Back to the gates of heaven; the sulphurous hail, Of heaven received us falling; and the thunder, Seest thou yon dreary plain,3 forlorn and wild, Save what the glimmering of these livid flames How overcome this dire calamity — What reinforcement we may gain from hope- Thus Satan, talking to his nearest mate, With head uplift above the wave, and eyes That sparkling blazed: his other parts besides, 1 his shafts. For the use of "his" for "its," see p. 37, note 3. 2 slip the occasion. Express in other words. 8 yon dreary plain, etc. Compare with line seventeen of this extract. 4 if... there: that is, if any res can be found there. 5 afflicted, beaten down. 6 powers, forces. 7 if not: that is, if no reinforcement is to be gained from hope. 8 uplift, for uplifted. Prone1 on the flood, extended2 long and large, 8 By ancient Tarsus held, or that sea-beast Created hugest 10 that swim the ocean-stream," — Moors by his side under the lee, while night 1 prone (Lat. pronus), lying front | ing to the Greek poets, lived in a downward. cave in Cilicia, in Asia Minor. 2 extended: this is not the past participle, but the past tense, adjunct to "parts." 3 as whom. Supply the ellipsis beween "as" and "whom." ▲ Titanian. The Titans in Greek mythology were sons of Heaven (Uranus) and Earth (Gæa). 5 Earth-born, the Giants (meaning literally the earth-born ones), the sons of Gæa (Earth) by Uranus (Heaven), were a savage race of men whom the gods destroyed for their insolence. 6 Briareos, an enormous monster with fifty heads and a hundred hands. ▾ Typhon, a fire-breathing hundred-headed monster, who, accord 8 Tarsus, the chief city of Cilicia. 9 Leviathan. See Job xli. and Ps. civ. 26. Generally any large sea animal, the whale, etc. 10 hugest. Pronounce as a monosyllable. 11 the ocean-stream, a Homeric expression. Homer regarded the ocean as a great stream running round the flat disk of the earth. 12 night-foundered (not wrecked, but) brought to a stand by the coming-on of night. 18 as seamen tell. Milton doubtless had in mind the curious tales of "anchors fastened on whales' backs," etc., told in a book of Northern Antiquities by a Swedish author named Olaus Magnus. So stretched out huge in length the Arch-fiend lay, Forthwith upright he rears from off the pool In billows, leave in the midst a horrid vale. That felt unusual weight, till on dry land And such appeared in hue, as when the force 1 chained; meaning, as if kept there by a chain. 4 horrid. See Glossary. 5 incumbent, leaning, reclining. 2 infinite. Accent on the second See Glossary. syllable. 8 rears... stature. Rhetorical expression: what is the plain statement? 6 appeared. What is the sub ject? 7 hue. Give a synonym. 8 subterranean. See Glossary. Torn from Pelorus,1 or the shattered side With stench and smoke. Such resting found the sole 6 "Is this the region, this the soil, the clime," Where joy for ever dwells! Hail, horrors! hail, 1 Pelo'rus (modern Cape Faro), the north-east point of Sicily, not far from Mount Etna. 2 Sublimed, literally uplifted, raised to an extraordinary heat. For the meaning of the verb to "sublime," in its chemical sense, see Webster. 3 next mate. To whom is the reference? 4 Stygian. See note, p. 81. 6 He. To whom is the reference? 8 Hail, etc. What kind of sentence? Can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven.1 So Satan spake, and him Beelzebub Thus answered: "Leader of those armies bright, In worst extremes, and on the perilous edge 1 The mind... heaven. Analyze this sentence. 2 Here for his envy. Satan speaks ironically. "The Almighty has certainly not made hell so attractive that he envies us the possession of it." 3 astonished, in the literal sense of thunderstruck. 4 oblivious pool, the pool causing oblivion. What was this pool? 5 they. Who are meant? 6 perilous. Give a synonym. |