Kindred spirits?

According to an interview from this Studio 360 show about Darwin, the scientist was known to say that when he went ashore to do his research in remote places, the one poet he had to bring with him was Milton.

Follow ups from today

The outline of Paradise Lost which we talked about today can be found here.

Here's Milton's Nativity Ode, (here's the Dartmouth edition) where some of his lifelong themes (e.g., the twilight of the pagan gods) are first sounded, and here is John Rogers' talk on it.

Regarding the thought that Reason in a sense was Satan's prompter, here's the passage from Book I - it's the only time the word appears in Book I.

Is this the Region, this the Soil, the Clime,

Said then the lost Arch-Angel, this the seat

That we must change for Heav'n, this mournful gloom

For that celestial light? Be it so, since he [ 245 ]

Who now is Sovran can dispose and bid

What shall be right: fardest from him is best

Whom reason hath equald, force hath made supream

Above his equals.

Toward the end of his first lecture, Rogers suggests that Satan is practicing much the same sort of deconstruction of divine power that is often applied in cultural studies and social sciences to other large concepts and fundamental ideas:

Satan's saying that before the war in heaven, God's power just seemed like any other king's power, as if God sat on the throne of heaven merely because of those humanly constructed reasons of tradition, or of old repute or consent or custom.

As Lola reminded us, Milton was quite consciously on Satan's side as he argued, through several public writings, that the "divine right of kings" was basically a power play tricked out in Charles I's monarchic dress.

Umberto Eco on Lists

As we know from Homer, Genesis, Rabelais, Joyce and many other writers, vast lists and catalogs have exercised a certain fascination even prior to the advent of writing.

The superb Italian scholar and novelist is curating a show at the Louvre about lists, and was recently interviewed by Der Spiegel:

Umberto Eco: The list is the origin of culture. It's part of the history of art and literature. What does culture want? To make infinity comprehensible. It also wants to create order -- not always, but often. And how, as a human being, does one face infinity?

The list doesn't destroy culture; it creates it. Wherever you look in cultural history, you will find lists. In fact, there is a dizzying array: lists of saints, armies and medicinal plants, or of treasures and book titles. Think of the nature collections of the 16th century.. . .

Homer's work hits again and again on the topos of the inexpressible. People will always do that. We have always been fascinated by infinite space, by the endless stars and by galaxies upon galaxies. How does a person feel when looking at the sky? He thinks that he doesn't have enough tongues to describe what he sees. Nevertheless, people have never stopping describing the sky, simply listing what they see. Lovers are in the same position.. . .

SPIEGEL: Why do we waste so much time trying to complete things that can't be realistically completed?

Eco: We have a limit, a very discouraging, humiliating limit: death.

Update: Harvard Berkman Center scholar David Weinberger triggers an interesting discussion as he takes issue with certain of Eco's assertions.

Two Milton Chronologies

Early Notes for Paradise Lost from Christ's College Collection, Cambridge

Prof. Flannagan of Ohio University has a nice chronology of Milton's life.

In honor of his 400th birthday came this chronology of his published work. Some of the links here point to many rich additional resources, including many illustrations.

First Edition

...this pendant world

It can be bewildering getting a closely calibrated sense of the scale and orientation of things in Paradise Lost, so it's worth remembering that Milton is working with - and creatively reworking - inherited models of the universe, including the Hebrews' ancient conception, imaged here:

Image found here.

like a weather-beaten Vessel holds
Gladly the Port, though Shrouds and Tackle torn;
Or in the emptier waste, resembling Air, [ 1045 ]
Weighs his spread wings, at leasure to behold
Farr off th' Empyreal Heav'n, extended wide
In circuit, undetermind square or round,
With Opal Towrs and Battlements adorn'd
Of living Saphire, once his native Seat; [ 1050 ]
And fast by hanging in a golden Chain
This pendant world, in bigness as a Starr
Of smallest Magnitude close by the Moon. II.1043 ff

Bloom on Johnson (on Milton)

Mussy points us to this note on Dr. Johnson from Harold Bloom. It begins:

It has been three centuries since Dr. Johnson was born, on Sept. 7, 1709. He died on Dec. 13, 1784, still struggling for the mixed blessing of more life. His Falstaffian vitalism is always my first thought when I reread, teach again or continue brooding upon the canonical critic of Western literature.

Johnson's "Life of Milton" is here.

Bloom emphasizes the theatricality of Johnson:

Johnson’s personality was worthy of Shakespearean representation: sometimes I rub my eyes to dispel the illusion that Shakespeare wrote, not Johnson’s work, but the man himself into existence.

