PARADISE LOST -BOOK-I 

LINE BY LINE SUMMARY

SECTION-I

Theme and Subject of the poem

• Line 1: Of Mans First Disobedience, and the Fruit
  The poem introduces its primary topic: humanity's original act of rebellion against God, punning on the word "Fruit" to mean both the literal apple eaten by Adam and Eve and the tragic consequences of their actions.
• Line 2: Of that Forbidden Tree, whose mortal tast
  This specifies the source of the sin—eating from the forbidden Tree of Knowledge—and notes its fatal ("mortal") taste, which brought mortality to mankind.
• Line 3: Brought Death into the World, and all our woe,
  The consequence of this original sin was the introduction of physical and spiritual death, alongside all human suffering and sorrow, into what was previously a perfect world.
• Line 4: With loss of Eden, till one greater Man
  Humanity lost their paradise in the Garden of Eden, but Milton immediately provides hope, foreshadowing the arrival of "one greater Man"—Jesus Christ.
• Line 5: Restore us, and regain the blissful Seat,
  This greater Man will eventually redeem humanity, restore our relationship with God, and win back our heavenly home ("the blissful Seat").
• Line 6: Sing Heav'nly Muse, that on the secret top
  Milton calls upon his source of inspiration. Rather than a classical Greek muse, he invokes the "Heav'nly Muse" (the Holy Spirit), who operates from hidden, sacred mountaintops.
• Line 7: Of Oreb, or of Sinai, didst inspire
  He references Mount Horeb and Mount Sinai—the sacred locations where God spoke directly to humanity in the Old Testament.
• Line 8: That Shepherd (=Moses), who first taught the chosen Seed,
  The Muse is the same power that inspired "That Shepherd"—Moses—who led the Israelites ("the chosen Seed") and received the divine law.
• Line 9: In the Beginning how the Heav'ns and Earth
  Moses was instructed by this divine source on how the universe was formed at the dawn of time, as recorded in the Book of Genesis.
• Line 10: Rose out of Chaos: Or if Sion Hill
  The universe emerged out of raw, formless Chaos. Milton adds that if Mount Zion (the holy hill of Jerusalem) pleases the Muse more than Mount Sinai...
• Line 11: Delight thee more, and Siloa's Brook that flow'd
  ...or if the Muse prefers the sacred Siloam stream, which flowed gently...
• Line 12: Fast by the Oracle of God; I thence
  ...right next to the Jewish Temple ("the Oracle of God"), Milton will call upon the Muse from that holy place instead.
• Line 13: Invoke thy aid to my adventrous Song,
  He formally requests the Muse's guidance for his incredibly bold and daring epic poem ("adventrous Song").
• Line 14: That with no middle flight intends to soar
  Milton states that his poem will not take an ordinary, low-altitude path; it aims to rise to the highest intellectual and spiritual heights.
• Line 15: Above th' Aonian Mount, while it pursues
  His work will fly higher than the "Aonian Mount" (Mount Helicon, the traditional home of the classical Greek Muses), meaning his Christian epic will surpass pagan myths like Homer's Iliad or Virgil's Aeneid.
• Line 16: Things unattempted yet in Prose or Rhime.
  He boldly declares his intent to write about grand cosmic themes that no writer in human history has ever dared to attempt before.

 

• Line 17: And chiefly Thou O Spirit, that dost prefer
  Milton shifts his focus from the Muse of Moses to address the Holy Spirit directly, identifying it as the primary ("chiefly") source of his inspiration.
• Line 18: Before all Temples th' upright heart and pure,
  He highlights a core theological point: the Holy Spirit values a morally upright, sincere, and pure human heart far more than any grand, physical temple building.
• Line 19: Instruct me, for Thou know'st; Thou from the first
  He asks the Spirit for direct education and knowledge, noting that the Spirit knows all things because it was present at the very beginning of existence.
• Line 20: Wast present, and with mighty wings outspread
  The Spirit was active before creation, stretching its powerful, massive wings across the unformed universe.
• Line 21: Dove-like satst brooding on the vast Abyss
  In a famous image blending the Genesis creation story with the New Testament baptism of Christ, the Spirit sat like a nesting dove over the empty, chaotic void ("the vast Abyss").
• Line 22: And mad'st it pregnant: What in me is dark
  By "brooding" over Chaos, the Spirit infused it with life and fertility to create the world. Milton transitions this cosmic power to his own mind, asking the Spirit to bring light to the dark areas of his understanding.
• Line 23: Illumin, what is low raise and support;
  He prays for spiritual illumination, asking the Spirit to lift up his low human thoughts and support his limited strength.
• Line 24: That to the highth of this great Argument
  He needs this divine elevation so that he can rise to the immense physical, intellectual, and spiritual scale of his massive subject matter ("great Argument").
• Line 25: I may assert Eternal Providence,
  With the Spirit's help, he intends to firmly declare, defend, and demonstrate the reality of God's timeless, all-knowing plan for humanity.
• Line 26: And justifie the wayes of God to men.
  He states the ultimate thesis of the entire epic: to explain, vindicate, and show the absolute justice of God's actions and decisions in dealing with humanity.

 

Note: line number 1-16 are one sentence, and the remaining ten lines are another sentence, the 39^th word (=Sing) is the main verb in the first 16 lines.

SECTION-II

Lines 27-40

• The Question (Lines 27–33): The narrator asks the all-knowing Spirit (Muse)- (nothing in Heaven or Hell is hidden from her.)to reveal what could possibly have motivated "our Grand Parents" (Adam and Eve) to turn away from God. He notes how incredibly tragic their fall is, given they were deeply loved by Heaven and ruled over the entire world, restricted by only one single rule (not eating from the Tree of Knowledge).-they were otherwise lords of the whole world.
• The Answer (Lines 33–40): The narrator immediately answers that the "infernal Serpent" (Satan) was the one who tricked them. Driven by intense jealousy, pride, and a desire for revenge, Satan deceived Eve ("the Mother of Mankind") after he and his army of rebel angels were cast out of Heaven. His downfall was caused by his supreme arrogance—believing he could equal or overthrow most High (God Almighty).

Lines 41–43

If he oppos'd; and with ambitious aim / Against the Throne and Monarchy of God / Rais'd impious War in Heav'n and Battel proud

• Summary: Driven by intense, misguided ambition, Satan targeted God's absolute sovereignty and kingdom. He started an unholy, highly disrespectful civil war in Heaven, leading his forces with immense, arrogant pride.
• Important Phrases:
• Throne and Monarchy of God: This frames Heaven not just as a spiritual space, but as a formal political state under a rightful king.
• Impious War / Battel proud:Impious means unholy or lacking reverence. Satan's pride blinds him to the fact that fighting his own Creator is morally corrupt.

Lines 44–46

With vain attempt. Him the Almighty Power / Hurld headlong flaming from th' Ethereal Skie / With hideous ruine and combustion down

• Summary: However, Satan's military uprising was completely useless and futile.In response, God's supreme power instantly defeated him, casting Satan headfirst and burning out of the pure, celestial skies. He plunged downward through a violent, exploding wake of total destruction.
• Important Phrases:
• Vain attempt: A crucial pivot meaning a completely futile or pointless effort. Milton uses this to establish immediately that Satan never stood a single chance against omnipotence.
• Headlong= too quickly
• Hurld headlong flaming: A highly kinetic sequence where the language mimics the fast, chaotic, downward acceleration of Satan's fall.
• Ethereal Skie: Celestial or heavenly skies, implying a pure, light, spiritual matter.

