Beloved Summary ( M.A Eng. 3rd sem)

Beloved Summary

In 1873, Sethe and her daughter Denver live in 124, a house in a rural area close to Cincinatti. They are ostracized from the community for Sethe's past and her pride. Eighteen years have passed since she escaped from slavery at a farm called Sweet Home. Sweet Home was run by a cruel man known as schoolteacher, who allowed his nephews to brutalize Sethe while he took notes for his scientific studies of blacks. Sethe fled, although she was pregnant, delivering the child along the way with help from a white woman named Amy. Sethe's husband, who was supposed to accompany her, disappeared. After her escape to Cincinatti with her four children, Sethe enjoyed only twenty-eight days of freedom before she was tracked down by her old master. Rather than allow her children to be returned to slavery, she attempted to kill all of them, succeeding only in killing the baby girl. Rejected then by her master, who saw she was no longer fit to serve, Sethe was also saved from hanging and was released to raise her remaining three children at 124. The ghost of the dead baby began to haunt the house. The two sons, Howard and Buglar, left after having particularly frightening encounters with the ghost. The grandmother, Baby Suggs, died a broken woman. Baby Suggs had been a great positive force in Cincinatti's black community, regarded by many as an inspiring holy woman. After what happened to Sethe, she gave up her preaching and retired to bed, asking only for scraps of color. Years after her death, Denver and Sethe continue to live in the house alone. Sethe works as a cook, and Denver spends her days alone. Denver is terribly lonely but is also afraid to leave the yard‹even though she is eighteen years old.

In 1873, two visitors come to 124. The first is Paul D, a man who was a slave with Sethe back at Sweet Home. Paul D, like Sethe, is haunted by the pain of the past. He witnessed and suffered unspeakable atrocities before the end of the Civil War brought him his freedom, and he has survived by not allowing himself to have strong feelings for anything or anyone. He has particularly dark memories of time spent in a prison for blacks, where he worked in a chain gang by day and was kept in a box in the ground at night.

The second visitor is a girl namedBeloved. It gradually becomes clear that she is the ghost of the dead baby come back to life, at the age that the baby would have been had it lived. Awkward, unable to speak like an adult, and dressed in strange clothes, Beloved seems vulnerable at first but proves to be powerful and malicious. Her purposes initially seem benign and are never fully understood, but by the end of the novel her presence is deeply destructive for the living people of 124.

Paul D becomes Sethe's lover, staying for a time despite friction between him and the two young girls. Beloved despises him, and she tries to divide Sethe from Paul D. Paul D eventually leaves when he learns that Sethe murdered her own child. Sethe, on discovering Beloved's identity, believes she has been given a second chance. She tries to make amends for the past, but the girl's needs are devouring. The ghost does not forgive Sethe for her actions. Beloved settles into the house like a parasite, growing ever stronger as Sethe grows weaker. Sethe's sanity begins to unravel, and Beloved only grows more demanding. Denver is forced to go to the community for help.

A group of women, led by Ella, a former agent of the Underground Railroad, go to 124 to exorcise Beloved's ghost. The ghost is forced to leave, but Sethe's spirit has been nearly broken. Paul D returns to her, vowing to help Sethe heal herself. Denver, Paul D, and Sethe will build a new life, one in which they learn to deal with their painful past while focusing on the future.

Beloved is a haunting and dark novel, full of gothic elements and acts of terrible violence. The ghost represents the power of the legacy of slavery, which continues to trouble Sethe eighteen years after she won her freedom. Beloved is the spirit of the dead baby returned but she is also an embodiment of all suffering under slavery; her memory extends back to the slave ships that first carried blacks to the Americas. The question of the rightness of Sethe's terrible act is a difficult one‹moreover, it is a question that the novel does not attempt to answer in a definitive way. Morrison is more concerned that we understand why Sethe did what she did, as well as the ways that her decision has haunted her ever since. The novel effectively conveys the brutality and dehumanization that occurred under slavery, putting Sethe's act in context without necessarily condemning it or excusing it.

The structure is fragmentary, closely tied to the consciousness of each character and weaving suddenly between past and future. More time is spent describing past events than the action of the current moment, reinforcing the idea of the past lingering and shaping life in the present. The novel is often repetitive, telling the same stories of the past again and again, giving more information with each repetition. All of the characters of the novel, former slaves and the children of former slaves, suffer a troubled relationship to their own past. Their relationships to their past often make it impossible for them to live for the present or plan for the future, and slavery has often damaged the ways that they experience love and think about their own worth as human beings.

About Beloved ( M.A Eng. 3rd sem)

About Beloved

Beloved is Toni Morrison's fifth novel. Published in 1987 as Morrison was enjoying increasing popularity and success, Beloved became a best seller and received the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for fiction. Its reception by critics was overwhelming, and the book is widely considered Morrison's greatest novel to date.

Mythic in scope, Beloved is an attempt to grapple with the legacy of slavery. Morrison based her novel on a real-life incident, in which an escaped slave woman who faced recapture killed her children rather than allow them to be taken back into slavery. In the novel, the protagonist's near-recapture follows the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, part of the Compromise of 1850, which stated that escaped slaves, as property, could be tracked down across state lines and retrieved by their old masters.

In Beloved, Morrison explores themes of love, family, and self-possession in a world where slavery has only recently become a thing of the past. Beloved is the ghost of Sethe's murdered child, returned for unclear reasons, embodied as a full-grown woman at the age that the baby would have been had it lived. Part history, part ghost story, part historical fiction, the novel also seek to understand the impact of slavery, both on the psychology of individuals and on the larger patterns of culture and history. Morrison was drawn to the historical account, which brought up questions of what it meant to love and to be a mother in a place and time where life was often devalued. The novel powerfully portrays the meanings of what it means to be owned by another and the difficulty of owning oneself.

Beloved also presents a powerful account of the foundation of black America. The memories of the characters?even the strange, supernatural race-memory of Beloved?extend back no farther than the beginnings of American slavery. The institution of slavery destroyed much of the heritage of the Africans brought to the Americas; the novel partially recounts the creation of a new people and culture, a people displaced and forced to forge a new identity in the face of brutality and dehumanization. Fragmentary in structure and written with great psychological intimacy, the book also continues with Morrison's narrative experiments that began with The Bluest Eye and have continued throughout her career. In 1998 it was adapted for a film starring Danny Glover and Oprah Winfrey. The film met mixed critical response and was a box office failure, a testament, at least, to the uniquely literary qualities of the novel.

