Theology
Does Paradise Lost succeed in justifying the ways of God to man?
No. The whole argument hangs on four or five very debatable points:
- Whether you accept the assertion, repeated over and over by God, the Son, the angels and the narrator – that worship from created beings is only meaningful if it is freely given i.e. created beings have to be free – and that freedom involves the freedom to do wrong and well as right. To which one replies: a) couldn’t God have created a world in which there was no evil? Hence, no temptation? Lost of freedom and choices: just nothing Evil. b) couldn’t God have intervened at various points to prevent the tragedy? The obvious answer is, Yes.
- Whether you accept the assertion that all mankind deserves to be punished for something done before they were born. Obviously not.
- Whether God could have forgiven them there and then and said, I’ll give you a second chance. Why not?
- (All this is accepting the hard-to-understand but much-repeated point that merely because God foresees something, does not make it pre-ordained. Let’s accept that.)
- (And accepting the strange idea that God makes a universe knowing it will be wrecked – why?)
The solution to the entire problem with Milton’s theology is to realise that Christianity is not designed to tell a logical story of the creation: Christianity has devised a myth which explains the current state of mankind, society and people.
For those who buy into the myth it has tremendous psychological power but it is a myth, created retroactively to make sense of the status quo – if you examine the same myth as if it were a logical story explaining the origin of the universe then it becomes highly questionable, because you are essentially saying that God created an imperfect world – and there’s no way out of the paradoxes that throws up – because the Christian response – that, no, God created a perfect world and we, humanity, screwed it up – certainly works if you relate that myth to your own personal life story, which will inevitably involve screw-ups and failings (that’s what the whole myth is designed to do). But fails as a stand-alone account of the creation of the whole world, viewed in the abstract.
Thus Milton tries heroically, epically, but fails to justify the ways of God to man. God’s ways seem harsh, cruel and arbitrary.
After all, if Paradise Lost succeeded in its big ambition, surely it would be snapped up to be part of the syllabus at any Catholic or Protestant seminary school. But no because, by taking the story so literally, Milton lets the cat out of the bag.
Architecture
Does the poem lay out its pretty well-known story in a suitable way?
Milton succeeds admirably in taking the well-known story and adapting it for the traditional methodology of epics i.e. starting in media res and telling key events in flashback – just as Odysseus tells all his exotic adventures in flashback, or Aeneas tells the people of Carthage his story ditto, thus Raphael tells the origins of the rebellion and the War in heaven and the Creation of the universe in flashback; and just as Aeneas is vouchsafed a vision of the futurity of Rome, so Adam is given a vision of the future of humanity. Top marks.
However, it is a major flaw that the poem tails off as it drags on – that Raphael’s account of the Creation or Michael’s prophecy are so boring. Why? Because we’ve read them before, described much more snappily, in the Bible.
Style
Does Milton’s style help or hinder one’s reading? Is it answerable to the subject matter?
Although the essence of Milton’s style remains the same throughout (the Latinate grammar, the odd use of syntax, Latinate vocabulary) no-once can doubt that the poem goes off. The best books are the first four. Why? Several reasons:
- In Hell Milton is free-est to invent episodes; thereafter he is more constrained by the Biblical account. Thus in Book X it is a breath of fresh air when Satan encounters Sin and Death again, making their way up to the Universe.
- Milton seems to have put more effort into fully imagining these early books: one simple indicator is that they are packed with epic similes – whereas the long books of Raphael’s are almost barren of similes – making you realise how refreshing they had been, to add variety to the style and rhythm.
- If books VI, VII, X, XI and XII are boring because they have to retell large chunks of Genesis without using similes, other sections of books V and so on are just as boring because they have to convey long gobbets of Christian theology. Long stretches are not much more than versified pamphlets.
Epic poem
Does PL succeed as an epic poem in the tradition of Homer, Virgil, Camoes, Tasso?
Yes.
Aesthetics
Taken all in all, is Paradise Lost a success?
A limited one, or Yes, with reservations. These reservations stem from:
- The failure of the theology to allay big doubts about God, its fundamental aim.
- The failure of the later books to maintain the imaginative force and novel subject matter of the earlier ones.
- The consequent flattening or failure of the style, which becomes pedestrian and boring for long stretches.
It seems to me axiomatic that Milton was a devout Christian who wrote the poem with the explicit aim of justifying the ways of God to men. The facts are the following: the first four or so books are the best. ‘Best’ means they are most enjoyable to read because containing the highest proportion of vivid and memorable language.
From Book 5 onwards the poem becomes more stodgy – the Raphael books: his account of the origins of the devil rebellion i.e. Satan’s revolt against the Son up till Abdiel standing up against the rebels (5), the actual War in Heaven (6), the creation of the universe and of Man – all this feels already-read (7), and then Raphael’s deliberately vague description of the Universe; then Adam’s memories of waking & meeting God (8).
The whole of Book 9 is an account, told in real time, of Eve leaving Adam, then being seduced by the serpent to eat the fruit, then persuading Adam to eat it. This ought to be the dramatic centrepiece of the poem but is the dullest – we know what’s going to happen so there’s no drama – instead there is lengthy and hard-to-follow argumentation between the snake and Eve – she eats – and then more argumentation between Eve and Adam – he eats – they make love – then feel guilt and shame.
Given a choice, which would you rather read – books 1, 2 and 3 or books 9, 10 and 11?
Book 10 where the Son quickly judges the pair is only enlivened by the great scenes of Sin and Death building a path up to the earth.
Book 11 where Michael lays out the future of the human race is dull.
Milton’s style
Debate ranges over Milton’s style: at one end of the spectrum, people say it’s recognisably English phrasing and syntax – at the other end, Dr Johnson and co say it’s written in a style heavily influenced by Latin and unlike any English ever spoken. I’m at the Dr Johnson end, but then most poetry is unlike the language actually spoken by ordinary people. The question is not the disputed source or origin of Milton’s style, it’s whether it works for what he intends.
Christopher Ricks’ book shows in minute detail that Milton’s style is highly considered, carefully wrought, and meaningful i.e. for long stretches. On other words, it does work.
Related links
Related reviews
- Paradise Lost Book 9 by John Milton (1667)
- Paradise Lost Book 10 by John Milton (1667)
- Paradise Lost Book 11 by John Milton (1667)
- Milton’s Satan and the Classical World
- Johnson’s Life of Milton (1777)
- Milton’s God by William Empson (1961)
Books & Boots 