Lines 47–49

To bottomless perdition, there to dwell / In Adamantine Chains and penal Fire, / Who durst defieth' Omnipotent to Arms.

• Summary: Satan fell straight into the infinite abyss of Hell's damnation. He is condemned to live there forever, bound tightly in unbreakable, legendary chains and tortured by punishing fires. This severe sentence was handed down simply because he was foolish enough to challenge the all-powerful God to physical combat.
• Important Phrases:
• Bottomless perdition:Perdition means utter spiritual ruin or damnation. Describing it as bottomless emphasizes that Hell is an infinite psychological and physical abyss.
• Adamantine Chains: Made of "adamant," a mythical stone known in classical literature for being completely unbreakable and indestructible.
• Penal Fire: Fire meant strictly for judicial punishment. It burns with immense agony but produces no light ("darkness visible").
• Th' Omnipotent to Arms:Omnipotent means All-Powerful. Placing this divine title right next to Satan's challenge to arms (weapons) highlights the supreme delusion of his pride.

Line 50

Nine times the Space that measures Day and Night

• Summary: Following this violent crash, Satan and his fallen angels lay completely paralyzed, stunned, and defeated at the bottom of Hell for a duration equal to nine full human days and nights.
• Important Phrases:
• Nine times the Space: A direct nod to classical epic conventions. Milton adapts this structural timeline from ancient mythology (where defeated Titans fell for nine days to reach the underworld) to anchor his own epic.

Lines 51–53

To mortal men, he with his horrid crew / Lay vanquisht, rowling in the fiery Gulfe / Confounded though immortal:

• Summary: Measured in human terms, Satan and his terrifying army of rebel angels lay completely defeated, helplessly rolling around in the blazing abyssof Hell. They are physically and mentally shattered, yet they are cursed to remain alive because they cannot die (immortal).
• Important Phrases:
• Horrid crew: The army of fallen angels; "horrid" carries its classic Latin meaning of something bristling, terrifying, or causing hair to stand on end.
• Fiery Gulfe: The vast, churning chasm or abyss of flames that makes up Hell.
• Confounded though immortal: Mentally crushed and ruined (confounded), yet unable to escape their suffering through death due to their eternal nature.

Lines 53–55

But his doom / Reserv'd him to more wrath; for now the thought / Both of lost happiness and lasting pain

• Summary: However, Satan's ultimate judgment kept him conscious only to experience even greater divine anger. His true torture begins now, as his mind forces him to think about the perfect joy he threw away in Heaven alongside the never-ending agony he must now endure.
• Important Phrases:
• Doom: His permanent, inescapable judgment or sentence.
• The thought / Both of lost happiness and lasting pain: This introduces the core theme of psychological torment. Satan's worst punishment is not physical fire, but his own memory contrasting past paradise with present agony.

Lines 56–58

Torments him; round he throws his baleful eyes / That witness'd huge affliction and dismay / Mixt with obdurate pride and stedfast hate:

• Summary: These thoughts deeply torture him. Satan rolls his sorrowful, malice-filled eyes to scan his surroundings. His gaze reveals a complex mix of emotions: profound suffering and terror, blended with stubborn, unyielding arrogance and unshakeable hatred toward God.
• Important Phrases:
• Baleful eyes: Eyes full of deep sorrow, despair, and active malice or evil intent.
• Witness'd huge affliction: In this context, witness'd means "bore witness to" or expressed. His eyes project the immense suffering happening inside his mind.
• Obdurate pride and stedfasthate:Obdurate means hardened and completely stubborn. Despite his terrifying defeat, Satan completely refuses to repent, choosing permanent hatred over submission.

 

Lines 59–60

At once as far as Angels kenn he views / The dismal Situation waste and wilde,

• Summary: Looking all at once, as far as an angel's powerful vision can possibly stretch, he examines the depressing layout of his new environment—a landscape that is completely ruined, barren, and chaotic.
• Important Phrases:
• Angels kenn: The horizon or range of an angel's sight, which is infinitely more powerful and vast than human vision.
• Dismal Situation:Situation here refers to a physical location or site. Dismal carries its historical weight of being sinister, dark, and deeply depressing.
• Waste and wilde: A completely ruined, lawless, and desolate wilderness.

Lines 61–62

A Dungeon horrible, on all sides round / As one great Furnace flam'd, yet from those flames

• Summary: Satan sees that his new home is a terrifying dungeon that burns like a massive, roaring oven in every direction. Paradoxically, even though there are massive flames everywhere, they do not behave like normal fire.
• Important Phrases:
• A Dungeon horrible: Establishes Hell not just as a location, but as a tight, inescapable, penal prison managed by God.
• As one great Furnace flam'd: A powerful simile comparing the endless landscape of Hell to a localized, intensely concentrated source of industrial heat.

Lines 63–64

No light, but rather darkness visible / Serv'donely to discover sights of woe,

• Summary: The flames yield absolutely no light; instead, they produce a strange, paradoxical darkness that somehow allows a person to see. This unnatural darkness functions only to reveal terrifying scenes of misery and suffering.
• Important Phrases:
• Darkness visible:This is one of the most famous oxymorons in English literature. Milton suggests that Hell's fire is spiritual and punitive; it provides the searing heat of agony without the divine blessing of light. The darkness itself has a physical, heavy presence.
• Sights of woe: The tragic visual landscape of suffering that Satan is forced to witness.

 

Lines 65–67

Regions of sorrow, doleful shades, where peace / And rest can never dwell, hope never comes / That comes to all; but torture without end

• Summary: This is a territory defined entirely by grief and melancholy shadows where peace and physical rest can never exist. Even "hope," a basic comfort available to every living human creature, is completely barred from entering this place; instead, infinite, unceasing torture aggressively presses upon its inhabitants.
• Important Phrases:
• Doleful shades: Sorrowful, bleak, and gloomy dark spaces.
• Hope never comes / That comes to all: A deliberate echo of Dante’s Inferno ("Abandon all hope, ye who enter here"). In Milton's theology, hope stems from God; because the rebel angels have totally broken from God, they are fundamentally cut off from hope.
• Torture without end: Confirms the eternal, static nature of their damnation—there is no countdown to a release date.

Lines 68–70

Still urges, and a fiery Deluge, fed / With ever-burning Sulphur unconsum'd: / Such place Eternal Justice had prepar'd

• Summary: The endless punishment continues to afflict them, characterized by a massive, sweeping flood of fire that is fueled by a supply of burning sulfur (brimstone) that never burns away or turns to ash. This is the exact destination that God's unwavering, cosmic eternaljustice built specifically for the rebels.
• Important Phrases:
• Fiery Deluge: A flood of fire. This is a brilliant linguistic subversion by Milton; a deluge is typically a flood of water (like Noah's flood), but in Hell, even the fluids are burning.
• Sulphur unconsum'd: Brimstone that burns eternally without turning to ash. This defies the natural laws of physics, emphasizing that Hell operates on supernatural, punitive laws.
• Eternal Justice had prepar'd: Milton firmly attributes the construction of Hell to God’s absolute justice. This reinforces his stated epic goal from the beginning of the poem: to "justify the ways of God to men".

