may hive been the real motive in the case referred to. 32 EXAMINATION-QUESTIONS ON 82 Referring to the following passage — Powers and Dominions, Deities of Heaven : — For, since no deep within her gulf can hold Immortal vigour, though oppressed and fallen, I give not Heaven for lost : from this descent Celestial Virtues rising, wiU appear More glorious and more dread than from no faU. Explain, according to Analysis of Sentence., the office (a) of each of the conjunctions for, since, though, and than ; and (b) of each of the preposition phrases in the passage. (c) Parse, in an explanatory way, the word lost. (d) Examine Milton's use of the word her. (e) Point out abstract terms used for concrete. 83. Refer to the following passage :— And now his heart Distends with pride, and hardening, in his strength Glories : for never, since created man, Met such embodied force, as, named with thes*, Could merit more than that small infantry Warred on by cranes ; though all the giant brood Of Phlegra with the heroic race were jomed That fought at Thebes and Ilium, on each side Mixed with auxiUar gods; and what resounds In fable or romance of Uther's son Begirt with British and Armoric knighU. (a) In what connection with the poem does the above passage occur? (b) Explain the passage by a simple prose translation. (c) Criticise the expressions in italics, as to their style or import; and parse the expressions could merit, warred on, that fought, , .. „ j ^„ (d) Give some explanation of the ' infantry warred on by cranes,' the * brood of Phlegra,' and the historical allusions. Milton's paradise lost 8S 84. (a) In what connection with ^he poem do the fcUow- ing passages occur ? , « i (6^ Refer to paraUel passages in the second Book. (c) Explain the superstition referred to in the second (^T^e the words in italics in the first passage ; and explain, according to Analysis of Sentences, the itali- cised expressions in the second. m Space may produce new worlds; wliereofm rife There went a fame in Heaven that he ere long Intended to create, and therein plant A generation, whom his choice regard Should favour equal to the sons of Heaven. (2) [Like] faery elves Whose midnight revels, by a forest side Or fountain, some belated peasant sees. Or dreams he sees, while over-head the moon 3it3 arbitress, and nearer to the earth Wheels her pale coui-se. 35 (a^ What is the scriptural foundation of Milton's ^^Jegory of Sin and Death? (^^ Write some oW vations on its merits as a constituent portion of the • poem, and as an allegory apart from the poem. 36 In the subjoined passage-(a) Explain the significancy of the expressions in italics, and (5) the grammatical construction of the second of these expressions. (c^ What other words in the passage axe similar m rhetorical character to the second exi ession ? ^ (d) Point out any instance of remarkable compression or condensation of thought. Next came one Who mourned in earnest, when the captive ark Maimed his brute image, head and hands lopt off 34 EIAMINATIOX-QDESTIONS OS In his own temple, on the grunsel edge, Where he feU flat, and sAamed his aorshpperi. 37 m^Twhlt meaning,, now unusual, do the followmg words occur in the second Book l-mortaUsucces, ^insulUng-e^erme-aiolishecl-fatal-kumane-. conven^«nmoved-farne-Mend-M,M- 3 d 3ve iiite 46. Referring to the following passage— Their rising all at once, was as the sound Of thunder heard remote. Towards him they bend With awful reverence prone ; and as a god Extol him equal to the Highest in Heaven : Nor failed they to express how much they praised, That for the general safety he despised His own : for neither do the Spirits damned Lose all their virtue ; lest bad men should boast Their specious deeds on earth, which glory excites, Or close ambition, varnished o'er with zeal. (a) Parse the words in italics. (b) Explain the words prone, praised, and neither, and the phrase lose all their virtue. What is the force of the word lest 7 « . p xt. f'a (c) Wnat part of the passage is a reflection of the poets own ? and what has been erroneously argued from it respecting his sentimente? efind ig feet aseology, or ige. ■ how it is line.'