The Complete Poems (Penguin Classics)

by John Milton

  254. orb circle (OED 1).

  255. adamant a mythical substance of impenetrable hardness, usually identified with diamond or steel. M. here imagines it to be a metal folded back on itself ten times (tenfold).

  259. Intestine war civil war.

  262–3. evil… Unnamed Contrast Adam’s statement that ‘Evil into the mind of god or man / May come and go’ (v 117–19). Michael speaks as one who has been a complete stranger to evil.

  272. casts throws and vomits (OED 25).

  274. Brooks endures, ‘stomachs’ (OED 3).

  282. Adversary translates ‘Satan’.

  284–8. Hast… hence ’Have you turned the weakest of my host to flight, or to fall, but that they rise unconquered? And do you think that I am easier to deal (transact) with than they are? Are you so imperious as to try to chase me away with threats?’

  288. Err not Don’t imagine.

  296. parle parley.

  addressed made ready (OED 3a).

  305. two broad suns Cp. Euripides, The Bacchae 918 and Virgil, Aen. iv 470. When Pentheus denied Dionysus’s divinity, he was maddened and lured to his destruction by a vision of two suns blazing in the heavens.

  306. Expectation personifying the other angels’ apprehension. Cp. Shakespeare, Troilus and Cressida Prol., and Henry V II Prol.: ‘now sits Expectation in the air’.

  311. Great things by small See ii 921–2n.

  broke broken.

  313–14. aspéct… opposition astrological terms denoting the relative position of the heavenly bodies. Two planets were in ‘opposition’ when they occupied opposite signs. Their influence on men was then malign.

  315. jarring spheres confound refers both to physically colliding planets (313) and discordant celestial music. Jarring means ‘striking’ and ‘out of tune’, spheres means ‘planets’ (OED 10b) and ‘music of the spheres’ (OED 2b), confound means ’smash’ (OED 1d) and ‘throw into confusion’. Cp. x 412–14.

  318. determine decide the matter.

  need repeat need to be repeated.

  319. As not of power since it would be impossible to repeat such a blow.

  at once refers back to determine.

  320. prevention anticipation.

  321. armoury of God Cp. Jer. 50. 25: ‘The Lord hath opened his armoury, and hath brought forth the weapons of his indignation’.

  325. in half cut sheer ’Overgoing Virgil: Turnus’ sword merely shatters in fragments’ (Fowler). See Aen. xii 741.

  326. shared cut into parts, cut off (OED).

  328. convolved *contorted (OED 3). The older sense ‘coiled’ (OED 2) anticipates Satan’s serpent metamorphosis (x 504f.).

  329. *griding cutting keenly (earliest participial instance).

  *discontinuous gaping (OED 1).

  332. nectarous humour Cp. the divine ichor that flows from Aphrodite’s hand when Diomedes wounds her. Homer explains that the gods have no blood, for they do not eat food or drink wine (Il. v 339–42). M.’s angels (who drink nectar) bleed nectarous fluid (humour). Sanguine means ‘blood-red’ (OED 1), but also suggests the sanguine humour which in Renaissance physiology gave rise to courage. Thus Satan’s loss of this humour implies a loss of morale.

  344. Yet soon he healed Cp. Pope’s parody: ‘But airy substance soon unites again’ (The Rape of the Lock iii 152).

  346. reins kidneys.

  352. *limb provide themselves with limbs (OED v 2, sole instance).

  353. likes pleases.

  condense or rare dense or airy.

  355. the might of Gabriel the mighty Gabriel (Homeric diction); Gabriel means ‘Strength of God’.

  356. ensigns either ‘standard bearers’ (OED 7) or ‘companies serving under one standard’ (OED 6). As many as 500 men might serve in an ‘ensign’.

  357. Moloch The name is not supposed to exist until after man’s Fall (see i 364–5). Raphael might foreknow the names of future devils (cp. xii 140), but to name them here implies the failure of his mission. He had withheld ‘Beëlzebub’ from book v (see v 671n), but now allows many devils’ names to infiltrate book vi. See below, 371–85n.

  359–60. Holy One… blasphémous Cp. II Kings 19. 22: ‘Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed…? the Holy One of Israel’.

  360. Refrained from Latin refrenare, ‘to bridle’. The early spelling ‘refreined’ (Ed I, Ed II) might pun on ‘reins’. Notice chariot (358). Moloch’s tongue runs away with him.

  362. uncouth unfamiliar (OED 2), unpleasant (OED 4).

  bellowing Cp. Ares bellowing when Diomedes wounds him (Homer, Il. v 860). Moloch’s bellowing is also ‘typical of a bull god’ (Flannagan).