Lines 71–74

For those rebellious, here thir Prison ordain'd / In utter darkness, and thir portion set / As far remov'd from God and light of Heav'n / As from the Center thrice to th' utmost Pole.

• Summary: God designated this prison specifically for the rebel angels, condemning them to total darkness. He placed their new territory as far away from God and the pure light of Heaven as three times the distance from the center of the Earth to the absolute outer edge of the universe.
• Important Phrases:
• Thir portion set: Their assigned fate, territory, or inheritance. God has mathematically divided the cosmos, separating the wicked from the holy.
• Thrice to th' utmost Pole: Milton uses contemporary astronomical calculations to map out the spiritual geography of the universe. He implies that Hell is situated at an unimaginable, cosmic distance beneath the rest of creation.

Line 75

O how unlike the place from whence they fell!

• Summary: The narrator laments out loud, emphasizing just how brutally different this horrific prison is from the beautiful, glorious Heaven they were cast out of.
• Important Phrases:
• O how unlike: A sudden, emotional exclamation from the narrator that contrasts the physical heights of Heaven with the absolute depths of Hell.

Lines 76–79

There the companions of his fall, o'rewhelm'd / With Floods and Whirlwinds of tempestuous fire, / He soon discerns, and weltring by his side / One next himself in power, and next in crime,

• Summary: Looking closely at his surroundings, Satan spots the other fallen angels completely buried and crushed under floods and spinning tornadoes of violent fire. Tossing helplessly next to him on the burning lake, he recognizes one specific angel who is second only to Satan in terms of both military authority and sinful rebellion.
• Important Phrases:
• Tempestuous fire: Stormy, chaotic, and violently wind-driven fire.
• Weltring: Tossing, rolling, or wallowing helplessly in a liquid (in this case, a liquid lake of fire).
• Next in power, and next in crime: Establishes the political hierarchy of the rebel angels. The angel who shares the highest rank also shares the highest level of guilt.

Lines 80–83

Long after known in Palestine, and nam'd / Beelzebub. To whom th' Arch-Enemy, / And thence in Heav'n call'd Satan, with bold / words / Breaking the horrid silence thus began.

• Summary: This angel would much later be worshipped on Earth by the people of Palestine under the name Beelzebub. Satan, the ultimate Arch-Enemy of God (whose name literally means "adversary" in Hebrew), speaks aloud to him. Defying his physical agony, he breaks the terrifying silence of Hell and begins his speech with arrogant, bold words.
• Important Phrases:
• Long after known in Palestine: Milton establishes a historical link between the fallen angels and the pagan gods worshipped by ancient Middle Eastern civilizations later in history.
• Th' Arch-Enemy / Satan: The poet reminds the reader of Satan's primary role. In Heaven, he had a beautiful name (Lucifer), but his rebellion changed his identity entirely to the "Adversary."
• Breaking the horrid silence: Hell is described as a place of terrifying, heavy silence until Satan chooses to speak, marking a major turning point where action begins.

 

 

SECTION-II

Satan's speech to Beelzebub (84-127)

Lines 84-95

Myriads=very large number;

Lustre= shine

•  “If thou beest he; But O how fall’n! how chang’d”
  Satan addresses Beelzebub: “Are you really the same person?” He is shocked at how degraded and altered Beelzebub now appears.
• “From him, who in the happy Realms of Light”
  He contrasts this with Beelzebub’s former self in Heaven, the “happy realms of light.”
• “Cloth’d with transcendent brightness didst out-shine”
  In Heaven, Beelzebub was clothed in extraordinary, surpassing radiance.
• “Myriads though bright”
  He outshone countless other angels, even though they too were bright.
• “If he Whom mutual league,”
  Satan asks whether this is truly the companion who once made a mutual alliance with him.
• “United thoughts and counsels, equal hope”
  They had shared the same thoughts, plans, and hopes.
• “And hazard in the Glorious Enterprize,”
  They also shared the risks of their “glorious enterprise”—their rebellion against God.
• “Joynd with me once, now misery hath joynd”
  Beelzebub once joined Satan in rebellion; now misery has joined them together instead.
• “In equal ruin: into what Pit thou seest”
  They are now equally ruined, and Beelzebub can see the dreadful pit—Hell—around them.
• “From what highthfall’n, so much the stronger prov’d”
  They have fallen from an immense height; this proves how much stronger their opponent was.
• “He with his Thunder: and till then who knew”
  That opponent is God, whose “Thunder” represents His overwhelming power. Until this defeat, no one knew its full force.
• “The force of those dire Arms? yet not for those,”
  Satan refers to God’s terrifying weapons. But he insists that their defeat was not caused by those weapons alone.
• “Nor what the Potent Victor in his rage”
  Nor was it merely because the powerful victor—God—acted in rage.

 

Satan looks at Beelzebub and can barely recognize him because he has changed so drastically from the brilliant, radiant angel he was in Heaven. Satan recalls how they were once perfect partners—united by the same plans, hopes, and dangers in their rebellion against God. Now, that partnership has bound them together in total, miserable ruin. Looking around at the horrific pit of Hell, Satan rationalizes their defeat by stating that God only won because of his superior weapons (thunder), claiming that no one could have foreseen how powerful God's arms actually were.

 

Lines 96-115

Contention=argument

Durst=dare

“Can else inflict, do I repent or change,”
Satan says that no further punishment God can inflict will make him repent or change his rebellious attitude.

“Though chang’d in outward lustre; that fixt mind”
Though he has lost his former heavenly brightness, his mind remains fixed and unchanged.

“And high disdain, from sence of injur’d merit,”
He retains intense contempt, arising from his belief that he deserved greater honor but was wronged.

“That with the mightiest rais’d me to contend,”
That pride led him to challenge the mightiest being—God.

“And to the fierce contention brought along”
It also led him to bring others into the fierce conflict.

“Innumerable force of Spirits arm’d”
He gathered countless armed spirits—the rebel angels.

“That durst dislike his reign, and me preferring,”
These angels dared to oppose God’s rule and chose to follow Satan instead.

“His utmost power with adverse power oppos’d”
They opposed God’s utmost power with their own opposing force.

“In dubious Battel on the Plains of Heav’n,”
They fought an uncertain, fiercely contested battle on Heaven’s plains.

“And shook his throne. What though the field be lost?”
They even shook God’s throne. Satan asks: so what if they lost this particular battle?

“All is not lost; the unconquerable Will,”
He declares that everything is not lost, because his will remains unconquerable.

“And study of revenge, immortal hate,”
He still possesses the determination to take revenge and an everlasting hatred toward God.

“And courage never to submit or yield:”
He also retains the courage never to submit or surrender.

“And what is else not to be overcome?”
In his view, if the will remains free and defiant, one has not truly been overcome.

“That Glory never shall his wrath or might”
Satan vows that God’s anger or power will never take from him a particular kind of glory.

“To bow and sue for grace”
That glory is the refusal to bow down and beg for mercy.

“With suppliant knee, and deifie his power,”
He refuses to kneel humbly or treat God’s power as divine and worthy of worship.

