ghostbetweenpages commented on Paradise Lost (Norton Critical Editions) by John Milton
Paradise Lost is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John β¦
I really like the start of the chapter - I mean, I like all the parts where Milton invokes his muse!
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IMPORTANT: ode to an ant spotted!!!
The parsimonious emmet, provident Of future, in small room large heart enclosed, Pattern of just equality perhaps Hereafter, joined in her popular tribes Of commonalty
In small room large heart enclosed... Wikipedia has no information on whether this is How Ants Were Thought Of in Milton's era or whether Milton just really loved ants ππ
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The serpent, subtlest beast of all the field, Of huge extent sometimes with brazen eyes And hairy mane terrific
...Hairy-maned snake? Milton, what. The footnotes do say "See Aeneid 2.206-7", which is "Two serpents, rank'd abreast, the seas divide, / And smoothly sweep along the swelling tide." (trans. John Dryden). This doesn't help with the hairy mane?!
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Does the Bible say why God didn't β¦
I really like the start of the chapter - I mean, I like all the parts where Milton invokes his muse!
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IMPORTANT: ode to an ant spotted!!!
The parsimonious emmet, provident Of future, in small room large heart enclosed, Pattern of just equality perhaps Hereafter, joined in her popular tribes Of commonalty
In small room large heart enclosed... Wikipedia has no information on whether this is How Ants Were Thought Of in Milton's era or whether Milton just really loved ants ππ
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The serpent, subtlest beast of all the field, Of huge extent sometimes with brazen eyes And hairy mane terrific
...Hairy-maned snake? Milton, what. The footnotes do say "See Aeneid 2.206-7", which is "Two serpents, rank'd abreast, the seas divide, / And smoothly sweep along the swelling tide." (trans. John Dryden). This doesn't help with the hairy mane?!
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Does the Bible say why God didn't want humans to know about good and evil? Was it a "if you know about evil, you will do evil" thing? Perhaps this will be answered later in PL.
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More Frankenquotes:
But knowledge is as food and needs no less Her temperance over appetite to know In measure what the mind may well contain, Oppresses else with surfeit and soon turns Wisdom to folly as nourishment to wind.
Cf. Frankenstein ch. 4:
I do not think that the pursuit of knowledge is an exception to this rule. If the study to which you apply yourself has a tendency to weaken your affections and to destroy your taste for those simple pleasures in which no alloy can possibly mix, then that study is certainly unlawful, that is to say, not befitting the human mind.
(I think there are almost certainly Frankenquotes which match up slightly better, but I don't want to read through all the bits addressing Robert to look for one.)
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Thrice happy men And sons of men whom God hath thus advanced, Created in His image there to dwell And worship Him and in reward to rule Over his works on earth, in sea, or air, And multiply a race of worshippers Holy and just! Thrice happy if they know Their happiness and persevere upright!
Cf. from Frankenstein ch. 4:
A new species would bless me as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me. No father could claim the gratitude of his child so completely as I should deserve theirs.
I would assume this desire showed in the notes he made while creating the Creature.
(All quotes from Frankenstein are from the 1831 edition)