Character List ( M.A Eng. 3rd sem)

Character List

Sethe

Born on a distant plantation that she barely remembers, Sethe is the child of an African-born slave woman whose name she never knew. As a young teenager she was brought to Sweet Home, where she took a man named Halle Suggs for her husband. She had four children, pregnant with the fourth when she fled Sweet Home on foot and alone. When schoolteacher, the brutal master at Sweet Home, tracked her down, Sethe attempted to kill her children rather than see them returned to slavery. Sethe has a troubled relationship with her own past, often not willing to speak about it but obsessively reliving it in her own head. She has a mass of scars on her back that resemble a tree.

Beloved

Beloved is the ghost of Sethe's third child, murdered to protect her from schoolteacher. Her real name is never known. She is the embodiment not only of the baby's ghost but also the legacy of slavery. She represents the power of the past to intrude into the present.

Paul D

Paul D was one of the Sweet Home men. He has also suffered horribly, and has reacted by shutting away any deep feelings. He shows up at 124 and tries to make a life with Sethe. He is powerless against Beloved, who seduces him as a way of controlling him and dividing him from her mother. After nearly twenty years of freedom, he is still unsure of the source of his manhood and his humanity.

Denver

Sethe's daughter. She is the grown up daughter of Sethe who was born during Sethe's flight to the North. Denver is eighteen years old and terribly lonely. She has not left the yard of 124 by herself for twelve years. She has a possessive need for Beloved, and initially will do anything to please her. But she is also a very dynamic character; by the end of the novel, she is transformed into a strong and independent young woman with a new understanding of her mother.

Baby Suggs

Halle Suggs mother and Sethe's mother-in-law. Halle bought her freedom, which she accepted because she saw how much it meant to him. She did not expect how much it would mean to her, feeling while still a slave that she was too old to enjoy freedom anyway. But freedom transformed Baby Suggs, giving her a new understanding of what it meant to be alive and transforming her into a kind of holy woman for Cincinatti's black community. Sethe's tragedy, however, broke Baby Suggs' spirit, and she spent her last days bed-ridden and somber.

Halle Suggs

Halle Suggs was Sethe's husband and the father of all of her children. Halle vanished at the time when he was supposed to flee to the North with Sethe; later, it is discovered that he witnessed Sethe's brutalization at the hands of schoolteacher and his nephews. When Paul D last saw Halle, he had gone insane.

Schoolteacher

Mr. Garner's brother-in-law. Schoolteacher was a cruel and sadistic master, interested in ways to break the wills of his slaves. He conducted a pseudo-scientific study of the slaves, treating them in his study the way a biologist treats lab animals. His nephews held Sethe down and stole her milk while schoolteacher took notes. When it was discovered that Sethe told Mrs. Garner what they had done, schoolteacher had one of his nephews whip Sethe, giving her the distinctive scars on her back.

Amy Denver

A former indentured servant, Amy helped Sethe to escape to the North, saving Sethe's life and helping to deliver her baby. Amy was trying to get to Boston so she could buy carmine colored velvet. Sethe's daughter Denver is named after her.

Howard and Buglar

Sethe's sons and her two older children, she tried and failed to kill them when schoolteacher came. The two boys fled years ago after particularly frightening encounters with the ghost. Sethe has recurring dreams of her boys walking away from her, unable to hear her as she calls for them to come back.

Mr. Garner

The old master of Sweet Home, Mr. Garner was generous by the standards of slave owners, and insisted that his slaves were the only male slaves in Kentucky who were real men. His "enlightened" slavery, however, proves to be a sham after his death and was full of contradictions and hypocrisy even in his life.

Mrs. Garner

Mr. Garner's sickly wife. She brought schoolteacher to Sweet Home after Mr. Garner's death. She spent the last months of her life bed-ridden and very ill.

Sixo

One of the slaves at Sweet Home, Sixo was one of the planners behind their flight to the North. He regularly visited a woman who lived thirty miles away, dubbed the Thirty-Mile woman. He was close to Paul D during the time of Sweet Home, but was killed during their escape attempt.

Paul A, Paul F

The brothers of Paul D. All three brothers were at Sweet Home for most of their lives, until Paul F was sold and Paul A died during the escape.

Ella

A woman who was an agent on the Underground Railroad. She took Sethe on the final leg of her flight to the North. When Ella was a girl, she was shared by a white man and his son. After Sethe killed her child, Ella becomes one of her harshest critics. Later, she softens her opinion, and organizes the woman to go and exorcise Beloved from 124.

Stamp Paid

Born with the name of Joshua, Stamp Paid changed his name after his wife was taken to the bed of their master's owner. Stamp felt he had paid all of life's debts in that year. Stamp worked as an agent for the Underground Railroad for many years. When schoolteacher came for Sethe, it was Stamp who saved Denver's life. He is a friend to the family and also to Paul D.

Lady Jones

Lady Jones teaches the black children of Cincinatti how to read and write. She is mixed-race, with yellow hair that she despises. She was once Denver's teacher. When Denver flees 124 looking for help, she turns to Lady Jones.

Nan

Nan was the one-armed woman who nursed children back at the plantation where Sethe was born. Sethe has more memories of Nan than of her own mother.

Janey

Servant to the Bodwins. She spreads the story of Beloved's return through the black community. She was working for the Bodwins when Baby Suggs first arrived, and she is still working for them when Denver is looking for work decades later.

Edward Bodwin and Miss Bodwin

Brother and sister, they are former abolitionists and try to be helpful to the black community. They own 124, which they allowed Baby Suggs and her family to use. Edward Bodwin witnesses the exorcism of Beloved.

Short Summary of Beloved ( M.A Eng. 3rd sem)

How It All Goes Down

Sethe, a former slave, lives in Cincinnati with her daughter, Denver, and her mother-in-law, Baby Suggs. She's been ostracized from her community because, about 15 years before our story begins, she did the unthinkable: she killed one of her own children. There was a good reason for it, of course—if child-killing can ever be justified. See, Sethe was trying to keep her children from slave catchers.

Time passes. Baby Suggs dies. That leaves Denver all alone (she's got two brothers, Howard and Bugler, but they ran off years ago). Oh: there is onecreature still around the house. It's a ghost. That's right, folks—124 Bluestone is haunted. Furniture gets thrown around the house; people get moved. Sethe doesn't seem to mind too much though. She's got a good job as a cook, and she's got her daughter. Things are about as good (or as bad) as they're ever going to be.

That's when Paul D Garner shows up. Paul D lived with Sethe at Sweet Home, the plantation where they both were enslaved. He remembers just about everything in Sethe's past—her husband Halle, their former masters, all the bad stuff that went on at the plantation. When Paul D comes around, Sethe feels like she can finally open up. As you might expect, Paul D and Sethe end up in bed together. It's not just a fling either; they become a couple.