“Who from the terrour of this Arm so late”
He claims that God only recently feared Satan’s armed strength.

“Doubted his Empire, that were low indeed,”
If Satan now submitted, it would suggest that God had doubted His own rule because of that threat. To Satan, such submission would be deeply humiliating.

“That were an ignominy and shame beneath”
Bowing to God would be disgrace and shame.

 

Satan declares that no matter what else God inflicts upon him, he will never repent or change his ways, even if his outward appearance has lost its heavenly brightness. Driven by a "fixed mind" and an intense sense of "injured merit" (feeling unfairly treated by God), he recalls leading an innumerable army of angels into a fierce, uncertain battle that actually shook God's throne. He famously declares, "What though the field be lost? All is not lost." He vows that he still possesses his unconquerable will, a thirst for revenge, immortal hate, and the courage to never surrender. He refuses to bow down and beg God for mercy, stating that humiliating himself like that would be a worse shame than falling into Hell.

 

Lines 116-127

“This downfall; since by Fate the strength of Gods”
Satan continues from the previous idea that submission would be more shameful than their fall. He claims that Fate protects the strength of beings like gods.

“And this Empyreal substance cannot fail,”
He says their celestial, fiery, angelic substance is indestructible and cannot ultimately fail.

“Since through experience of this great event”
Because they have experienced this great event—their defeat and fall—

“In Arms not worse, in foresight much advanc’t,”
They are no weaker in weapons or fighting ability, and they are now far wiser and more foresighted.

“We may with more successful hope resolve”
Therefore, they can decide to act again with better hope of success.

“To wage by force or guile eternal Warr”
They may wage an everlasting war against God, using either open force or cunning deception.

“Irreconcileable, to our grand Foe,”
This war will admit no reconciliation with their great enemy—God.

“Who now triumphs, and in th’ excess of joy”
God now celebrates His victory with excessive joy.

“Sole reigning holds the Tyranny of Heav’n.”
Satan calls God’s undisputed rule over Heaven a tyranny, implying that God rules alone and oppressively.

“So spaketh’ Apostate Angel, though in pain,”
The narrator says this is what the “apostate angel”—Satan, who abandoned God—said, even while suffering.

“Vaunting aloud, but rackt with deep despair:”
Satan boasts loudly, but inwardly he is tormented by profound despair.

“And him thus answer’d soon his bold Compeer.”
Soon, his bold companion—Beelzebub—answers him.

 

Satan argues that because they are divine beings made of immortal "heavenly substance," they cannot truly be destroyed. He claims that this terrible defeat has actually given them invaluable experience, making them much wiser in strategic foresight. Bolstered by this, he resolves to wage an eternal, unforgiving war against God through either strength or trickery ("force or guile"). Satan looks up at Heaven bitterly, viewing God as a tyrant who is currently celebrating a joyful victory. The narrator breaks in to reveal that while Satan is boasting loudly, he is secretly tortured by deep despair and pain.

 

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

Lines 128-135

Seraphim=an angel of the highest rank according to the Bible

bold compeer = brave equal companion

“O Prince, O Chief of many Throned Powers,”
Beelzebub addresses Satan with high honor, calling him the prince and leader of the many powerful angelic orders.

“That led th’ imbattelld Seraphim to Warr”
He praises Satan for leading the Seraphim—high-ranking angels—into battle in organized military formation.

“Under thy conduct, and in dreadful deeds”
Under Satan’s command, they performed terrifying and extraordinary acts of war.

“Fearless, endanger’d Heav’n’s perpetual King;”
Fearlessly, they threatened Heaven’s eternal King—God.

“And put to proof his high Supremacy,”
They tested whether God’s supreme authority was real.

“Whether upheld by strength, or Chance, or Fate,”
They wanted to discover whether God’s rule rested on genuine strength, mere chance, or Fate.

“Too well I see and rue the dire event,”
Beelzebub says he now sees—and deeply regrets—the terrible outcome of their rebellion.

“That with sad overthrow and foul defeat”
Their disastrous overthrow and shameful defeat have brought this result.

 

Beelzebub ("his bold Compeer") then replies, addressing Satan with deep respect as the leader who fearlessly led them to war and shook the authority of Heaven's King. However, unlike the stubbornly optimistic Satan, Beelzebub honestly admits that he deeply regrets and fears the absolute, devastating ruin of their defeat.

 

Lines 136-156

Invincible=too powerful to be defeated

thrall= slave

errands=a short journey

“Hath lost us Heav’n, and all this mighty Host”
Their defeat has cost them Heaven and has brought down their entire mighty army of angels.

“In horrible destruction laid thus low,”
They have been cast down in horrific destruction.

“As far as Gods and Heav’nly Essences”
This is as close to destruction as divine beings or heavenly essences can come.

“Can perish: for the mind and spirit remains”
They cannot fully die, because their minds and spirits continue to exist.

“Invincible, and vigour soon returns,”
Their inner life is unconquerable, and their strength will soon return.

“Though all our Glory extinct, and happy state”
Yet all their former glory has been extinguished, and their former happiness—

“Here swallow’d up in endless misery.”
—has been swallowed up by endless misery in Hell.

“But what if he our Conquerour, (whom I now”
Beelzebub then raises a troubling possibility: what if their conqueror—God—

“Of force believe Almighty, since no less”
—whom he is now compelled to believe is Almighty, because nothing less than omnipotence—

“Then such could hav’ o’repow’rd such force as ours)”
—could have overcome their immense power—

“Have left us this our spirit and strength intire”
—has intentionally left their spirit and strength intact?

“Strongly to suffer and support our pains,”
Perhaps they have been left strong enough only to endure their torments.

“That we may so suffice his vengeful ire,”
Their suffering may simply satisfy God’s vengeful anger.

“Or do him mightier service as his thralls”
Or they may be forced to serve Him as slaves.

“By right of Warr, what e’re his business be”
As prisoners taken by right of war, they may be made to do whatever work He assigns.

“Here in the heart of Hell to work in Fire,”
That work may be laboring amid fire in the center of Hell.

“Or do his Errands in the gloomy Deep;”
Or carrying out His commands in the dark depths of the underworld.

“What can it then avail though yet we feel”
Beelzebub asks: what good is it if they still feel—

“Strength undiminisht, or eternal being”
—undiminished strength or eternal existence—

“To undergo eternal punishment?”
—if they must suffer eternal punishment?

“Whereto with speedy words th’ Arch-fiend reply’d”
Satan, the “arch-fiend,” immediately replies to this despairing argument.

 

Beelzebub acknowledges the devastating truth: their rebellion has cost them Heaven and left their entire army completely ruined, damaged as much as immortal beings possibly can be. He agrees with Satan that their minds, spirits, and energy are indestructible and will soon return. However, he introduces a terrifying counter-argument: What if God let them keep their strength just so they could endure more torture?

Beelzebub admits he now believes God is truly Almighty, since no one less powerful could have beaten them. He worries that God left them alive either to act as an outlet for His endless vengeance, or to force them to serve as slaves (thralls) of war, working in Hell's fires or running errands in the dark abyss. If that is the case, Beelzebub asks, what good is having an indestructible spirit if it only exists to suffer eternal punishment? Hearing this threat to his army's morale, Satan ("th' Arch-fiend") quickly interrupts him.

