Paradise Lost. The epic features of the writing get in the way of Milton's story. Discuss.

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Sofia Thuru

The epic features of the writing get in the way of Milton’s vivid and dramatic story.

Milton wrote his epic poem “Paradise Lost” taking deliberately inspiration from the epic poems of Virgyl and Homer. As such, it has distingushable features of the epic genre, such as epic similes, an encyclopaedic scope and the characteristic use of blank verse as opposed to rhyming. These may lead critics to consider Milton’s work as having too many digressions from the main plot (a common fault of its Greek counterparts) and as being not very innovative. On the contrary, this essay will argue that Milton’s decision to approach such an old literary tradition by renewing it according to his contemporary religious and political ideas was extremely bold and, indeed, innovative. Milton’s subject-matter and poetic style are also extremely universal, and yet, they take nothing away from the dramatic story within the poem.    

As any respectable epic poem, ‘Paradise Lost’ follows certain conventions, such as having a wealthy amount of information about subjects as varied as religion, politics, astronomy and human psychology. The way this is usually done is through extensive lists and catalogs. Another, much more creative and engaging, way of doing it is through the use of epic similes. For instance, Milton compares the surface of hell to a volcanic landscape, with “liquid fire” and “dusky Air”. The comparison is certainly appropriate as it allows us to form a picture of an abstract concept, such as hell, starting from a concrete landscape of which we have knowledge. Milton stretches the simile by giving a detailed scientific explanation for the eruption of a vulcano which, at the time, was considered to be caused by a preceding earthquake (“subterranean wind”). While one can argue against the accuracy of such a describtion it is still remarkable the way Milton merges scientific information with poetic unity. The simile flows nicely and gains momentum with the comparison of the vulcano Etna erupting with a body “conceiving Fire”. The language of the passage is also greatly evocative. For instance, the image of “Mineral fury” gives us an idea of the power of the elements and also of the perennial intensity of Hell. Our senses in reading Hell are perturbed by strong visual images of earthquakes and eruptions but also by the “stench”, the “smoak” and the “weight” of the dust in the air. One can conclude that in this case Milton’s use of epic simile is successful as it adds greatly to the plot by enhancing our experience of the narrative. It also paints a vivid and dramatic picture of Hell.        

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A perhaps less successful epic simile is the one in which Milton compares Satan’s shield  to the “moon”. One the one hand, the comparison is appropriate given that Milton tries to portray Satan as a being that encompasses human proportions. However, the comparison is stretched less successfully and less vividly than that of Hell. Again, Milton gives his reader great, cutting-edge insight into modern astronomical theories. The idea of the presence of “new Lands” and orbs in the universe suggests that the earth is not, as commonly believed by Milton’s contmporaries, in the centre of it. For this simile ...

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