Denver's not that wild about the new man in their life. That's why, when a strange woman shows up on the doorstep of 124 Bluestone Road, Denver's excited. The woman says that her name is Beloved, which is totally freaky since "Beloved" is what Sethe had carved on the tombstone of her dead baby. That's not the only coincidence either. Beloved seems to know things about Sethe that no one should know. Sethe lets Beloved stay because she thinks Denver needs a friend; plus, Sethe can't shake the idea that this Beloved might actually be her little Beloved, back from the dead and grown. Denver wants Beloved to stay because she's always wanted an older sister. Paul D's the only one who's not so sure about Beloved, but it's not like he can do anything about it; he doesn't own the house.

Once Beloved is part of the household, things start to change. Denver will do anything to please her. Beloved, however, only wants what Sethe has. You can guess what happens next right? Cue: "Bizarre Love Triangle." Beloved ends up seducing Paul D. We told you she was trouble.

But that's not what splits up Paul D and Sethe. Stamp Paid, an old friendof the family, tells Paul D about how Sethe killed her daughter and went to jail. Paul D can't believe it. When he confronts Sethe, they get in a huge fight. Paul D leaves. Sethe couldn't care less—all she cares about is Beloved.

Here's when things get even uglier. Now that Paul D is out of the picture, Beloved's got the girls all to herself. Sethe and Denver give her everything they have—but Beloved wants more. Pretty soon Denver realizes that Beloved only wants Sethe. Sethe, in turn, gets fired from her job and, thus, spends all of her time with Beloved. Pretty soon there's no food in the house.

Denver suddenly realizes that they're all going to die unless she steps up and does something. She hasn't left 124 Bluestone in years—not since when she used to go to school—but she finally screws up the courage to leave the house and ask for help.

Surprisingly, all of the townspeople who once scorned Sethe and Denver now pour out their help. They give Denver food and hook her up with a new job. She's able to buy food for her mother and Beloved, who is now pregnant (we told you things get uglier!). When the neighbors ask about Sethe, Denver gets evasive, but eventually the neighbors figure out that Beloved is "haunting" Sethe. So they decide to do something about it.

The women of the town perform an exorcism. While that's going on, the white man who happens to be Denver's employer drives by the house to pick up Denver. Sethe snaps: she sees the slave catchers coming to take her children again and runs at the man with an ice pick.

That's where things get blurry. No one can say exactly what happens, but Sethe is safe, the white man is safe—and Beloved is gone.

Eventually Paul D returns to 124 and makes up with Sethe. Denver's happy in her new life out in the community. And Beloved? That's still a mystery.

In A Nutshell

You might need to sit down for this one.

A mother slits her baby girl's throat because she has this deranged idea that she's saving her daughter from a fate worse than death. Sounds likeone of those crazy mothers who ends up on the evening news, right? Close. It's actually a true story: back in 1856, a runaway slave named Margaret Garner killed one of her kids—a two-year-old girl—with a butcher knife, in order to keep her away from slave catchers. She would have killed her other children and herself, too, but she was caught before she could complete the deed.

And there you have the starting point for Beloved. Yep—this is one of those "based on a true story" books. But since the author is none other than the esteemed, Nobel Prize-winning Toni Morrison, you better believe that the book is way more than that story.

So here's what you absolutely need to know about Beloved. The book is about a slave woman, Sethe, who—before the book even begins—kills her baby girl in order to keep her away from slave catchers. That baby girl, called Beloved, ends up haunting the house in which Sethe and her youngest child Denver live. And by "haunt," we don't mean some limp, pale ghost hanging out in the corner who occasionally says "Boo!" This girl ain't no Casper. She throws stuff around like a second coming ofPoltergeist. And then some. Like come-back-from-the-dead, possess-you-like-a-demon haunting.

But Beloved isn't really a horror story. It's more like a Great American Novel. In fact, when it was first published in 1987, it sealed Toni Morrison's reputation as one of the hottest new novelists of the decade—if not the century. The novel was so popular that it won the Pulitzer Prize in '87. We're guessing that the book also played a pretty big part in the decision to award Morrison the Nobel Prize just a few years later (1993 to be exact). As far as book awards go, that's a clean sweep.

Beloved is a story about America's relationship with slavery, but it's also a story about rebirth and redemption for those who seem irredeemable. Grand, right? Well, that's just how Toni Morrison rolls.

Biography of Toni Morrison ( M.A Eng 3rd sem)

Here we present the biography of Toni Morrison, the first black woman to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature, she also has won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction

Chloe Anthony Wofford was born February 18, 1931 in Lorain, Ohio (a northern community located near Lake Erie) as what was to be the second of four children of George Wofford and Ramah Willis Wofford. Her parents had moved to Ohio from the South to escape racism and to find better opportunities in the North. George found employment as a shipyard welder, but often worked three jobs in order support his family. He was a hardworking and dignified man who took a great deal of pride in the quality of his work, so that each time he welded a perfect seam he'd also weld his name onto the side of the ship. He also made sure to be well-dressed, even during the Depression. Her mother was a church-going woman and she sang in the choir. At home, Chloe heard many songs and tales of Southern black folklore. The Woffords were proud of their heritage.

Lorain was a small industrial town populated with immigrant Europeans, Mexicans and Southern blacks who lived next to each other. Chloe attended an integrated school. In her first grade, she was the only black student in her class and the only one who could read. She was friends with many of her white schoolmates and did not encounter discrimination until she started dating.

From her father, Chloe gained a Marcus Garvey-like perspective on whites, one that left her with a distrust for them all. She readily admits: "My father was a racist. As a child in Georgia, he received shocking impressions of adult white people, and for the rest of his life felt he was justified in despising all whites, and that they were not justified in despising him."

Chloe hoped one day to become a dancer like her favorite ballerina, Maria Tallchief, and she also loved to read. Her early favorites were the Russian writers Tolstoy and Dostoyevski, French author Gustave Flaubert and English novelist Jane Austen. She was an excellent student and she graduated with honors from Lorain High School in 1949.

Chloe Wofford then attended, with the financial aid of her parents, the prestigious Howard University in Washington, D.C., where she majored in English with a minor in classics. Since many people couldn't pronounce her first name correctly, she changed it to Toni, a shortened version of her middle name. She joined a repertory company, the Howard University Players, with whom she made several tours of the South. She saw firsthand the life of the blacks there, the life her parents had escaped by moving north. Toni Wofford graduated from Howard University in 1953 with a B.A. in English. She then attended Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, and received a master's degree in 1955.

After graduating, Toni Wofford was offered a job at Texas Southern University in Houston, where she taught introductory English. Unlike Howard University, where black culture was neglected or minimized, at Texas Southern they "always had Negro history week" and introduced to her the idea of black culture as a discipline rather than just personal family reminiscences. In 1957 she returned to Howard University as a member of faculty and there she met Harold Morrison, a Jamaican architect she married in 1958. This was a time of civil rights movement and she met several people who were later active in the struggle. She met the poet Amiri Baraka (at that time called LeRoi Jones) and Andrew Young (who later worked with Dr. Martin Luther King, and later still, became a mayor of Atlanta, Georgia). One of her students was Stokely Carmichael, who then became a leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). Another of her students, Claude Brown, wrote Manchild in the Promised Land (1965) a classic of African-American literature.