  365. Adramelech ‘King of fire’, a Sepharvite god worshipped at Samaria with human sacrifice (II Kings 17. 31).

  Asmadai Asmodeus (‘creature of judgement’), a Persian god who will encounter Raphael again (see iv 167–71).

  369. annoy injure.

  370. atheist *impious (OED B).

  371–85. Ariel (‘lion of God’), Arioch (‘lion-like’), and Ramiel (‘thunder of God’) are devils, but Raphael might be naming their Cancelled angelic names. All three names had been used of good as well as bad angels in pseudepigraphal, rabbinical and demonological texts. See Harris Fletcher, Milton’s Rabbinical Readings (1930) 268–79 and R. H. West, SP 47 (1950) 211–23 (PP. 215–17). The names are troubling however we take them. Raphael should not name Cancelled angelic names (see i 362, v 659), but he cannot name devils without presupposing man’s Fall (see above, 357n).

  379. Cancelled blotted out (OED 3a). Cp. i 362, v 658.

  382. Illaudable unworthy of praise.

  383. ignominy including ‘namelessness’ (Latin in, ‘not’ + nomen, ‘name’).

  386. battle army (OED 8).

  swerved gave way (OED 4).

  391. what stood those who resisted.

  392. *Satanic.

  393. Defensive scarce scarcely able to defend themselves.

  399. cubic phalanx See i 550n. Angels might fly in a cube formation. The cube symbolized ‘virtue and stability’ (Fowler). Contrast the rebels’ ‘hollow cube’ (vi 552).

  entire unwearied (OED 4e), with unbroken ranks (OED 5b), honest, upright (OED 9).

  404. unobnoxious not liable (OED 1).

  407. Inducing drawing, overspreading (OED 7).

  411. prevalent victorious.

  413. Cherubic… fires overgoing Homer (Il. viii 553f.), where the victorious Trojans merely attend camp-fires.

  415. dislodged shifted his quarters (OED 1b, military term).

  416. Potentates either ‘leaders’ or a synecdoche for all angelic orders.

  416. council called by night Nocturnal councils in which a defeated army recovers its morale are frequent in epic. See e.g. Homer, Il. ix passim, xix 243–314, and Virgil, Aen. ix 224–313.

  421. mean pretence… affect modest ambition… aspire to. But M.’s voice behind Satan plays on ‘base pretext… assume a false appearance of’.

  429. Of future In the future.

  430. Omniscient ‘Omnipotent’ would better suit the context, but Satan is mocking God. A God who knows about Satan’s plans might still be powerless to thwart them.

  432. known as soon contemned no sooner known than despised.

  438. valid strong, powerful (OED 3).

  440. worse injure (OED 2) and worst, get the better of.

  444. sound unaffected by injury (OED a 2) and search into.

  447. Nisroch an Assyrian god (II Kings 19. 37). According to Stephanus’s Dictionary (1621), the Hebrew name means ‘Flight’ or ‘Delicate temptation’. See Dewitt T. Starnes and Ernest William Talbert, Classical Myth and Legend in Renaissance Dictionaries (1955), 268.

  455. *impassive not feeling pain (OED 1), from the theological term ‘impassible’.

  456–7. avails / Valour Both words are from Latin valere, ‘to be worth, or strong’, so Nisroch ‘sharply implies that valour ceases to be itself when…’ (Ricks).

  458. remiss slack, weak.
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br />   464. He who whoever (hinting that Nisroch might seek a new leader).

  invent Nisroch means ‘plan’ (OED 2a), as in ‘a plot invented… by Cacodaemons’ (1641), but the technological sense existed and Satan plays upon it in line 470 when he announces his invention of gunpowder.

  465. offend attack (OED 5), injure (OED 6).

  467. to me in my opinion.

  471. main highly important.

  472–81. Which… light The sun was thought to generate precious metals and gems within the earth. Cp. iii 608–12 and A Masque 732–6.

  473. *ethereous ‘a new word for a new way of looking at matter as instinct not with heavenly spirit but with chemical power’ – James Mengert in MS 14 (1980), 95–115 (108). The usual word is ‘ethereal’.

  477. mind give heed to.

  478. crude raw, unripe.

  479. spiritous refined (OED 1).

  spume frothy matter produced in the refining of metals.

  479–81. touched… light Svendsen (119) notes how the images (touched, tempered, shoot, opening) anticipate the invention of gunpowder.

  483. infernal flame Satan means ‘fire from underground’, but M.’s voice behind him anticipates Hell-fire.

