But in the Book of Job, Milton's Messiah is called Satan. For this history has been adopted by both parties. It indeed appeared to Reason as if Desire was cast out; but the Devil's account is that the Messiah fell, and formed a Heaven of what he stole from the Abyss. This is shown in the Gospel, where he prays to the Father to send the Comforter, or Desire, that Reason may have Ideas to build on; the Jehovah of the Bible being no other than he who dwells in flaming fire. Know that after Christ's death, he became Jehovah. But in Milton, the Father is Destiny, the Son a Ratio of the five senses and the Holy ghost Vacuum. Note. The reason Milton wrote in fetters when he wrote of angels and God, and at liberty when of Devils and Hell, is because he was a true poet and of the Devil's party without knowing it.17 This passage, on the part of Blake, who did not know the De doctrina, is sheer genius, and the proof of a fundamental harmony of mind between him and Milton." 18 We have seen that Christ is, in truth, Reason triumphing over Desire. Is Satan, then, a symbol of passion, as Blake asserts? This raises the question of symbolism in Milton. I do not think that Milton should be interpreted in totality, as has been attempted with Blake, by finding for each character and each event an allegorical, hidden meaning. Milton, unlike Blake, is a clear and precise poet, perfectly in command of his ideas and art, who says what he wants to say, all he wants to say, and no more. But we are not to stop at the letter of his writing either, because, in Milton, behind the letter, there is intensity of conviction and depth of idea. Moreover, behind the ideas, there are powerful feelings, which feed them like a nutritious sap. If we do not know his ideas, we shall unduly restrict the meaning of his words. If we do not 17 Poetical Works, ed. Sampson (Oxford, 1914), pp. 248-49. 18 See my Blake and Milton (Paris, Alcan, 1920). know his feelings, we shall unduly restrict the importance of his ideas. 19 Thus Christ is " Reason," but not through allegory: he is truly the reasonable part of each believer, each man being part of God. As for Satan, it is doubtful whether Milton did him the honor of spreading him thus into every human soul. Satan is therefore not "passion" as Christ is "reason"- that is to say, not Satan in the poems; in Milton's mind, it is quite possible that the devil is the evil element in every man, and even in God, that is to be combated severally; the conception seems to me in perfect harmony with the whole of Milton's doctrine, and gives a new depth to his art and thought. We have seen repeatedly that Satan is the prototype of all that Milton execrates- tyrants, kings, popes, priests even. They come dangerously near to being "of the devil" 1o even as the elect are "of Christ," that is to say, made of him, parts of him. This is one of the points on which Milton kept his inmost thought to himself. But it is helpful to keep the idea in mind while reading him. And anyhow, Satan is the great champion of passion in revolt against divine reason. Milton had too much poetical instinct to spoil his wonderful Satan by making an allegory of him. Yet he had diversified him and had given him all the necessary passions, that he might be, on the intellectual plane, a worthy adversary of deified reason. For it is quite true, as Blake says, that Paradise Lost is the struggle of passion against reason. But that is not the whole of Paradise Lost. It is only the general meaning, and Milton rambles at his pleasure, for he is a poet and a man of letters and he believes in bringing everything that is fit subject for literature into his poem. 19 See above, p. 83. His embroidery on the main theme is rich, and rarely inspired by philosophical ideas. The philosopher in him had ideas, but the poet it was that expressed them, and the poet had many things to express besides, on his own account. Yet, as we have seen, in speaking of Christ Milton uses symbol in a particular way, which is warranted, as we shall see, by Augustine's authority. He believes in a physical fact, and yet that fact, real in itself, is a symbol of moral facts. The events of Scripture, the life of Jesus himself, are a sort of poetical allegory used by God, who, instead of writing in a book words that have two meanings, a literal and a figurative, causes to happen on earth events that have two senses: the plain solid fact, that Jesus lived, and the moral fact, that, concurrently, divine reason came into men. Even so, Satan is an image of passion in all men - even if he is not passion in all men and also a reprobate angel cast down from Heaven by thunder. Thus, even when Milton did not interpret dogma so as to destroy it, as he occasionally did, he built, parallel to it, a course of psychological events that were as a sort of lining to that cloth, and were an integral part of the finished garment. We must not, therefore, make a mere allegory of Paradise Lost. There is allegory in it, and myth and symbol. But at bottom Milton is a clear rationalist mind who despises "superstitions" when they correspond to no clear ideas of his own. He submitted to no symbolism, and to no dogma, further than he liked. The element of clearness, reason, culture is predominant in his mind, and his whole work is a sane and vigorous effort towards light and freedom. P CHAPTER II PARADISE LOST I. MILTON IN PARADISE LOST ARADISE LOST is built round two great themes which are harmoniously balanced: the fall of the angels and the fall of man. The first books describe the state of the fallen angels; in contrast to this, after an interval in Heaven, the following books picture man before his fall, in Paradise; then comes the fall of the angels, and the creation of the world which compensates it; and finally, the fall of man and the history of the world which will make up for it. The dramatic interest in the first half is in Satan's efforts; in the second, in the human drama between Adam and Eve. The two parts are linked, Satan's efforts being the cause of the human drama. The scheme is simple, clear, and grand, and bears the imprint of Milton's mind. From the psychological and philosophical point of view we have taken in this work, Paradise Lost is first of all, as we have seen in Part II, the working out of Milton's ideas; but it is also and this remains to be studied a sort of transposition of his private and political experience. Milton has drawn upon his own life to depict situations similar to those he had known. Hence the false position he frequently puts himself into; for analogy in the events has driven him to take from himself or from his friends the traits wanted for the picture of the fallen angels. Thus Satan's character, as Milton presents it, cannot but inspire feelings of sympathy and admiration. The traditional motive of Satan's fall was pride. Milton had then to describe the pride of Satan. But, as we have seen, pride was the ruling passion in his own soul. Consequently, the character of Satan is drawn with a power unique in literature. In reality, Milton pours out his own feelings. Satan's first speeches are pure Miltonic lyricism. For, in addition, Milton's pride had known defeat, even as Satan's had. What matters failure and the triumph of the enemy if one is resolved not to submit? Here we have the rage and defiance which Milton himself felt when he saw the Restoration coming, and which we have seen him expressing in prose in his Ready and Easy Way.1 Now, it must be pointed out that it was probably at the same time, since he began work on the epic about 1658, that he expressed the same feelings in verse: Nor what the potent victor in his rage Can else inflict, do I repent or change, Though changed in outward lustre, that fix'd mind What though the field be lost? All is not lost: th' unconquerable will, 1 See above, p. 99. |