Or hear'st thou rather1 pure ethereal stream, 2 Escaped the Stygian pool; though long detained Through utter3 and through middle darkness borne, I sung of Chaos and eternal Night; Taught by the heavenly Muse to venture down 1 Or hear'st thou rather—a pure Latinism-dost thou delight rather to be called? 2 Escaped the Stygian pool, &c.-i.e. having escaped from describing the burning lake in the first book, and chaos and night in the second book. 3 Through utter, &c.—i.e. Through hell, and the great gulf between heaven and hell. 4 Hard and rare-difficult and seldom achieved. 5 Drop serene, &c.-in reference to the gutta serena, "drop serene," and cataract. 6 Brooks-Kedron and Siloa. 7 Nor sometimes forget―i. e. sometimes remember; nor being here, in imitation of the Latin idiom, equivalent to, and not. 8 Those other two-Milton speaks of two and then names four.-Newton's explanation is, "Though he mentions four, yet there are two whom he particularly desires to resemble; and those he distinguishes both with the epithet 'blind,' to make the likeness more striking." He adds, "It seems therefore as if Milton had intended at first to mention only these two, and then currente calamo had added the two others." So were I equalled with them in renown, Of Nature's works, to me expunged and rased, SATAN'S MEETING WITH URIEL IN THE SUN." HE SOON 4 Saw within ken a glorious angel stand, Circled his head; nor less his locks behind Lay waving round; on some great charge employed 1 Mæonides-Homer, so called from Mæonia, the supposed place of his birth. 2 And Tiresias, &c.-Dr. Pearce proposes to correct the false accent in this line, by making" Tiresias" and "Phineus" change places. 3 And wisdom, &c.-i. e. and presented with wisdom, enfeebled and disparaged. 4 "The figures introduced here," remarks Hazlitt, "have all the elegance and drecision of a Greek statue; glossy and impurpled, tinged with golden light." 5 John saw" And I saw an angel standing in the sun :" Rev. xix, 17. Tiar-tiard, or diadem-the ornamental head-dress of the Eastern princes. Illustrious-bright, glossy. 6 7 8 Fledge-for fledged-able to fly. Glad was the Spirit impure, as now in hope His journey's end, and our beginning woe.1 In curls on either cheek played; wings he wore He drew not nigh unheard; the angel bright, Who in God's presence, nearest to his throne, That run through all the heavens, or down to th' earth O'er sea and land. SATAN'S ADDRESS TO THE SUN.8 Abridged. O THOU! that, with surpassing glory crowned, 1 Our beginning woe-the first cause of woe to us. 2 Casts-casts in his mind, contrives a plan. 3 Stripling cherub, &c.—“A finer picture of a young angel," says Newton, "could not be drawn by the pencil of Raphael, than is here by the pen of Milton." 4 Prime-first or highest dignity. 5 His habit, &c.-i. e. His robe was girded up for freedom of action; he was prepared for motion. 6 Decent-as the Latin decens, graceful, comely. 7 His eyes, &c.-"Those seven, they are the eyes of the Lord, which run to and fro through the whole earth:" Zech. iv, 10. 8 "The opening of this speech to the Sun," says Addison, "is very bold and noble. It is, I think, the finest ascribed to Satan in the whole poem." The consummate skill too with which the poet describes the conflict of passions in the mind of Satan, is noticed by the same judicious writer. Of this new world; at whose sight all the stars In that bright eminence, and with his good Then happy; no unbounded hope had raised Or from without, to all temptations armed. Hadst thou the same free will and power to stand? This new world-Satan is now alighted on earth, and from the top of Mount Niphates thus addresses the sun, which "sat high in his meridian tower." The ruined archangel, the mighty orb of day, the lone mountainsummit, each the greatest of its kind, present in their combination, a magnificent picture. 2 Worse ambition-worse, because it led to daring impiety and its retribution. 3 What could be, &c.-i. e. what service could be less hard, &c. 4 I'sdained-disdained. 5 So burdensome, &c.-i. e. it being so burdensome, &c. Be then his love accursed, since love or hate, Nay, cursed be thou; since against his thy will PARADISE.1 So on he fares,2 and to the border comes Cedar, and pine, and fir, and branching palm, Of stateliest view. Yet higher than their tops 1 This beautiful description has been compared with the finest specimens of the same kind, as Homer's description of the gardens of Alcinous, and of Calypso's shady grotto, Ariosto's of the garden of Paradise, Tasso's of the garden of Armida, and Marino's of the garden of Venus, and though doubtless a general imitation of some of them, is thought greatly to exceed them all. In reference to Milton's power of delineating external scenery, Mr. Macaulay remarks, (Edin. Rev., vol. xlii,) "Neither Theocritus nor Ariosto had a finer or a more healthful sense of the pleasantness of external objects, or loved better to luxuriate amidst sunbeams and flowers, the song of nightingales, the juice of summer fruits, and the coolness of shady fountains. His poetry reminds us of the miracles of Alpine scenery. Nooks and dells, beautiful as fairy land, are embosomed in its most rugged and gigantic elevations. The roses and myrtles bloom unchilled on the verge of the avalanche." 2 Fares-from the Anglo-Saxon far-an, to go-goes. We have the same element in "thoroughfare"-i. e. through-go. 3 Champaign head, &c.-open top or table land of a steep hill, whose rough and prickly sides were covered with a wild growth of thickets and bushes. 4 Overhead, &c.-i. e. overhead above these thickets, on the side of the hill likewise, grew the loftiest trees rising one above another like the seats of an amphitheatre. |