Norton Anthology Resources

Arline points to this rich set of resources from Norton Anthology, offering illustrations and references for the immediate historical context in which Milton was working. It has some unusual images from various cultural elements of the time.





From the section, "Civil Wars of Ideas," we read of King James I:

Already an author, James reprinted at the time of his accession his True Law of Free Monarchies (originally published in 1598), defending royal absolutism grounded on the divine right of kings. In his very elaborate coronation procession through the City of London, he passed through spectacular Roman triumphal arches at various stages, thereby identifying himself as a new Augustus. That Roman style was emphasized by the designer Inigo Jones in sets for court masques and in new buildings such as the banqueting hall at Whitehall, the site for many such masques. An early court entertainment, Jonson's Masque of Blackness (1605), represented James as a sun king....On the political side, the central issue became the location of sovereign power in the state....

From the Norton site, an illustration (of Adam) from the 1688 folio edition of Paradise Lost



An engraving from a satire that portrayed Milton as the founder of a sect of "Miltonists" or "Divorcers":

A glimpse of angels

The Hebrew word for Angel is mala'ak. See here a list of angel appearances in the Old Testament.

The Catholic Encyclopedia entry on "Angels" builds on the Hebraic Tradition and the New Testament, and adds input from Church Fathers. On the question of evil angels:

The distinction of good and bad angels constantly appears in the Bible, but it is instructive to note that there is no sign of any dualism or conflict between two equal principles, one good and the other evil. The conflict depicted is rather that waged on earth between the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of the Evil One, but the latter's inferiority is always supposed. The existence, then, of this inferior, and thereforecreated, spirit, has to be explained.

There are also multiple traditions regarding the ranks of angels. Here from the same entry:

We know on the authority of Scripture that there are nine orders of angels, viz., Angels, Archangels, Virtues, Powers, Principalities, Dominations, Throne, Cherubim and Seraphim. That there are Angels and Archangels nearly every page of the Bible tell us, and the books of the Prophets talk of Cherubim and Seraphim. St. Paul, too, writing to the Ephesians enumerates four orders when he says: 'above all Principality, and Power, and Virtue, and Domination'; and again, writing to the Colossians he says: 'whether Thrones, or Dominations, or Principalities, or Powers'. If we now join these two lists together we have five Orders, and adding Angels and Archangels, Cherubim and Seraphim, we find nine Orders of Angels.

The angelogical lore in the Hebrew tradition is vast -- see for an idea of its scope, this site from the Jewish Encyclopedia. It also has a table of the chief angels and their responsibilities.

Another look at angels is found at Bible.org, which seems to be of Protestant provenance. The site cites Psalm 148 in support of the fact that the angels were created:

1 Praise ye the LORD.

Praise ye the LORD from the heavens:

praise him in the heights.

2 Praise ye him, all his angels:

praise ye him, all his hosts.

3 Praise ye him, sun and moon:

praise him, all ye stars of light.

4 Praise him, ye heavens of heavens,

and ye waters that be above the heavens.

5 Let them praise the name of the LORD:

for he commanded, and they were created.

Of course Wikipedia also has a wide-ranging entry on Angels.

Satan in Job and elsewhere in the Bible

Wikipedia has a fairly detailed article on Satan.

In the book of Job (Iyov), ha-satan is the title of an angel submitted to God. In Judaism ha-satan does not make evil, rather points out to God the evil inclinations and actions of humankind. In essence ha-satan has no power unless humans do evil things. After God points out Job's piety, ha-satan asks for permission to test the faith of Job. The righteous man is afflicted with loss of family, property, and later, health, but he still stays faithful to God. At the conclusion of this book God appears as a whirlwind, explaining to all that divine justice is inscrutable. In the epilogue Job's possessions are restored and he has a second family to replace the one that died.

H7854
שׂטן
שָׂטָן ‎ śâṭân
saw-tawn‘
From 7853 an opponent; especially (with the article prefixed) Satan, the arch enemy of good: - adversary, Satan, withstand.

Here's the first entrance of Satan in Job 1:7 ff:

[6] Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them.

[7] And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.

[8] And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?

[9] Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought?

[10] Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.

[11] But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.

[12] And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD.

For a list of other appearances of the name Satan in the Old and New Testaments, click here.

Hints of the War in Heaven

The Scriptural basis for the war in heaven is - you guessed it - Revelation. Before that, there is very little deviltry in the Bible.