 

 

Section-III

Lines 157-180

Satan= the Arch-Fiend

Beelzebub =Fall'n Cherub

Providence= divine care, guidance

precipice = very steep or vertical rock face or cliff

"Spent his shafts"=to run out of arrows/thunders or ammunition.

satiate Satisfy (a desire or an appetite) to the full.

“Fall’nCherube, to be weak is miserable”
Satan calls Beelzebub a “fallen cherub” and says that weakness is miserable.

“Doing or Suffering: but of this be sure,”
Whether one is weak while doing or while suffering, weakness brings misery. But, he says, be certain of this:

“To do ought good never will be our task,”
Doing any good will never be their mission.

“But ever to do ill our sole delight,”
Instead, doing evil will be their only pleasure and purpose.

“As being the contrary to his high will”
They choose evil precisely because it opposes the high will of God.

“Whom we resist.”
God is the one whom they continue to resist.

“If then his Providence”
Satan then considers God’s providence—God’s ability to govern events and bring about His purposes.

“Out of our evil seek to bring forth good,”
If God tries to produce good out of their evil actions,

“Our labour must be to pervert that end,”
Their task must be to spoil or frustrate that good outcome.

“And out of good still to find means of evil;”
They must also find ways to turn good things into sources of evil.

“Which oft times may succeed, so as perhaps”
Sometimes this plan may succeed, perhaps enough to—

“Shall grieve him, if I fail not, and disturb”
—cause God grief, if Satan does not fail, and disturb—

“His inmost counsels from thir first-destin’d aim.”
—God’s deepest plans, diverting them from their intended purpose.

“But see the angry Victor hath recall’d”
Satan then notices that the angry victor—God—has recalled—

“His Ministers of vengeance(led by Michael and Gabriel) and pursuit”
—His agents of punishment and pursuit—

“Back to the Gates of Heav’n:”
—back to Heaven’s gates.

“The Sulphurous Hail”
The burning, sulphurous hail—

“Shot after us in storm, oreblown hath laid”
—fired after them in a storm, has now been blown over and has calmed—

“The fiery Surge, that from the Precipice”
—the fiery surge that came from Heaven’s cliff or edge—

“Of Heav’n receiv’d us falling, and the Thunder,”
—and received them as they fell, along with the thunder—

“Wing’d (=propelled) with red Lightning and impetuous (=quick) rage,”
—accompanied by red lightning and violent rage—

“Perhaps hath spent his shafts, and ceases now”
—may have used up its weapons and has now stopped—

“To bellow (=to roar) through the vast and boundless Deep.”
—roaring through the vast, limitless abyss.

“Let us not slip th’ occasion, whether scorn,”
Satan urges that they must not waste this opportunity, whether God has withdrawn out of contempt—

“Or satiatefury yield it from our Foe.”
—or because His fury has been satisfied.

“Seest thou yon dreary Plain, forlorn and wilde,”
He asks Beelzebub whether he sees that dreary, deserted, wild plain ahead.

 

Summary:Satan reprimands Beelzebub, declaring that being weak—whether actively fighting or passively suffering—is the worst kind of misery. He establishes their eternal mission: they will never do good; their only joy will be doing evil, purely to oppose God's will. If God's divine plan ("Providence") tries to turn their evil deeds into good outcomes, Satan vows that their continuous work will be to twist that good back into evil.

Satan then notices a physical change in Hell: God has recalled His pursuing angels, and the violent storm of sulfur, thunder, and red lightning that drove them out of Heaven has finally calmed down. Whether God stopped out of supreme contempt or because His anger is satisfied, Satan urges Beelzebub not to waste this opportunity. He points toward a dreary, wild plain in Hell and suggests they move there to regroup.

 

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

Lines 181-195

"Livid" = from the Latin lividus, meaning a dark, bruised, purplish-blue color.

"Save" means "except."

thith·er= To or toward that place.

 

“The seat of desolation, voyd of light,”
Satan describes the distant shore as a place of utter desolation, without real light.

“Save what the glimmering of these livid flames”
The only illumination comes from the faint, sickly glow of the flames around them.

“Casts pale and dreadful?”
That glow makes the scene look pale and terrifying rather than comforting.

“Thither let us tend”
He proposes that they move toward that shore.

“From off the tossing of these fiery waves,”
They should escape the tossing, burning waves of the lake of fire.

“There rest, if any rest can harbour there,”
They may rest there—if rest is even possible in such a place.

“And reassembling our afflicted Powers,”
They should gather their suffering, defeated forces together.

“Consult how we may henceforth most offend”
Then they must plan how to offend—or harm—their enemy most effectively.

“Our Enemy, our own loss how repair,”
They must also consider how to recover from their own losses.

“How overcome this dire Calamity,”
They must decide how to overcome this terrible disaster.

“What reinforcement we may gain from Hope,”
They should ask what strength they can draw from hope.

“If not what resolution from despare.”
If hope is unavailable, they can at least find resolve in despair.

“Thus Satan talking to his neerest Mate(=Beelzebub)”
The narrator explains that Satan is speaking these words to Beelzebub, his closest companion.

“With Head up-lift above the wave, and Eyes”
Satan keeps his head raised above the fiery waves.

“That sparkling blaz’d,”
His eyes blaze with a fierce, sparkling light.

“His other Parts besides”
The rest of his body—

“Prone on the Flood, extended long and large”
—lies face-down on the flood, stretched out enormously.

 

Summary:Satan points toward a desolate plain in Hell, which has no light except for the pale, terrifying glimmer cast by the surrounding flames. He urges Beelzebub to move away from the tossing, violent waves of fire to rest on this dry land—if any true rest is even possible in Hell. Once there, he plans to gather their defeated, traumatized army ("afflicted Powers") to strategize. They will consult on how to best attack and offend God ("Our Enemy"), how to repair their massive losses, and how to survive this catastrophe. He concludes by saying they will look for strength in hope, or if hope is gone, they will find fierce determination born out of pure despair. The narrator then describes Satan floating in the fiery flood, raising only his head and blazing eyes, while the rest of his massive, colossal body stretches out endlessly across the liquid fire.

 

Lines 196-210

“Lay floating many a rood, in bulk as huge”
Satan’s body floats across many “roods” (a rood is a large measure of length), and his size is enormous.

“As whom the Fables name of monstrous size,”
Milton compares him to the gigantic beings of ancient myths.

“Titanian, or Earth-born, that warr’d on Jove,”
These include the Titans or Earth-born giants who fought against Jove (Jupiter/Zeus), the king of the classical gods.

“Briareos or Typhon, whom the Den”
Satan is also likened to Briareos, a hundred-handed giant, and Typhon, a monstrous rebel against Zeus.

“By ancient Tarsus held,”
Typhon was said to be imprisoned beneath or near ancient Tarsus.

“or that Sea-beast”
Milton then offers another comparison: a huge sea creature.

“Leviathan, which God of all his works”
This is Leviathan, the biblical sea monster.

“Created hugest that swim th’ Ocean stream:”
Satan is as huge as the largest creature God made to swim in the ocean.

“Him haply slumbring on the Norway foam”
The simile imagines Leviathan sleeping near the Norwegian coast.