  484. engines machines of war (OED 5a). The diabolic invention of gunpowder has many epic precedents. Cp. Ariosto, Orl. Fur. ix 28f., ix 91, xi 21–8, Spenser, FQ I vii 13, Daniel, Civil Wars (1609) vi 26–7. Erasmo di Valvasone had introduced the invention of artillery into his angelic war in L’Angeleida (1590). See Kirkconnell (81). Notice that Raphael never names Satan’s weapons as ‘cannon’. Cp. Orl. Fur. ix 28–9, where the innocent Olimpia describes ‘a strange new weapon’ without naming it. Ariosto in his own voice later names many kinds of artillery (Orl. Fur. xi 24–5). Our perspective is that of Ariosto; Adam’s is that of Olimpia.

  485. other bore the touch-hole.

  touch contact (with fire) and touch-powder (gunpowder over the touch-hole). The same pun recurs at vi 520, 566, 584.

  486. *infuriate raging.

  488. implements playing on Latin implementum, ‘a filling up’.

  489. To pieces to confusion (OED ic) and ‘to smithereens’.

  491. only unique, peerless (OED 5).

  496. cheer mood, spirits.

  498. admired marvelled at.

  504. machination both ‘plotting’ and ‘mechanical appliance for war’ (OED 4).

  511. originals original elements (OED 6a).

  512. nitrous foam saltpetre (an ingredient in gunpowder).

  514. Concocted and adusted heated and dried up (alchemical terms).

  518. found cast (in a foundry).

  519. missive missile (adj.).

  incentive reed kindling match.

  520. pernicious destructive (OED a1, from Latin perniciosus) and swift (OED a2, from Latin pernix).

  521. conscious privy to (OED 2) and guilty (OED 4b). Night is personified as an accomplice.

  535. Zophiel Hebrew ‘Spy of God’. The name is not biblical, but it appears in The Zohar where Zophiel is one of two angelic chieftains under Michael (Numbers 154a).

  536. *in mid air earliest instance of ‘mid air’ and ‘in mid air’ (OED). Cp. ii 718, iv 940.

  541. Sad steadfast, firm (OED 2).

  secure confident.

  545. conjecture prognosticate, gather from signs (OED 1).

  548. impediment military baggage (OED 3).

  549. Instant without disturb urgent without panic.

  took alarm took up arms.

  550. embattled drawn up in battle formation.

  553. Training hauling.

  enginery artillery.

  impaled surrounded for defence (OED 1c, military term).

  555. At interview in mutual view (OED 2).

  560. composure settlement of disputes (OED 4) and constructing (OED 1) of weapons. See also 613n, below.

  breast heart (OED 5a) and broad front of a moving company (OED 7). Peace might contain a pun on ‘piece’ meaning ‘cannon’ (OED 11).

  562. overture opening of negotiations (OED 3) and aperture, hole (OED 1) – the cannons’ ‘hideous orifice’ (577). There may be a further pun on ‘overthrow’ (OED 8) referring both to the previous day’s defeat and the expected victory.

  perverse peevish (OED 3), with a pun on Latin perversus, ‘turned the wrong way’ (turn not back).

  564–6. discharge… charge ‘perform our duty’ and ‘discharge our explosives’.

  567. propound There may be a pun on ‘pound’ meaning ‘fire heavy shot (OED v1 4a), but OED has no instance before 1815. ‘Crush by beating, pulverize’ (OED 1) was current.

  568. ambiguous words Satan’s puns may cause us to groan, but they are not at first obvious to the good angels who have never heard of artillery.

  572. triple-mounted either ‘arranged in three rows’ (see 605, 650) or ‘having three barrels mounted on one stock’. M. may be thinking of the kind of ordnance called ‘organs’ or orgues, which could fire several barrels at once.

  576. mould moulded out of (Brass, etc.).

  578. hollow insincere – with a pun on hollowed cannon (574).

  580. suspense cautious (OED 3), in suspense.

  581. amused including the military sense: ‘divert the attention of the enemy from one’s real designs’ (OED 5).

  586–9. deep-throated… disgorging Cp. the scatological body-landscape of Hell (eg: i 230–37, 670–74).

  587. Embowelled disembowelled (OED 2), or filled the bowels (OED 3) to breaking point (entrails tore).

  589. chained The devils are using chain-shot, linked cannonballs capable of felling whole ranks.

  594. Angel on Archangel rolled Angels are the lowest, and Archangels the second lowest, order in Pseudo-Dionysius’s hierarchy. M. uses such titles freely, but the present line does imply some kind of hierarchy.