The Morrison's first son, Harold Ford, was born in 1961. Toni continued teaching while helping take care of her family. She also joined a small writer's group as a temporary escape from an unhappy married life. She needed company of other people who appreciated literature as much as she did. Each member was required to bring a story or poem for discussion. One week, having nothing to bring, she quickly wrote a story loosely based on a girl she knew in childhood Loraine who had prayed to God for blue eyes. The story was well-received by the group and then Toni put it away thinking she was done with it. Her marriage deteriorated, and while pregnant with their second child she left her husband, left her job at the university, and took her son on a trip to Europe. Later, she divorced her husband and returned to her parents' house in Lorain with her two sons.

In the fall of 1964 Morrison obtained a job with a textbook subsidiary of Random House in Syracuse, New York as an associate editor. Her hope was to be transferred downstate soon to New York City. While working all day, her sons were taken care of by the housekeeper and in the evening Morrison cooked dinner and played with the boys until their bedtime. When her sons were asleep, she started writing. She dusted off the story she had written for the writer's group and decided to make it into a novel. She drew on her memories from childhood and expanded them with her imagination so that the characters developed a life of their own. She found writing exciting and challenging. Other than parenting, she found everything else boring by comparison.

In 1967 she was transferred to New York and became a senior editor at Random House. While editing books by prominent black Americans like Muhammad Ali, Andrew Young and Angela Davis, she was busy sending her own novel to various publishers. The Bluest Eye (1970), is a novel of initiation concerning a victimized adolescent black girl who is obsessed by white standards of beauty and longs to have blue eyes. The book received enormous critical acclaim for a first book even though it was not commercially successful. From 1971-1972 Morrison was the associate professor of English at the State University of New York at Purchase while she continued working at Random House. In addition, she soon started writing her second novel where she focused on a friendship between two adult black women. Sula (1973), examinining (among other issues) the dynamics of friendship and the expectations for conformity within the community, became an alternate selection by the Book-of-the-Month Club. Excerpts were published in the Redbook magazine and it was nominated for the 1975 National Book Award in fiction.

From 1976-1977, she was a visiting lecturer at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. She was also writing her third novel. This time she focused on strong black male characters. Her insight into male world came from watching her sons. Morrison' third novel Song of Solomon (1977) is told by a male narrator in search of his identity. It won the National Book Critic's Circle Award and theAmerican Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters Award. Morrison was also appointed by President Jimmy Carter to the National Council on the Arts. In 1981 she published her fourth novel, Tar Baby, set on a Caribbean island, explores conflicts of race, class, and sex, and is the first time she describes interaction between black and white characters. Her picture appeared on the cover of the March 30, 1981 issue of Newsweek magazine.

In 1983, Morrison left her position at Random House, having worked there for almost twenty years. In 1984 she was named the Albert Schweitzer Professor of the Humanities at the State University of New York in Albany. While living in Albany, she started writing her first play, Dreaming Emmett. It was based on the true story of Emmett Till, a black teenager killed by racist whites in 1955 after being accused of whistling at a white woman. The play premiered January 4, 1986 at the Marketplace Theater in Albany. Morrison's next novel, Beloved, was influenced by a published story about a slave, Margaret Garner, who in 1851 escaped with her children to Ohio from, her master in Kentucky. When she was about to be re-captured, she tried to kill her children rather than return them to life of slavery. Only one of her children died and Margaret was imprisoned for her deed. She refused to show remorse, saying she was "unwilling to have her children suffer as she had done." Beloved was published in 1987 and was a bestseller. In 1988 it won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction.

In 1987, Toni Morrison was named the Robert F. Goheen Professor in the Council of Humanities at Princeton University. She became the first black woman writer to hold a named chair at an Ivy League University. While accepting, Morrison said, "I take teaching as seriously as I do my writing." She taught creative writing and also took part in the African-American studies, American studies and women's studies programs. She also started her sixth novel, Jazz, about life in the 1920's. Morrison has suggested that the Beloved andJazz (1992) are the first and second books, respectively, in a planned trilogy. A work of criticism, Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination, also was published in 1992.

In 1993, Toni Morrison received the Nobel Prize in Literature. She was the eighth woman and the first black woman to do so. Her seventh and most recent novel, Paradise was published early in 1998.

Summary of Paradise LostBook 1 ( M.A Eng. 1st sem)

Invocation and introduction of theme (1-26)

It is characteristic of a classical epic that the poet invokes the aid of his patron muse. Milton marries his Christian theme and neo-classical method by invoking, as his muse, the Holy Spirit, third Person of the Trinity. This section is a prayer, in which Milton states his subject, and asks for divine assistance in giving voice to it. Milton states that his purpose is to:

“Assert eternal providence And
justify the ways of God to men.”

Note that this section contains only two sentences. The main verb, in the first, is thethirty-ninth word in the sentence. The various indirect objects of the verb “sing” reflect the magnitude of the poem's subject and its author's task: “disobedience...Death…woe...loss of Eden...one greater Man.”

Satan's revolt (27-83)

Note how easily Milton moves from prayer into an account of Satan's fall, by asking who or what caused man to fall. According to Milton, Satan's motive was to be above his peers. The expulsion of Satan from Heaven is depicted more fully in Book 6 (his revolt, partly, in Book 5) of Paradise Lost.

Satan is cast out of Heaven, together with his “horrid crew”. Nine days they lie on a lake of fire, then regain consciousness to find themselves in Hell.

Satan's speech to Beelzebub (84-127)

Satan acknowledges how utterly his confederate, Beelzebub, has been changed, for the worse, by the devils' defeat, but stresses fact that they are still united in their fall. He recognises God's superior strength, but points out that he now knows the extent of God's power, previously unknown because untried. Despite the change they have outwardly undergone, Satan stresses the unchanged nature of his attitude to God's Son, “the potent Victor”. “All is not lost” because Satan will never submit freely to God's authority. Satan suggests that God's rule was endangered by his revolt, that he will never sink to the indignity of asking forgiveness, and outlines his intention of conducting further warfare against God. Satan's speech smacks of wishful thinking; he speaks boastfully, but at the same time tortured by pain and profound despair.

Beelzebub's reply and Satan's second speech (128-191)

Beelzebub acknowledges Satan's trial of God's might, bewails loss of Heaven, and the punishment the fallen angels are suffering, though this will not be alleviated by death. He suggests that God has deliberately left devils their strength, to be His slaves, carrying out “his errands in the gloomy deep” of Hell.