“The Pilot of some small night-founder’d Skiff,”
A sailor piloting a small boat lost in the night approaches it.

“Deeming some Island, oft, as Sea-men tell,”
The sailor mistakes the sleeping monster for an island, as sailors’ stories often say.

“With fixed Anchor in his skaly rind”
He anchors his boat into the creature’s scaly skin.

“Moors by his side under the Lee,”
The boat is secured beside Leviathan, in its sheltered, wind-protected side.

“while Night / Invests the Sea, and wished Morn delayes:”
Night covers the sea, and the sailor waits anxiously for morning, which seems slow to arrive.

“So stretcht out huge in length the Arch-fiend lay”
In the same way, Satan—the arch-fiend—lies stretched out at enormous length.

“Chain’d on the burning Lake, nor ever thence”
He lies chained upon the lake of fire, and the sentence continues into the next lines.

 

Summary:Satan’s body stretches across the fiery lake, covering a massive distance ("many a rood"). The narrator compares his immense size to the ancient mythological Titans and giants who waged war against the Greek god Jove (Jupiter), specifically naming Briareos and the multi-headed monster Typhon.

The narrator then compares Satan to the Leviathan, the massive sea beast created by God. He shares a famous sailors' legend: a pilot of a tiny, night-stranded boat (skiff) mistakes the sleeping Leviathan for an island in the Norwegian sea. The sailor drops his anchor directly into the monster's scaly skin and parks his boat beside it, waiting through the dark night for morning to come. The passage concludes by reminding us that just like this colossal beast, the massive Arch-fiend lies stretched out and chained upon the burning lake of Hell.

 

Lines 211-220

• “Had ris’n or heav’d his head, but that the will”
  Satan would never have raised his head from the burning lake unless—
• “And high permission of all-ruling Heaven”
  —the will and supreme permission of God, who rules everything, allowed it.
• “Left him at large to his own dark designs,”
  God leaves Satan free to pursue his own wicked plans.
• “That with reiterated crimes he might”
  Through repeated acts of evil,
• “Heap on himself damnation, while he sought”
  Satan will increase his own damnation while trying—

Heap on himself: Satan thinks he is attacking God, but the narrator reveals that Satan is actually destroying himself. The more evil Satan commits, the worse his ultimate punishment and torment will be.

• “Evil to others, and enrag’d might see”
  —to harm others. In his rage, he will come to see—
• “How all his malice serv’d but to bring forth”
  —that all his hatred ultimately produces—
• “Infinite goodness, grace and mercy shewn”
  —God’s infinite goodness, grace, and mercy.
• “On Man by him seduc’t, but on himself”
  These blessings will be shown to humanity, whom Satan will seduce; but Satan himself will receive—
• “Treble confusion, wrath and vengeance pour’d.”
  —threefold confusion, divine anger, and vengeance.

Lines 221-225

Satan Rises from the Burning Lake

• “Forthwith upright he rears from off the Pool”
  At once, Satan rises upright from the fiery pool.
• “His mighty Stature; on each hand the flames”
  His huge body rises, and the flames on either side—
• “Drivn backward slope thir pointing spires, and rowld”
  —are pushed back, slanting like pointed spires and rolling—
• “In billows, leave i’th’ midst a horrid Vale.”
  —in waves, leaving a dreadful hollow space in the middle.
• “Then with expanded wings he stears his flight”
  Satan then spreads his wings and begins to fly.

Summary:The narrator explains that Satan would never have been able to rise or lift his head from the lake if the all-ruling will and permission of Heaven had not intentionally left him free to pursue his dark plans. God allows this so that Satan, by committing crime after crime, will pile even more damnation upon himself. While Satan thinks he is successfully spreading evil to others, he will be forced to watch in rage as his malice is twisted by God to bring about infinite goodness, grace, and mercy for mankind (whom Satan will eventually tempt). Meanwhile, Satan will only bring triple the amount of wrath, confusion, and vengeance upon his own head.

With this divine permission, Satan finally raises his massive body upright from the pool. As he stands, the flames on either side are driven backward, curling into waves and leaving a terrifying, open valley in the middle of the lake. He then spreads his enormous wings and flies upward.

 

Lines 226-240

Aloft= in the air,

Entrails= internal,

 

“Aloft, incumbent on the dusky Air”
Satan rises into the dark air, pressing down upon it with his enormous weight.

“That felt unusual weight, till on dry Land”
The air seems to feel this unusual burden until Satan lands on dry land.

“He lights, if it were Land that ever burn’d”
He touches down—but Milton questions whether it can truly be called “land,” since it has burned.

“With solid, as the Lake with liquid fire;”
The land burns with solid fire, just as the lake burns with liquid fire.

“And such appear’d in hue, as when the force”
Its appearance resembles the aftermath of a volcanic explosion.

“Of subterranean wind transports a Hill”
When underground winds blast apart and move a hill—

“Torn from Pelorus, or the shatter’d side”
—such as land torn from Pelorus, a promontory in Sicily, or from the broken side—

“Of thundringÆtna,”
—of Mount Etna, the famous erupting volcano.

“whose combustible / And fewel’dentrals thence conceiving Fire,”
Etna’s flammable, fuel-filled interior catches fire.

“Sublim’d with Mineral fury, aid the Winds,”
Its mineral fury intensifies the eruption and helps drive the winds.

“And leave a singed bottom all involv’d”
The eruption leaves scorched ground—

“With stench and smoak:”
—covered in foul stench and smoke.

“Such resting found the sole / Of unblest feet.”
Satan’s cursed feet find a resting place just like that scorched volcanic ground.

“Him followed his next Mate,”
Beelzebub, Satan’s closest companion, follows him.

“Both glorying to have scap’t the Stygian flood”
Both rejoice that they have escaped the Stygian flood—the lake of fire in Hell.(of River Styx)

“As Gods, and by thir own recover’d strength,”
They boast as if they were gods, believing they escaped by their own recovered strength.

 

Summary:Satan flies through the heavy, dark air of Hell, his massive size weighing it down, until he finally lands on dry land. However, this land offers no relief—it burns with solid fire just as terribly as the lake burned with liquid fire. The narrator describes the landscape by comparing it to the aftermath of a massive volcanic eruption, like Mount Etna or Cape Pelorus being torn apart by earthquakes and underground winds, leaving behind a scorched, smoking basin filled with sulfurous stench. This ruined ground is where Satan ("unblest feet") finally steps. Beelzebub follows right behind him. Both of them arrogantly celebrate their escape from the fiery lake ("the Stygian flood"), pridefully believing they freed themselves like independent gods using their own recovered strength, completely blind to the fact that God allowed it.

 

Lines 241-255

“Not by the sufferance of supernal Power.”
Satan corrects Beelzebub: they did not escape because Heaven merely permitted or tolerated it.

“Is this the Region, this the Soil, the Clime,”
He asks bitterly: Is this the region, ground, and climate—

“Said then the lost Arch-Angel, this the seat”
—the place, says the fallen archangel—

“That we must change for Heav’n, this mournful gloom”
—that they must now accept instead of Heaven? Is this mournful darkness—

“For that celestial light?”
—their replacement for Heaven’s celestial light?