Here are a few mentions: Isaiah 14: 12-20:

12: How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
13: For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
14: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
15: Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.
16: They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms;
17: That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners?
18: All the kings of the nations, even all of them, lie in glory, every one in his own house.
19: But thou art cast out of thy grave like an abominable branch, and as the raiment of those that are slain, thrust through with a sword, that go down to the stones of the pit; as a carcase trodden under feet.
20: Thou shalt not be joined with them in burial, because thou hast destroyed thy land, and slain thy people: the seed of evildoers shall never be renowned.

Isaiah uses a Hebrew word that means "morning star," which was translated into Greek as ἑωσφόρος, which in Latin and English became "Lucifer":

H1966
הילל
הֵילֵל ‎ hêylêl
hay-lale‘
From 1984 (in the sense of brightness); the morning star: - lucifer.

In Luke 10:18 we find Jesus saying:

18 And¹¹⁶¹ he said²⁰³⁶ unto them,⁸⁴⁶ I beheld²³³⁴ Satan⁴⁵⁶⁷ as⁵⁶¹³ lightning⁷⁹⁶ fall⁴⁰⁹⁸ from¹⁵³⁷heaven.³⁷⁷²

The Greek is σατανᾶν, the Latin is Satanam.

Another passage sometimes cited is in Ezekiel 28:14 - 19:

14 Thou⁸⁵⁹ art the anointed⁴⁴⁷³ cherub³⁷⁴² that covereth;⁵⁵²⁶ and I have set⁵⁴¹⁴ thee so: thou wast¹⁹⁶¹ upon the holy⁶⁹⁴⁴ mountain²⁰²² of God;⁴³⁰ thou hast walked up and down¹⁹⁸⁰ in the midst⁸⁴³² of the stones⁶⁸ of fire.⁷⁸⁴

15 Thou⁸⁵⁹ wast perfect⁸⁵⁴⁹ in thy ways¹⁸⁷⁰ from the day^{4480 3117} that thou wast created,¹²⁵⁴till⁵⁷⁰⁴ iniquity⁵⁷⁶⁶ was found⁴⁶⁷² in thee.

16 By the multitude⁷²³⁰ of thy merchandise⁷⁴⁰⁴ they have filled⁴³⁹⁰ the midst⁸⁴³² of thee with violence,²⁵⁵⁵ and thou hast sinned:²³⁹⁸ therefore I will cast thee as profane²⁴⁹⁰ out of the mountain^{4480 2022} of God:⁴³⁰ and I will destroy⁶ thee, O covering⁵⁵²⁶ cherub,³⁷⁴² from the midst^{4480 8432} of the stones⁶⁸ of fire.⁷⁸⁴

17 Thine heart³⁸²⁰ was lifted up¹³⁶¹ because of thy beauty,³³⁰⁸ thou hast corrupted⁷⁸⁴³ thy wisdom²⁴⁵¹ by reason of⁵⁹²¹ thy brightness:³³¹⁴ I will cast⁷⁹⁹³ thee to⁵⁹²¹ the ground,⁷⁷⁶ I will lay⁵⁴¹⁴ thee before⁶⁴⁴⁰ kings,⁴⁴²⁸ that they may behold⁷²⁰⁰ thee.

18 Thou hast defiled²⁴⁹⁰ thy sanctuaries⁴⁷²⁰ by the multitude^{4480 7230} of thine iniquities,⁵⁷⁷¹ by the iniquity⁵⁷⁶⁶ of thy traffic;⁷⁴⁰⁴ therefore will I bring forth³³¹⁸ a fire⁷⁸⁴ from the midst^{4480 8432} of thee, it¹⁹³¹ shall devour³⁹⁸ thee, and I will bring⁵⁴¹⁴ thee to ashes⁶⁶⁵ upon⁵⁹²¹ the earth⁷⁷⁶ in the sight⁵⁸⁶⁹ of all³⁶⁰⁵ them that behold⁷²⁰⁰ thee.

19 All³⁶⁰⁵ they that know³⁰⁴⁵ thee among the people⁵⁹⁷¹ shall be astonished⁸⁰⁷⁴ at⁵⁹²¹ thee: thou shalt be¹⁹⁶¹ a terror,¹⁰⁹¹ and never³⁶⁹ shalt thou be any more.^{5704 5769}

The word "cherub" is from the Hebrew, and is constant through all four languages:

H3742
כּרוּב
כְּרוּב ‎ k^erûb
ker-oob‘
Of uncertain derivation; a cherub or imaginary figure: - cherub, [plural] cherubims.