Satan replies that the devils' task must be never to do anything good, but always to strive to pervert to evil ends whatever God does, turning to evil His good actions. Satan suggests leaving the lake of fire in which they lie, and reassembling their forces.

Note Satan's resolution and his taking the initiative. As the poem continues we also note Beelzebub's support of Satan, his ready agreement with all he says - Beelzebub is very shrewd: he makes sure he defers to his superior. Milton gives some account here of the topography of Hell.

Satan's and Beelzebub's quitting the lake of fire (192-282)

Satan and Beelzebub leave the lake of fire and fly to land. Milton compares Satan with the sea-monster, Leviathan, and stresses the fact that it is only with God's permission that the devils quit the lake. Satan acknowledges the horrible nature of Hell, but argues that, for him, to be in Heaven would be Hell (being subservient to God) and it is better to reign where he is than serve in Heaven. Beelzebub repeats Satan's suggestion, advising him to call to other angels, who will be revived by sound of their leader's voice.

Satan rallies his subjects (283-621)

Satan, “the superior fiend”, goes to the edge of the burning lake and calls to his legions who are lying inert on its surface. Note his sarcastic humour: he asks, in effect, “Are you having a rest? Have you chosen to lie in the lake as a way of adoring God (by readily bowing to His will)?”

The devils, waking, stir themselves, fly up into air, and assemble around Satan The chief devils are named and described:

• Moloch (crude, warlike, blustering);
• Chemos (associated with sensual, orgiastic demon worship, idolatry);
• Astarte (a female equivalent of Chemos);
• Thammuz (a fertility god, believed to die and rise to life every year; associated with rebirth of vegetation);
• Dagon (god of the Philistines, referred to in the Biblical books of Judges and 1 Samuel);
• Rimmon (referred to in the Biblical book of 2 Kings);
• Osiris, Isis, Orus (gods of Egyptian mythology), and
• Belial (a deceitful, lustful and lewd god).

The devil host assembles in military fashion. The devils move forward, and come to a halt ready for inspection by Satan. Milton describes the martial prowess and glory they retain despite their fall, and notes how moved Satan is by this display of loyalty.

Note that Moloch and Belial reappear in Book 2, where they are more interestingly portrayed as speakers in the great debate.

Satan's speech to the devils (622-669)

Satan opens his address to his followers by praising them, claiming that none save the Almighty could have matched their strength. He claims that it is hard to believe the fallen angels will not re-ascend to Heaven, and regain their rightful position. Satan blames God for apparently holding His position by “repute” and the ready submission of the angels, while concealing His true strength, and thereby tempting the followers of Satan to rebel.

Satan mentions the rumour, heard in Heaven, of the creation of a new world, and suggests the idea of exploring it, as “celestial spirits” will never be held in bondage by the “infernal pit” of Hell. Satan finishes by insisting that war of some kind “must be resolved”. As he concludes his speech, the devils affirm their loyalty, striking their shields with their swords, “hurling defiance” at Heaven.

Note how Satan flatters his legions - he persuades them they can still thwart God's designs and that Hell cannot hold them. He hints at war, but leaves it till later to determine what kind of conflict this will be. This prepares us for the great debate of Book 2.

The building of Pandemonium (670-798)Utilising the natural mineral wealth of Hell, the devils, under the guidance of the materialist Mammon, construct a great council chamber. This is Pandemonium (“All devil place” or “place of all devils” ). Satan's heralds proclaim a solemn assembly to be held in Pandemonium, and the devils scale themselves down in size, till they are small enough to be “at large” in the hall. (“At large” means having enough space in which to move freely - but Milton puns on the expression) The chief devils, however, retain their full dimensions, and the “great consult” begins.

Note the pictorial and vividly realistic description of building operations (mining, founding and so on), which gives a sense of Hell as a real place.

Text of Paradise Lost Book 1 ( M.A Eng. 1st sem.)

