On Reading Paradise Lost By John Milton

Impenetrable, impal'd with circling fire,
Yet unconsum'd.
John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book II, Lines 647-648

The Oracle of Ottawa has come to Paradise Lost late in life. There have been other attempts earlier to get through it. But something else always got in the way. One soon gets bogged down in the Classical references which were pretty common knowledge to any well read man that lived in Miltons time, but to a "modern" man it all seems as dry as straw. You soon start to wonder what all the fuss is about regarding the work. But when you realize that it took Milton over ten years to write the work and once you have rudimentary understanding of the time and place that he lived it all comes alive as the greatest Epic possibly ever written.

John Milton

The secret to starting and sticking with it is a good annotated text. A real boring one that has that wicked long introduction by the editor, the one that goes into the details of the social and economic environment that Milton found himself in. A detailed once over reading of the chronology of his life and times will also help immeasurably. John Milton was not a nine to five suburbanite! And being born into a well off family didn't mean that he had no problems, he just had different ones and a lot of them! A rudimentary understanding of his time is crucial to coming to grips with the driving force of what he was about. Think of Paradise Lost as the seventeenth century version of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, by Hunter S. Thompson!

Paradise Lost Plate by William Blake

The text that grabbed and held the Oracle of Ottawas nose to the page is that of Roy Flannagan from 1993, published by Prentice Hall. (Note to Prentice Hall: use the good glue, like Norton and Wiley do...) You simply must have a detailed annotated text. And that edited by Roy Flannagan is the best that this humble reader has ever seen. Strangely enough the text reads much faster and becomes very enjoyable when you read all the foot notes. The Oracle of Ottawa loves the detail and the explanations and references to the classical and mythological references. The details of the errors of the printing and compositing are just fascinating and contain the subject matter of several yet to be written tomes. Which I am pretty sure will not be written by the Oracle of Ottawa!

Once you are clued into the meaning of the bearers of Miltons symbolism the whole work takes on a majesty that is impossible to describe. The conjuring of the imperial scope with the continued use of twenty four symbols (more or less..) arranged in a multitude of different ways soon leads you to the discovery of what literary power really is, and that it will never be exhausted...

John Milton Wasn't A Philosopher?

Yet from these flames
No light, but rather darkness visible.
John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book I, Lines 62 - 63

What better time to talk about John Milton? Evil has descended upon the land, especially  here in Canada! Why today, the social deconstruction continues apace. New legislation to destroy the long gun registry was tabled. Rob Ford was frightened and called 911 over a visit by Marg Delahunty at his residence in Toronto. Rex Murphy appeared on Strombo, in the biggest reverse Judas act ever seen. The Oracle of Ottawa is convinced that we are living in the end times! Nothing is going to get any better. The neo-con conservative rule will continue to tighten. They will win an even larger majority in the next election. The Senate Chamber by then will be converted into a temple. The Speech From the Throne will be replaced with burnt offerings...The curtain of Canada will be rent asunder for all time!

John Milton

What better time to get into Milton's Paradise Lost? But before we do we must prepare the ground. What was the importance of John Milton to philosophy? Good, evil, power, gnashing of teeth, pretty common foundational philosophical issues, no? The Oracle of Ottawa must refer to a higher power. Pulling my copy of The Oxford Companion To Philosophy down from the shelf, I was shocked, shocked! That John Milton did not get an article in what I thought up to this point was a most excellent reference work and all around help. And to add insult to injury, I have the latest "New Edition"!

"sulphur and perfidy"

But, fear not, dear reader, the Oracle of Ottawa is most well resourced for a retired blue collar worker! We will just go up to the bigger guns! Pulling volume five down of my most treasured copy of The Encyclopedia of Philosophy edited by Paul Edwards, the day was saved! It contains a most brilliant erudite article of John Miltons importance to philosophy. "Milton was essentially a religious and ethical thinker, and his views are a striking blend of Christian humanism and Puritanism." This is most reassuring in this present age of sulphur and perfidy!

Yes but, what was the point? Yes, this article gets right to the very heart of the matter, in answering the question most brilliantly. " Central to Milton's conception of Christian liberty is the distinction between the Mosaic law, a law of bondage which extorts servile obedience through fear, and the gospel, which offers a free, elective and spiritual service based on mans filial relation to God." Now you to can understand Question Period!

What is the ultimate point? Again, quoting form the text: "This strong emphasis on inner law led Milton to the antinomian view that Christ, by his life and death, abrogated the whole Mosiac law, the moral parts as well as the judicial and ceremonial parts." Perhaps there is hope for the future after all?

Who would have guessed that Paradise Lost would become modern and contemporary?

Was John Milton Wrong?

[…] Here at least
we shall be free; the Almighty hath not built
Here for his envy, will not drive us hence:
Here we may reign secure, and in my choice
to reign is worth ambition though in Hell:
Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heaven.
John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book I,  Lines 258-263


It is much to the Oracle of Ottawa's chagrin, that  he has yet to read Paradise Lost straight through. So many books so little time... but when the time comes I will be ready. I have more then one excellent edition. The modern facsimile of the Gustave Dore illustrated edition for the first light read through and then that really posh, annotated academic edition for the background and depth...Maybe I'll pull a Canadian style Northrup Frye and see it all in a brilliant new light! A reinterpretation of John Milton by the Oracle of Ottawa... Governor Generals Award for best non-fiction....Hey shit happens!

John Milton, Right or Wrong?

But even though I have yet to start and finish, I often ponder one line from the work..."Better to reign in Hell, then serve in Heaven." It stays in my head all the time. Especially watching the antics of the many political animals of which we have many in abundance in the fair City of Ottawa, at three levels of government! These people take it as a maxim wrapped in a mantra... The results of course are an unmitigated disaster. Any one who cops this line as a mantra, never ran anything ...

The edition I really, really want...

It is all about the power isn't it? Power is fascinating in youth and grows to revulsion in the seasoning of years. Another good analogy I have often heard is that power is like a candle that is lit at both ends, but that is not really true. Power is like a stick of dynamite that is lit at both ends, with variable speed burning fuses! You don't know which fuse is going to burn you first, all you know for sure is, eventually and sure as Hell, that sooner rather then later the goddamn thing is going to blow up like a bastard...That is when you hand it to the poor devil beside you and head for the peace and calm of Heaven...

A bit of an introduction....