Paradise Lost

721-722. Once more. Study those lines carefully. See 1 Corinthians xv. 26.

728–814. Only son. Notice that Sin is the daughter of Satan, and Death the offspring of both. Explain the allegorical meaning of this.

746. Portress. Why is Sin made the portress of Hell's gate ?

755–758. Left side. Compare the origin of Sin with the origin of Minerva, for which see classical dictionary or mythology. Why does Sin spring from the left side of Satan's head ?

759-765. Recoiled. At a later date, Pope wrote,

“ Vice is a monster of so frightful mien,

As to be hated needs but to be seen;
Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face,
We first endure, then pity, then embrace."

774–777. Key. Why was the key of Hell given into the hands of Sin? And why was it that Death should also be at the gates of Hell ?

787-792. Fled. What is symbolized by Death's pursuit of Sin ? Observe, also, that Death overtakes Sin. It is "swifter far. Explain this. “ The wages of sin is death."

795–802. Monsters. These “hell-hounds are the offspring of Sin and Death. What do these “yelling monsters " syme bolize? What is symbolized in the lines, –

“hourly conceived And hourly born, with sorrow infinite

To me

That rest or intermission none I find”?

804. Grim death. If you have found out what the "hell. hounds"

are, cannot you discover what is symbolized by,

"Grim Death, my son and foe, who sets them on"? 805-809. Why is Death unwilling to slay Sin ?

811-814. Invulnerable. Observe that both Satan and Sin may suffer extinction, and that Death ends with them.

821-823. Show the relation between these lines and lines 1-3, B. I.

843-844. Your prey. Is this still true ?

245-849. If the preceding questions have been carefully unswered, these lines will be very significant.

879-883. Jarring sound. Observe how the sound suits the

sense.

883–884. What does this symbolize ? See B. II., 875–876. 884–889. Wide open. Compare with Matthew vii. 13.

890–916. In sudden view appear. These lines should be studied most carefully for their profound symbolism.

898–916. Hot, Cold, Moist, and Dry. Study these lines wib reference to geology and physical geography.

904. Barca or Cyrene. Reference to desert regions in northeru Africa. 66 The Barcan desert pierce ...". Thanatopsis.

917–1055. Voyage. For Satan's flight see Fig. 4, p. xxxi. 922. Bellona. See dictionary.

933. Drops. Follow Satan's flight on Fig. 4, p. xxxi.
939. Syrtis. See dictionary.

943-947. Griffin . . . Arimaspian. The Griffins were mon sters, half eagle and half lion, who guarded “the gold-gushing

fount, the stream of Pluto," and who constantly battled for the 1 gold with the Arimaspians, "a cavalry host of one-eyed ” people

of Scythia. See p. 27, Æschylus, Bohn Library, Encyc. Brit., XXI., 577, or Herodotus, IV., 13.

951. Hubbub. This should be expected at the Pavilion of Chaos.

964. Orcus and Ades and the dreaded name of Demogorgon. The three who stood nearest the pavilion of Chaos and Night.

Orcus was the god who brought spirits to the realm of Pluto.

Ades or Hades was the god who presided over the shades in that realm.

Demogorgon was a mystical divinity so terrible that none dared pronounce the name.

The mythological tales of these divinities do not seem very applicable here, and it is possible that the mystical reference was purposed by Milton to increase the horror and confusion of the scene.

965-967. Rumor These personifications are also intended to add to our conception of the dreadful region of Chaos,

980. Profound. What part of speech? See dictionary.

Note Satan's promise here

981-987. Erect the standard. Does he intend to fulAll it ?

988. Anarch. See dictionary. This word was probably coined by Milton. Why does he call Chaos " anarch" ?

999. Can. Is this a principal or an auxiliary verb ?

1005. Golden chain. Does the “golden chain" symbolize anything? If so, what ?

1017-1018. Argo. Jason's ship on his voyage for the “Golden Fleece." At what is now the Bosphorus, the exit of the waters of the Euxine or Black Sea. The Symplegades, or rocks on either side of this exit, were said to close upon anything that attempted to pass between them; hence, “the justling rocks." See classical dictionary or mythology.

1020. Charybdis. See dictionary, mythology, classical dictionary, or encyclopædia.

1021-1033. Difficulty. Is the difference between the difficulty of Satan's passage and the ease of that of those who follow the “broad and beaten way” symbolical of anything ?

1029. Utmost orb. The Primum Mobile, See diagram of “ The World," p. xxxiii.

1052–1063. Pendent world. Remember that “this pendent world” means the entire solar system, to use the modern term. What is the diameter of the orbit of Saturn? But he says that the whole system looked “in bigness as a star of smallest magnitude close by the moon." The star and the moon, as we see them, are compared with what things as Satan saw them?