Text
OF MAN’S first disobedience, and the fruit		Hey there Muse, can you tell me about Man's first Sin? It had something to do with that fruit, right?
Of that forbidden tree whose mortal taste		I know it was forbidden, but in Adam and Eve's case it was for-biting.
Brought death into the World, and all our woe,		It brought the possibility of sin and death to our world, it was a rotten apple!
With loss of Eden, till one greater Man		It made our Paradise Lost (Hey...that's the title of this thing!), until Jesus Christ came to the rescue
Restore us, and regain the blissful Seat,	5	To help us get better.
Sing, Heavenly Muse, that, on the secret top		So Muse, let me have some inspiration, like you gave
Of Oreb, or of Sinai, didst inspire		Moses inspiration. Give me whatever you gave him.
That Shepherd who first taught the chosen seed		Moses was a pretty cool guy, he taught a lot of people
In the beginning how the heavens and earth		And I want to do the same.
Rose out of Chaos: or, if Sion hill	10
Delight thee more, and Siloa’s brook that flowed
Fast by the oracle of God, I thence
Invoke thy aid to my adventrous song,		I need your help in creating this epic
That with no middle flight intends to soar
Above the Aonian mount, while it pursues	15
Things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme.		I want to create something that has never been done before
And chiefly Thou, O Spirit, that dost prefer		And I want to learn from you
Before all temples the upright heart and pure,
Instruct me, for Thou know’st; Thou from the first		You were there in the beginning
Wast present, and, with mighty wings outspread,	20	Your wings were spread and
Dove-like sat’st brooding on the vast Abyss,		You were like a dove who turned
And mad’st it pregnant: what in me is dark		the darkness into light. And you can do the same for me.
Illumine, what is low raise and support;		I want to be enlightened where I am ignorant and I want to reinforce and strengthen my abilities
That, to the highth of this great argument,		So I can properly explain what has happened
I may assert Eternal Providence,	25
And justify the ways of God to men.		I want to explain God's great plan and purpose
Say first—for Heaven hides nothing from thy view,		Since you probably know everything about Heaven
Nor the deep tract of Hell—say first what cause		as well as what happens in Hell, I want to know...
Moved our grand Parents, in that happy state,		Why and how did Adam and Eve screw things up? I mean they must have been so happy in Eden
Favoured of Heaven so highly, to fall off	30	Heaven was really into them and gave them everything they needed
From their Creator, and transgress his will		from God, but they couldn't do ONE SMALL THING
For one restraint, lords of the World besides.		They only had one rule that they just had to follow
Who first seduced them to that foul revolt?		Who made them drop the ball? Of course I can't blame them, they just didn't know what they were doing!
The infernal Serpent; he it was whose guile,		It was that snake! He's quite the trickster
Stirred up with envy and revenge, deceived	35	He was driven by jealousy and revenge, and went after
The mother of mankind, what time his pride		our beloved Eve. That snake's blind pride
Had cast him out from Heaven, with all his host		got him kicked out of Heaven along with his entourage
Of rebel Angels, by whose aid, aspiring		of rebel Angels. Those Angels followed Satan
To set himself in glory above his peers,		and his blind ambition. Satan was able to convince them to support him in his quest to glorify himself above everyone,
He trusted to have equalled the Most High,	40	and even to the extent of waging war against Heaven
If he opposed, and, with ambitious aim
Against the throne and monarchy of God,
Raised impious war in Heaven and battle proud,		The inevitable result was war
With vain attempt. Him the Almighty Power		But Satan's quest for victory was already decided, and he was meant to fail.
Hurled headlong flaming from the ethereal sky,	45	He falls from grace
With hideous ruin and combustion, down		Ruined and on fire
To bottomless perdition, there to dwell		Down to his prison in Hell
In adamantine chains and penal fire,		Imprisoned in fire
Who durst defy the Omnipotent to arms.		Why bother fighting someone who already knows the outcome? Get better, Satan! Sit down and have a beer and stop complaining!
Nine times the space that measures day and night	50	Satan and his homies were lying defeated in Hell.
To mortal men, he, with his horrid crew,
Lay vanquished, rowling in the fiery gulf,		They were sore losers
Confounded, though immortal. But his doom		Confused, angry, and a multitude of other bad feels. Even though they can't really die, just living with these feelings sucked.
Reserved him to more wrath; for now the thought		This just made Satan even madder and bitter
Both of lost happiness and lasting pain	55	as he thought of all the pleasures he may never have and the never-ending pain
Torments him: round he throws his baleful eyes,		He looked at the Hell around him and he saw
That witnessed huge affliction and dismay,		All the suffering that his gang was going through,
Mixed with obdurate pride and steadfast hate.		But he was feeling even more hatred.
At once, as far as Angel’s ken, he views		Everywhere he looked
The dismal situation waste and wild.	60
A dungeon horrible, on all sides round,
As one great furnace flamed; yet from those flames		was fire and the fire didn't burn like ordinary flame does
No light; but rather darkness visible		it burned with a dark fire instead of light
Served only to discover sights of woe,		and they only revealed more
Regions of sorrow, doleful shades, where peace	65	suffering
And rest can never dwell, hope never comes		and hoplessness
That comes to all, but torture without end		and unending torture
Still urges, and a fiery deluge, fed		It's like a roaring fire
With ever-burning sulphur unconsumed.		that doesn't seem like it will ever go out
Such place Eternal Justice had prepared	70	This place was made for people like Satan and anyone
For those rebellious; here their prison ordained		else who decides they want to try to fight Heaven.
In utter darkness, and their portion set,		They are sent to this fiery darkness
As far removed from God and light of Heaven		Which is the furthest away from Heaven and the light of Heaven
As from the centre thrice to the utmost pole.
Oh how unlike the place from whence they fell!	75	This place is the complete opposite of where they fell. No kidding!
There the companions of his fall, o’erwhelmed		This is where he and his defeated followers have to
With floods and whirlwinds of tempestuous fire,		live, they have to live with fire.
He soon discerns; and, weltering by his side,		Satan finds a familar face next to him
One next himself in power, and next in crime,		His "2nd in command/assistant"
Long after known in Palestine, and named	80
Beëlzebub. To whom the Arch-Enemy,		His main man: Beëlzebub.
And thence in Heaven called Satan, with bold words		Satan finally spoke
Breaking the horrid silence, thus began:—		You can call it an ice-breaker
“If thou beest he—but Oh how fallen! how changed		"Hey! Is that you? Oh man, you've changed a lot!
From him!—who, in the happy realms of light,	85	You lost your shine, that 'Heavenly shine,'
Clothed with transcendent brightness, didst outshine		You were brighter than
Myriads, though bright—if he whom mutual league,		everyone else!
United thoughts and counsels, equal hope		You joined me and helped me plan
And hazard in the glorious enterprise,		in my attempt to overthrow Heaven,
Joined with me once, now misery hath joined	90	But now we're here, together again in misery
In equal ruin; into what pit thou seest		and defeat
From what highth fallen: so much the stronger proved		We fell pretty far though, and I guess we were a little over our heads
He with his thunder: and till then who knew		Who would have known how strong they could be?
The force of those dire arms? Yet not for those,		But it's whatever to me,
Nor what the potent Victor in his rage	95	I don't care that we lost.
Can else inflict, do I repent, or change,		Heaven can throw everything at me, but I'm not going to change
Though changed in outward lustre, that fixed mind,		I may look different now, but my mind is still the same.
And high disdain from sense of injured merit,
That with the Mightiest raised me to contend,		I still have fight in me
And to the fierce contention brought along	100	I still have the same confidence
Innumerable force of Spirits armed,		that stirred up everyone to join me