The source of the "war in heaven" as a dramatic scene is Rev. 12:7-12:

7 And²⁵³² there was¹⁰⁹⁶ war⁴¹⁷¹ in¹⁷²² heaven:³⁷⁷² Michael³⁴¹³ and²⁵³² his⁸⁴⁸ angels³²fought⁴¹⁷⁰ against²⁵⁹⁶ the³⁵⁸⁸ dragon;¹⁴⁰⁴ and²⁵³² the³⁵⁸⁸ dragon¹⁴⁰⁴ fought⁴¹⁷⁰ and²⁵³²his⁸⁴⁸ angels,³²

8 And²⁵³² prevailed²⁴⁸⁰ not;³⁷⁵⁶ neither³⁷⁷⁷ was their⁸⁴⁸ place⁵¹¹⁷ found²¹⁴⁷ any more²⁰⁸⁹in¹⁷²² heaven.³⁷⁷²

9 And²⁵³² the³⁵⁸⁸ great³¹⁷³ dragon¹⁴⁰⁴ was cast out,⁹⁰⁶ that old⁷⁴⁴ serpent,³⁷⁸⁹ called²⁵⁶⁴the Devil,¹²²⁸ and²⁵³² Satan,⁴⁵⁶⁷ which deceiveth⁴¹⁰⁵ the³⁵⁸⁸ whole³⁶⁵⁰ world:³⁶²⁵ he was cast out⁹⁰⁶ into¹⁵¹⁹ the³⁵⁸⁸ earth,¹⁰⁹³ and²⁵³² his⁸⁴⁸ angels³² were cast out⁹⁰⁶ with³³²⁶him.⁸⁴⁶

10 And²⁵³² I heard¹⁹¹ a loud³¹⁷³ voice⁵⁴⁵⁶ saying³⁰⁰⁴ in¹⁷²² heaven,³⁷⁷² Now⁷³⁷ is come¹⁰⁹⁶ salvation,⁴⁹⁹¹ and²⁵³² strength,¹⁴¹¹ and²⁵³² the³⁵⁸⁸ kingdom⁹³² of our²²⁵⁷ God,²³¹⁶and²⁵³² the³⁵⁸⁸ power¹⁸⁴⁹ of his⁸⁴⁸ Christ:⁵⁵⁴⁷ for³⁷⁵⁴ the³⁵⁸⁸ accuser²⁷²⁵ of our²²⁵⁷brethren⁸⁰ is cast down,²⁵⁹⁸ which accused²⁷²³ them⁸⁴⁶ before¹⁷⁹⁹ our²²⁵⁷ God²³¹⁶ day²²⁵⁰and²⁵³² night.³⁵⁷¹

11 And²⁵³² they⁸⁴⁶ overcame³⁵²⁸ him⁸⁴⁶ by¹²²³ the³⁵⁸⁸ blood¹²⁹ of the³⁵⁸⁸ Lamb,⁷²¹and²⁵³² by¹²²³ the³⁵⁸⁸ word³⁰⁵⁶ of their⁸⁴⁸ testimony;³¹⁴¹ and²⁵³² they loved²⁵ not³⁷⁵⁶their⁸⁴⁸ lives⁵⁵⁹⁰ unto⁸⁹¹ the death.²²⁸⁸

12 Therefore^{1223 5124} rejoice,²¹⁶⁵ ye heavens,³⁷⁷² and²⁵³² ye that dwell⁴⁶³⁷ in¹⁷²² them.⁸⁴⁶Woe³⁷⁵⁹ to the³⁵⁸⁸ inhabitants²⁷³⁰ of the³⁵⁸⁸ earth¹⁰⁹³ and²⁵³² of the³⁵⁸⁸ sea!²²⁸¹ for³⁷⁵⁴the³⁵⁸⁸ devil¹²²⁸ is come down²⁵⁹⁷ unto⁴³¹⁴ you,⁵²⁰⁹ having²¹⁹² great³¹⁷³ wrath,²³⁷² because he knoweth¹⁴⁹² that³⁷⁵⁴ he hath²¹⁹² but a short³⁶⁴¹ time.²⁵⁴⁰

According to the Polyglot Bible, Satan's name is of Chaldee origin:

G4567
Σατανᾶς
Satanas
sat-an-as‘
Of Chaldee origin corresponding to 4566 (with the definite article affixed); the accuser, that is, the devil: - Satan.

More on the War in heaven from Wikipedia is here.

Blake's Milton

A friend recently went to the Blake exhibit at the Morgan Library, and happened to mention that there were several of Blake's images inspired by L'Allegro and Il Penseroso, which occasioned envy in this blogger's soul. Here are two:

Mirth

Melancholy