“Be it so, since he / Who now is Sovran can dispose and bid / What shall be right:”
He accepts it, because the present ruler—God—has the power to decide what counts as right.

“Fardest from him is best”
Satan says it is best to remain as far from God as possible.

“Whom reason hath equald, force hath made supream / Above his equals.”
In Satan’s view, God is only equal to other beings by reason, but has become supreme through force over his equals.

He argues that the only reason God rules supreme over them is not because God is inherently better or more righteous, but simply because God possesses superior physical power and thunderbolts.

“Farewel happy Fields / Where Joy for ever dwells:”
He bids farewell to Heaven’s happy fields, where eternal joy lives.

“Hail horrours, hail / Infernal world, and thou profoundest Hell”
He greets horrors, the infernal world, and the deepest Hell.

“Receive thy new Possessor:”
He tells Hell to receive him as its new master.

“One who brings / A mind not to be chang’d by Place or Time.”
He claims to bring a mind that no place or time can change.

“The mind is its own place, and in it self

Can make a Heav'n of Hell, a Hell of Heav'n.
His famous declaration: the mind creates its own inner world; it can make Hell feel like Heaven, or Heaven feel like Hell.

 

Summary:The narrator notes that Satan and Beelzebub still falsely believe they escaped the lake through their own strength, not because God ("supernal Power") permitted it. Satan then looks around at his bleak surroundings, asking bitterly if this mournful gloom is the region they must accept in exchange for Heaven’s celestial light. He accepts it ("Be it so"), reasoning that God is now the sovereign ruler who dictates what is "right" simply because He has the power to do so. Satan declares that being as far away from God as possible is best. He insults God, claiming they are equals in intellect and reason, and that God only sits on the throne because of superior physical force.

Satan then bids farewell to the happy fields of Heaven and boldly welcomes his new home: "Hail horrours, hail / Infernal world." He proclaims himself Hell's new master, a being who brings a mind that cannot be altered by time or location. He delivers the legendary philosophy: the mind is its own place, and it can create a mental Heaven out of Hell, or a Hell out of Heaven.

 

Lines 256-270

“What matter where, if I be still the same,”
Satan says it does not matter where he is, as long as he remains inwardly the same.

It doesn't matter where I am physically (Heaven or Hell), as long as my mind, identity, and inner strength remain unchanged."

“And what I should be, all but less then he”
He claims he is still what he ought to be—second only to God.

“Whom Thunder hath made greater?”
God is greater only, in Satan’s view, because His thunder and force have made Him so.

“Here at least / We shall be free;”
In Hell, Satan claims, they will at least be free.

“Th’ Almighty hath not built / Here for his envy, will not drive us hence:”
God did not create Hell out of envy and will not drive them out of it.

Hell is a place of punishment, meaning God has no interest in occupying or reclaiming it.Because God does not envy or want this space, Satan realizes the fallen angels are finally safe from being expelled or displaced.

“Here we may reign secure, and in my choyce”
Therefore, they can rule securely in Hell; Satan says that, by his own choice—

“To reign is worth ambition though in Hell:”
—ruling is a worthy ambition, even in Hell.

“Better to reign in Hell, then serve in Heav’n.”
He would rather rule in Hell than serve in Heaven.

“But wherefore let we then our faithful friends,”
He then asks why they should leave their loyal followers—

“Th’ associates and copartners of our loss”
—the companions who shared their defeat—

“Lye thus astonisht on th’ oblivious Pool,”
—lying stunned in the lake of forgetfulness and fire.

“And call them not to share with us their part”
Why not call them to share their portion—

“In this unhappy Mansion (=hell), or once more”
—in this miserable dwelling place, or once more—

“With rallied Arms to try what may be yet / Regaind in Heav’n, or what more lost in Hell?”
—gather their weapons and try either to regain something in Heaven or discover what further losses Hell may bring.

To see what we might still win back in Heaven, or—if we fail—what further risks and losses we might face in Hell.

Summary:Satan declares that it does not matter where he physically is, so long as his mind remains completely unchanged, maintaining that he is only slightly less powerful than the God who defeated him purely through superior power ("Thunder"). He finds comfort in Hell for one specific reason: absolute freedom. He notes that God did not build this dark realm to be an object of envy and will never bother to drive them out of it.

Satan proudly proclaims that they can rule securely here, declaring that ruling is a goal worthy of ambition, even if that rule is over Hell itself. After delivering his ultimate manifesto, he shifts back to business, asking Beelzebub why they are leaving their faithful allies and fellow losers lying paralyzed and stunned on the forgetful lake of fire. He urges that they must call their army to join them on dry land, either to launch another desperate attack to regain Heaven or to see what else they might lose in Hell.

 

Lines 271-283

Beelzebub addresses Satan again

“So Satan spake, and him Beelzebub / Thus answer’d.”
After Satan finishes speaking, Beelzebub replies.

“Leader of those Armies bright,”
He addresses Satan as leader of the once-radiant angelic armies.

“Which but th’ Omnipotent none could have foyl’d,”
He says only the Omnipotent—God—could have defeated them.

“If once they hear that voyce, thir liveliest pledge”
If the fallen angels hear Satan’s voice, it will be their strongest source of hope.

“Of hope in fears and dangers, heard so oft”
They have often heard it in times of fear and danger.

“In worst extreams, and on the perilous edge / Of battel when itrag’d,”
His voice encouraged them in the worst crises and at the most dangerous moments of battle.

“In all assaults / Thir surest signal,”
In every attack, his voice was their most reliable signal.

“they will soon resume / New courage and revive,”
Hearing him, they will quickly regain courage and revive.

“though now they lye / Groveling and prostrate on yon Lake of Fire,”
Even though they now lie flattened and helpless on the lake of fire.

“As we erewhile, astounded and amaz’d,”
They are in the same stunned, shocked condition that Satan and Beelzebub were in earlier.

“No wonder, fall’n such a pernicious highth.”
Beelzebub says it is no wonder they are dazed, since they have fallen from such a disastrously high place.

 

Summary:Beelzebub addresses Satan with immense respect, calling him the leader of the brilliant armies that no one except the Almighty could have ever defeated. He assures Satan that if the fallen angels hear his voice—which has always been their ultimate source of hope during terrifying battles—they will instantly regain their courage and come back to life. Beelzebub notes that it is completely understandable that the army is currently lying flat and paralyzed on the lake of fire, considering the catastrophic, destructive height from which they were just thrown out of Heaven.

 

SECTION-IV

Satan rallying his Devils (Line 283-633)

• "He scarce had ceas't when the superiour Fiend"
  Satan (the "superior Fiend") had finished speaking his defiant speech to Beelzebub
• "Was moving toward the shoar; his ponderous shield"
  When he began walking toward the shore of the burning lake, carrying his heavy, massive shield.
• "Ethereal temper, massy, large and round,"
  The shield was forged of heavenly metal ("ethereal temper"), weighty, enormous, and perfectly circular.