That durst dislike his reign, and, me preferring,		to fight the unfair Heaven
His utmost power with adverse power opposed
In dubious battle on the plains of Heaven,
And shook his throne. What though the field be lost?	105	So what if we lost?
All is not lost—the unconquerable will,		Nothing is lost, I still have my free will
And study of revenge, immortal hate,		my revenge and hate
And courage never to submit or yield:		my courage to never to give up
And what is else not to be overcome.		I still have all that! What did Heaven win?
That glory never shall his wrath or might	110
Extort from me. To bow and sue for grace		I'll never bow down,
With suppliant knee, and deify his power		and kneel for mercy and forgiveness from him
Who, from the terror of this arm, so late		I just made it known through my aggressions
Doubted his empire—that were low indeed;		that his empire really can be challenged.
That were an ignominy and shame beneath	115	To beg for mercy and forgiveness would be the worst shame than the defeat we just had.
This downfall; since, by fate, the strength of Gods,
And this empyreal substance, cannot fail;		We can't really die anyway,
Since, through experience of this great event,		but through such an experience
In arms not worse, in foresight much advanced,		we have definitely learned a lot from this.
We may with more successful hope resolve	120
To wage by force or guile eternal war,		We can keep fighting forever, through battle or some more devious and sneaky way.
Irreconcilable to our grand Foe,
Who now triumphs’, and in the excess of joy		Heh, I bet they're all up there in Heaven, just celebrating with their party hats and streamers"
Sole reigning holds the tyranny of Heaven.”
So spake the apostate Angel, though in pain,	125	Satan said these things even though he was in pain
Vaunting aloud, but racked with deep despair;		and deep despair
And him thus answered soon his bold Compeer;—		Beëlzebub responded
“O Prince, O Chief of many thronèd Powers		"Oh Prince, my brave Prince,
That led the embattled Seraphim to war		you rallied the rebel Angels together for war,
Under thy conduct, and, in dreadful deeds	130	with your leadership,
Fearless, endangered Heaven’s perpetual King,		against the tyrant in Heaven
And put to proof his high supremacy,
Whether upheld by strength, or chance, or fate!		But we were defeated, due to Heaven's greater strength or good luck
Too well I see and rue the dire event		Now this is where we are.
That, with sad overthrow and foul defeat,	135	Wallowing in defeat.
Hath lost us Heaven, and all this mighty host		We've lost Heaven and all of our comrades are in bad shape
In horrible destruction laid thus low,		Our pride is hurt
As far as Gods and Heavenly Essences		But we are like Gods and we cannot die,
Can perish: for the mind and spirit remains		Our minds and spirits cannot be destroyed
Invincible, and vigour soon returns,	140	We are invincible, and our courage and strength will return
Though all our glory extinct, and happy state		even though our glory and joy are probably gone forever
Here swallowed up in endless misery.		while we're stuck in this miserable place.
But what if He our Conqueror (whom I now		Now I just think Heaven
Of force believe Almighty, since no less		really is almighty, I mean,
Than such could have o’erpowered such force as ours)	145	how else could he have defeated an army like ours?
Have left us this our spirit and strength entire,		Maybe he just left us alive to let us suffer
Strongly to suffer and support our pains,		So that we can live with misery
That we may so suffice his vengeful ire,		and he can be satisfied with our suffering
Or do him mightier service as his thralls		or make us slaves to do whatever
By right of war, whate’er his business be,	150	he wants us to do down here in Hell
Here in the heart of Hell to work in fire,
Or do errands in the gloomy Deep?
What can it then avail though yet we feel		What good is it if
Strength undiminished, or eternal being		we remain alive by Heaven's hand and immortal if it's
To undergo eternal punishment?”	155	only to live in suffering?"
Whereto with speedy words the Arch-Fiend replied:—		Satan the a.k.a. the Arch-Fiend replied with
“Fallen Cherub, to be weak is miserable,		"I know it sucks right now, and we're pretty miserable down here
Doing or suffering: but of this be sure—		but hear me out:
To do aught good never will be our task,		We will never do good deeds again
But ever to do ill our sole delight,	160	We will instead do evil deeds and gain pleasure from doing that
As being the contrary to His high will		We will do the opposite of what he wants
Whom we resist. If then His providence		And if Heaven
Out of our evil seek to bring forth good,		tries to turn our evil deeds into something good,
Our labour must be to pervert that end,		we will work hard to find another way
And out of good still to find means of evil;	165	to turn them evil again.
Which ofttimes may succeed so as perhaps		We'll succeed sometimes and
Shall grieve him, if I fail not, and disturb		that will upset God even more
His inmost counsels from their destined aim.		We can do these things to thwart his plans
But see! the angry Victor hath recalled		But look at our enemy! He called back
His ministers of vengeance and pursuit	170	his troops
Back to the gates of Heaven: the sulphurous hail,		and went back to Heaven
Shot after us in storm, o’erblown hath laid		so right now we're in the calm of the storm
The fiery surge that from the precipice
Of Heaven received us falling; and the thunder,
Winged with red lightning and impetuous rage,	175
Perhaps hath spent his shafts, and ceases now		They're probably regrouping at the moment and waiting
To bellow through the vast and boundless Deep.
Let us not slip the occasion, whether scorn		I think we should take advantage of this opportunity, whether our enemy is ignoring us or if
Or satiate fury yield it from our Foe.		their anger has been quenched
Seest thou yon dreary plain, forlorn and wild,	180	Look at that dark plain over there
The seat of desolation, void of light,
Save what the glimmering of these livid flames		Let's get out of these flames over here and
Casts pale and dreadful? Thither let us tend		find a spot over there because it has less flames (there's just a lot of fire down here!)
From off the tossing of these fiery waves;
There rest, if any rest can harbour there;	185	Let's just go over there and see if it's a bit better than this spot, yeah? It's worth a shot
And, re-assembling our afflicted powers,		We can gather everyone up
Consult how we may henceforth most offend		and talk about how we can recover and see what we can do
Our Enemy, our own loss how repair,		to mess with our enemy more
How overcome this dire calamity,		I'm sure we can get better.
What reinforcement we may gain from hope,	190	We still have some 'hope' left to muster
If not what resolution from despair.”		And maybe we can also come up with a way to make our current situation tolerable."
Thus Satan, talking to his nearest Mate,		Satan replied
With head uplift above the wave, and eyes		with his head and eyes above the flames
That sparkling blazed; his other parts besides		sparkling and blazing bright
Prone on the flood, extended long and large,	195
Lay floating many a rood, in bulk as huge		His body was large; he's apparently a huge deal down here in Hell.
As whom the fables name of monstrous size,		Imagine a really large bouncy house, like the ones at children's parties, only this one is made of fire and envy and lies.
Titanian or Earth-born, that warred on Jove,
Briareos or Typhon, whom the den
By ancient Tarsus held, or that sea-beast	200
Leviathan, which God of all his works
Created hugest that swim the ocean-stream.
Him, haply slumbering on the Norway foam,
The pilot of some small night-foundered skiff,
Deeming some island, oft, as seamen tell,	205
With fixèd anchor in his scaly rind,
Moors by his side under the lee, while night
Invests the sea, and wishèd morn delays.
So stretched out huge in length the Arch-Fiend lay,		Anyway, Satan is pretty high and mighty and huge.
Chained on the burning lake; nor ever thence	210	Satan may have never gotten out of the burning lake of fire,
Had risen, or heaved his head, but that the will		or even lifted his head up,
And high permission of all-ruling Heaven		if God didn't decide to allow it.
Left him at large to his own dark designs,		Satan can do whatever he wants
That with reiterated crimes he might		like more crimes and stuff like that