  597. quick contraction or remove See i 777–80 and iv 810–19 for the angels’ ability to change size.

  598. dissipation scattering, dispersal (OED 1).

  599. *serried pressed together, in close order.

  601. indecent shameful.

  605. posture position of a weapon in drill or warfare (OED 2b).

  *displode fire, discharge.

  tire volley (OED 3).

  611. entertain punning on the military sense ‘engage an enemy’ (OED 9c). Cp. v 690.

  open front candid face (OED ‘open’ 16, ‘front’ 3a) and divided front rank (OED ‘front’ 5a). See vi 569–70: ‘the front / Divided’. With open front implies ‘with open arms’, but also the now obsolete phrase ‘with open face’ meaning ‘brazenly’ (OED ‘open’ 5b), as in: ‘with open face… vent Blasphemies’ (1650).

  613. composition truce (OED 23b), with a possible pun on ‘chemical composition’ (gunpowder).

  614. vagáries frolics (OED 3a) and rambling from the subject under discussion (OED 2).

  615. As they would dance Cp. Aeneas’s taunt to Meriones in Homer, Il. xvi 617.

  619. result outcome of deliberations (OED 3a) and action of springing back to a former position (OED 1).

  620–27. Belial’s puns are obvious except for amused (see above, 581n), stumbled (‘nonplussed’ and ‘tripped up’), and understand (‘comprehend’ and ‘prop up’ OED 9).

  635. Rage prompted them Cp. Aen. i 150: furor arma ministrat, ‘rage supplies them with arms’. The allusion prepares for the Messiah’s entry, for Virgil is describing rioters who hurl stones until a noble man pacifies them.

  644–6. The hurling of hills as missiles recalls the war between the gods and Giants, which M. has already likened to the War in Heaven (cp. i 50, 197–200, 230–37). See esp. Claudian, Gigantomachia 70f.: ‘One giant brandishes Thessalian Oeta in his mighty hand, another gathers all his strength and hurls Pangaeus at the foe, Athos with his snows arms another; this one roots up Ossa, that tears out Rhodope…’ Cp. also Hesiod, Theog. 713–20 and Ovid, Met. i 151–62.

  646. amaze astonishment, panic (OED 3).

  654. Main of grea
t bulk (OED 3), formed of solid rock (OED 4b).

  655. oppressed crushed in battle (OED 1a).

  657. pent closely confined.

  664. hills… hills Cp. Tasso, Gerus. Lib. xvi 5: ‘hill gainst hill, and mount gainst mountaine smote’ (trans. Fairfax); also Virgil’s simile describing the ships at Actium (Aen. viii 692): montis concurrere montibus altos (‘high mountains clashed with mountains’).

  665. jaculation throwing.

  667. civil orderly, humane, refined, non-military (OED), with a pun on ‘Civil War’.

  668. To compared with.

  668–9. confusion… confusion Cp. ii 996: ‘Confusion worse confounded’. The war threatens to reduce Heaven to Chaos.

  671–3. Almighty Father… sum of things echoing Ovid, Met. ii 300, where Earth begs Jove, the pater omnnipotens, to place the public interest first (rerum consule summae) and kill Phaethon so as to save the world from conflagration.

  674. advised having considered (OED 1).

  677. declare manifest, show forth.

  679. Assessor *one who sits beside (OED 1).

  680. *Effulgence radiance.

  681–2. invisible… Visibly Cp. Col. 1. 15: ‘the image of the invisible God’.

  684. Second omnipotence Cp. John 5. 19: ‘The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do’. M. in CD i 5 cites this verse to show that the Son derives his power from the Father (YP 6. 266).

  692. Insensibly imperceptibly.

  698. main whole continent of Heaven.

  701. suffered permitted.

  709. unction anointing (iii 317, v 605).

  712. war *instruments of war (OED 6a).

  714. Gird… thigh Cp. Ps. 45. 3: ‘Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O most mighty’.

  728. well pleased Cp. Matt. 3. 17: ‘my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased’.

  731–2. resign… All in All See iii 341n.

  734. whom thou hat’st, I hate Cp. Ps. 139. 21: ‘Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee?’

  738. prepared ill mansion Hell. Contrast John 14. 2: ‘In my Father’s house are many mansions… I go to prepare a place for you’.

  739. th’ undying worm Mark 9. 44.

  744. Unfeignèd hallelujahs Cp. ‘forced hallelujahs’ (ii 243).

  748. sacred morn Cp. Homer, Il. xi 84.

  749–59. The Messiah’s living chariot, with its four-faced Cherubim, is taken from Ezekiel 1 and 10.