Page images
PDF
EPUB
[graphic][subsumed][merged small]
[graphic]

And meek surrender, half embracing lean'd
On our first father; half her swelling breast
Naked met his under the flowing gold
Of her loose tresses hid: he in delight,
Both of her beauty and submissive charms,
Smiled with superior love, as Jupiter

495

On Juno smiles when he impregns the clouds

500

That shed May flow'rs; and press'd her matron lip
With kisses pure. Aside the Devil turn'd

For envy, yet with jealous leer malign

Eyed them askance, and to himself thus 'plain'd:

Sight hateful! sight tormenting! thus these two, Imparadised in one another's arms,

505

The happier Eden, shall enjoy their fill

Of bliss on bliss; while I to Hell am thrust,

Where neither joy nor love, but fierce desire,

Among our other torments not the least,
Still unfulfill'd with pain of longing, pines.

510

Yet let me not forget what I have gain'd

From their own mouths: all is not theirs, it seems;
One fatal tree there stands, of Knowledge call'd,
Forbidden them to taste: Knowledge forbidden?

515

The poet adds that the devil turned away, with envy at the sight of so much happiness.-A.

499-501. Jupiter and Juno, the principal male and female divinities of the heathen, are regarded sometimes as presiding over atmospheric phenomena, such as rain, wind, &c., and also as representing the productive energies of nature. Their marriage typified the union of Heaven and Earth in the fertilizing rains. The poet here ascribes to them the sending of those rains which produced the flowers of spring. The simile is drawn by Milton from the 14th book of the Iliad, and from the Georgics of Virgil, ii. 335. Pressed: That is, Adam pressed her matron (married) lip.

500. Impregns: Renders prolific. The word is pronounced impranes.

503. Leer malign: A malignant, oblique look.

505. Imparadised: Enjoying a Paradise, placed in a condition resembling that of Paradise.

509. Where, for where's. Milton not unfrequently omits the verb is, as in VIII. 621.

515. Knowledge forbidden: A most artful question from its generality, im

Suspicious, reasonless. Why should their Lord
Envy them that? Can it be sin to know?
Can it be death? And do they only stand
By ignorance? Is that their happy state,
The proof of their obedience and their faith?
O fair foundation laid whereon to build
Their ruin! Hence I will excite their minds
With more desire to know, and to reject
Envious commands, invented with design
To keep them low whom knowledge might exalt
Equal with Gods: aspiring to be such,
They taste and die. What likelier can ensue ?
But first with narrow search I must walk round
This garden, and no corner leave unspy'd :
A chance but chance may lead where I may meet

520

525

330

Some wand'ring Spirit of Heav'n by fountain side,

Or in thick shade retired, from him to draw

What further would be learn'd. Live while ye may,

Yet happy pair; enjoy, till I return,

Short pleasures, for long woes are to succeed.

535

So saying, his proud step he scornful turn'd,

But with sly circumspection, and began

Thro' wood, thro' waste, o'er hill, o'er dale, his roam.

Meanwhile in utmost longitude, where Heav'n

With earth and ocean meets, the setting Sun

540

plying, falsely, that some useful knowledge had been forbidden, whereas, as Newton observes, the only knowledge that was prohibited was the knowledge of evil by the commission of it.

530. A chance, &c.: Pearce would include in a parenthesis (but chance), and thus read the passage: a chance, and it can be only a chance, may lead, &r. But perhaps it is best to read it without alteration, and interpret it thus:There is a chance, or possibility, that chance may lead, &c. Chance in the second instance is personified. We apply the word to effects or events that are produced by causes unknown, or by agents not intending to produce them. The word but is used improperly for that, as in Job xii. 2, “No doubt but ye are the people," &c. Addison abounds in the same faulty use of this word, as for example: "There is no question but Milton had," &c.

539. Longitude: Length or distance, particularly east and west. See note III. 555, 574.

« PreviousContinue »