Heap on himself damnation, while he sought	215	because it would only damn him more
Evil to others, and enraged might see		by being evil and horrible to others
How all his malice served but to bring forth		Satan would only find that the result would be God's goodness in the end
Infinite goodness, grace, and mercy, shewn		grace, and mercy given
On Man by him seduced, but on himself		to man. While Satan must suffer God's punishment
Treble confusion, wrath, and vengeance poured.	220	over and over again.
Forthwith upright he rears from off the pool		So Satan got up out of the fiery lake
His mighty stature; on each hand the flames		His large person separating the flames around him
Driven backward slope their pointing spires, and, rowled		leaving an empty void where he had been lying
In billows, leave i’ the midst a horrid vale.
Then with expanded wings he steers his flight	225	He then spread his wings and flew
Aloft, incumbent on the dusky air,		up into the polluted air
That felt unusual weight; till on dry land		until he landed onto dry land
He lights—if it were land that ever burned
With solid, as the lake with liquid fire,
And such appeared in hue as when the force	230
Of subterranean wind transports a hill
Torn from Pelorus, or the shattered side
Of thundering Ætna, whose combustible
And fuelled entrails, thence conceiving fire,
Sublimed with mineral fury, aid the winds,	235
And leave a singèd bottom all involved
With stench and smoke. Such resting found the sole		This was the kind of land meant for
Of unblest feet. Him followed his next Mate;		those who are unblessed.  Satan followed Beelzebub
Both glorying to have scaped the Stygian flood		praising each other about getting out of the lake of fire
As gods, and by their own recovered strength,	240	because of their strength and power,
Not by the sufferance of supernal power.		and not because God had let them.
“Is this the region, this the soil, the clime,”		Satan then said, "Hmm, so this land of fire that we get
Said then the lost Archangel, “this the seat
That we must change for Heaven?—this mournful gloom		in exchange for Heaven? This gloomy desolation
For that celestial light? Be it so, since He	245	in place of Heaven's light? That's fine by me! God
Who now is sovran can dispose and bid		can have his dictatorship and reign of tyranny up there
What shall be right: fardest from Him is best,		and the further away from him the better!
Whom reason hath equalled, force hath made supreme		We had equal rights, but the power of his force was stronger, so he gets to be 'king'
Above his equals. Farewell, happy fields,		So farewell Heaven
Where joy forever dwells! Hail, horrors! hail,	250	and hello horrors of Hell! Hail!
Infernal World! and thou, profoundest Hell,		This is our world and we (I mean 'I') can do anything!
Receive thy new possessor—one who brings		Welcom your new master, the one who brings
A mind not to be changed by place or time.		a mind that does not change by place or time
The mind is its own place, and in itself		As long as you have the attitude,
Can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven.	255	you can make Heaven feel like Hell or Hell feel like Heaven!
What matter where, if I be still the same,		Why does it matter where I am if I'm still the same ol' Satan?!
And what I should be, all but less than he		I'm as great as God in every way except for his power.
Whom thunder hath made greater? Here at least		Here we can be free.
We shall be free; the Almighty hath not built		God didn't build this place for anything else!
Here for his envy, will not drive us hence:	260	I doubt he can drive us out of here
Here we may reign secure; and, in my choice,		so we can call this place our new home. And for me,
To reign is worth ambition, though in Hell:		to be a ruler is a worthwhile ambition, even if it is Hell to rule.
Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven.		I'd rather be a king in Hell than to be a slave in Heaven.
But wherefore let we then our faithful friends,		But hey, let's not leave the rest of our buddies
The associates and co-partners of our loss,	265
Lie thus astonished on the oblivious pool,		over there in that burning lake.
And call them not to share with us their part		We might as well have them join us
In this unhappy mansion, or once more		in our misery and
With rallied arms to try what may be yet		regroup to see what we can salvage
Regained in Heaven, or what more lost in Hell?”	270	from our fall from Heaven, or whatever bad news still waits for us here in Hell."
So Satan spake; and him Beëlzebub		Beëlzebub replied to Satan
Thus answered:—“Leader of those armies bright		"You know, nothing less than Heaven could have beaten this army!
Which, but the Omnipotent, none could have foiled!
If once they hear that voice, their liveliest pledge		If our fallen can hear your voice, the same voice that gave them
Of hope in fears and dangers—heard so oft	275	hope during battle
In worst extremes, and on the perilous edge		and our struggles
Of battle, when it raged, in all assaults
Their surest signal—they will soon resume		I'm sure it will renew their strength
New courage and revive, though now they lie		and courage. Talk to them! Give them strength!
Grovelling and prostrate on yon lake of fire,	280	No wonder they're all still lying around in this lake of fire
As we erewhile, astounded and amazed;		all confused and flustered from defeat
No wonder, fallen such a pernicious highth!”		and falling from Heaven!
He scarce had ceased when the superior Fiend		Beëlzebub didn't even finish speaking when Satan
Was moving toward the shore; his ponderous shield,		started heading towards the shore with his huge shield
Ethereal temper, massy, large, and round,	285	that was large and round,
Behind him cast. The broad circumference		on his back
Hung on his shoulders like the moon, whose orb		It looked like the moon
Through optic glass the Tuscan artist views
At evening, from the top of Fesolè,
Or in Valdarno, to descry new lands,	290
Rivers, or mountains, in her spotty globe.
His spear—to equal which the tallest pine		Satan's spear that was long
Hewn on Norwegian hills, to be the mast		and seemed like the mast of
Of some great Ammiral, were but a wand—		a ship,
He walked with, to support uneasy steps	295	He used it to help balance himself
Over the burning marle, not like those steps		as he walked on the fiery ground of Hell that was so
On Heaven’s azure; and the torrid clime		different than the ground of Heaven. The air
Smote on him sore besides, vaulted with fire.		was hot and it burned him as he walked towards the shore.
Nathless he so endured, till on the beach		Satan stood on the beach,
Of that inflamèd sea he stood, and called	300	and he called out to his fallen army
His legions—Angel Forms, who lay entranced		His army was lying about
Thick as autumnal leaves that strow the brooks		like autumn leaves on a shady brook
In Vallombrosa, where the Etrurian shades
High over-arched imbower; or scattered sedge		or like seaweeds floating
Afloat, when with fierce winds Orion armed	305
Hath vexed the Red-Sea coast, whose waves o’erthrew
Busiris and his Memphian chivalry,
While with perfidious hatred they pursued
The sojourners of Goshen, who beheld
From the safe shore their floating carcases	310	next to the corpses of fallen soldiers
And broken chariot-wheels. So thick bestrown,		and broken chariot wheels. The fallen angels were just
Abject and lost, lay these, covering the flood,		scattered everywhere,
Under amazement of their hideous change.		in a state of shock. Their bodies just covered the lake.
He called so loud that all the hollow deep		Satan called out, and his voice echoed and reverberated around.
Of Hell resounded:—“Princes, Potentates,	315	He announced, "Rebel angels, Princes, and Warriors!
Warriors, the Flower of Heaven—once yours; now lost,		You were once rulers of Heaven! You guys better act like it!
If such astonishment as this can seize		Look at all of you! What happened to you?
Eternal Spirits! Or have ye chosen this place		Are you just going to lie around and accept where you are?
After the toil of battle to repose		Is this where you choose to rest after battle?
Your wearied virtue, for the ease you find	320	Maybe you find this place to be comfortable enough
To slumber here, as in the vales of Heaven?		to rest as you did in Heaven?
Or in this abject posture have ye sworn		Or maybe you just want to kneel to your conqueror
To adore the Conqueror, who now beholds		in Heaven? And then he'll just see you
Cherub and Seraph rowling in the flood		in this weakened state and take advantage