·        Ethereal= extremely delicate, light, or seeming not of this world

• "Behind him cast; the broad circumference"
  He slung it across his back, and its massive, wide perimeter
• "Hung on his shoulders like the Moon (shield =Moon), whose Orb(=globe)"
  Hung over his shoulders looking just like the glowing, round circle of the full Moon.
• "Through Optic Glass the Tuscan Artist views"
  It mimics the Moon that the Italian astronomer Galileo (the "Tuscan Artist") looks at through his telescope ("optic glass")-Tuscany in central Italy
• "At Ev'ning from the top of Fesole,"(Fiesole is a town inFlorence)
  In the evening from the high hills of Fiesole
• "Or in Valdarno, to descry (=trying to spot) new Lands,"
  Or from the Arno Valley, trying to spot undiscovered lands,

Valdarno= scenic valley of the Arno River in Tuscany, Italy

• "Rivers or Mountains in her spotty Globe=(moon)."
  And map out the rivers or mountain ranges on the cratered, imperfect surface of the Moon.
• "His Spear, to equal which the tallest Pine"(spear=pine tree)
  He carried a spear so colossally large that by comparison, the tallest pine tree
• "Hewn on Norwegian hills, to be the Mast"
  Chopped down on the mountains of Norway to serve as the main mast

·        Hewn= cut with a large sharp tool

• "Of some great Ammiral, were but a wand,"
  For a massive flagship naval vessel ("Ammiral"), would look like nothing more than a tiny twig or walking stick.
• "He walkt with to support uneasie steps"
  He leaned on this spear to brace himself and stabilize his painful, difficult steps
• "Over the burning Marle, not like those steps"
  As he trudged across the red-hot, glowing soil ("marle") of Hell—a brutal contrast to how he used to walk
• Marle (or Marl): An old-fashioned or geological term for asoil consisting of clay
• "On Heavens Azure, and the torrid Clime"
  Upon the beautiful blue pavements of Heaven. Meanwhile, the scorching, oppressive atmosphere
• "Smote on him sore besides, vaulted with Fire;"
  Battered him mercilessly from all sides, under a sky that formed a literal roof of trapped fire.
• Smote=To hit something
• "Nathless he so endur'd, till on the Beach"
  Nevertheless ("Nathless"), he pushed through the agony until he reached the edge
• "Of that inflamed Sea, he stood and call'd"
  Of that blazing lake of fire, where he stopped and shouted out to
• "His Legions, Angel Forms, who lay intrans't"
  His massive army of fallen angels, who were still lying paralyzed and stunned
• "Thick as Autumnal Leaves that strow the Brooks"(Fallen Angels=autumn leaves)
  Covering the fiery water as thickly as fallen autumn leaves blanket the streams
• "In Vallombrosa, where th' Etrurian shades"(Shades=tree shade/dark ghosts)
  In the famous, shady woods of Vallombrosa, Italy,
• "In Vallombrosa"= A real place in Tuscany, Italy. literally translates to "Shady Valley", visited by Milton in 1638.
• "Etrurian" refers to Etruria, the ancient classical name for the Tuscany region.
• "High overarch'timbowr; or scatterd sedge" (=scattered seaweed)
  Where the tall forest canopy forms a dark, vaulted ceiling; or like tangled, floating seaweed ("sedge")
• Imbower (also spelled embower) is an archaic poetic verb meaning to enclose
• "Afloat, when with fierce Winds Orion arm'd"
  Tossed on the waves when the stormy constellation Orion rises up with fierce winds.
• They are no longer the vibrant "Flower of Heaven"—they are now just debris cluttering the floor of Hell
In classical mythology, Orion is a giant hunter who was placed in the stars as a constellation(typically in late autumn and winter),  was famous among ancient sailors for bringing violent storms, heavy rain, and fierce winds.

 

·        "Hath vext the Red-Sea Coast, whose waves orethrew"
Orion's storms which violently agitate the coast of the Red Sea, the very waters that famously crashed down and destroyed

·        "Busiris and his Memphian Chivalry,"
Pharaoh (whom Milton calls "Busiris") and his elite Egyptian elite horsemen and chariot drivers ("Memphian Chivalry"),Pharaoh's army drowning in the Red Sea,When the Egyptian Pharaoh and his charioteers chasing the fleeing Israelites. event traditionally associated with the biblical Exodus.

·        "While with perfidious hatred they pursu'd"
While they were relentlessly pursuing, with treacherous and oath-breaking hatred,

·        "The Sojourners of Goshen, who beheld"
The Hebrew people (the Israelites who had been living in the land of Goshen in Egyption region), who stood safely on the opposite shore and watched

·        "From the safe shore thir floating Carkases"
The dead, bloated bodies of the Egyptian soldiers bobbing on the water,

·        "And broken Chariot Wheels, so thick bestrown"
Along with the shattered wheels of their war chariots, scattered densely across the sea.

·        "Abject and lost lay these, covering the Flood,"
Just like those drowned Egyptians, the fallen angels lay utterly defeated, ruined, and scattered all over the surface of the fiery lake,

·        "Under amazement of thir hideous change."
Paralysed with utter shock and horror at the terrifying transformation from glorious angels to ruined demons.

·        "He call'd so loud, that all the hollow Deep"
Satan bellowed out so incredibly loudly that the entire cavernous, empty expanse

·        "Of Hell resounded. Princes, Potentates,"
Of Hell echoed with his voice. He shouted: "Princes! Rulers!

·        "Warriers, the Flowr of Heav'n, once yours, now lost,"
Warriors! You who were once the very best and brightest of Heaven—a home that is now lost to you!

·        "If such astonishment as this can sieze"
Is it even possible that a paralyzing shock like this can conquer

·        "Eternal spirits; or have ye chos'n this place"
Immortal, divine beings? Or have you intentionally chosen this horrific place

·        "After the toyl of Battel to repose"
To lie down and rest after the exhausting hard work of our war?

·        "Your wearied vertue, for the ease you find"
Are you relaxing your tired courage and strength because of the wonderful 'comfort' you find here on this lake of fire?"

·        "To slumber here, as in the Vales of Heav'n?"
"Did you come here to sleep, as if you were relaxing in the peaceful valleys of Heaven?"

·        "Or in this abject posture have ye sworn"
"Or have you decided, while lying here in this humiliated, defeated position, to swear an oath"(abject=without hope)

·        "To adore the Conquerour? who now beholds"
"To worship God, our Conqueror? Who right now is looking down from above and watching"(behold=to see)

·        "Cherube and Seraph rowling in the Flood"
"His highest ranks of angels—Cherubim and Seraphim—tossing and turning helplessly in this lake of fire,"

·        "With scatter'd Arms and Ensigns (=military banners), till anon"
"God's fast-chasing angels looking out from the gates of Heaven notice"

·        "His swift pursuers from Heav'n Gates discern"
"God's fast-chasing angels looking out from the gates of Heaven notice"

·        "Th' advantage, and descending tread us down"
"Our vulnerable position, fly down, and tread us into the ground"

·        "Thus drooping, or with linked Thunderbolts"
"While we are lying here so weak and helpless; or, they will use chained lightning bolts to"

·        "Transfix us to the bottom of this Gulfe."
"Pin us down permanently to the absolute bottom of this fiery abyss."

·        "Awake, arise, or be for everfall'n."
"Wake up, stand up and fight, or accept being completely defeated and doomed forever!"

 

·        "They heard, and were abasht, and up they sprung"
The fallen angels heard Satan's stinging words, felt deeply ashamed ("abasht") of their vulnerability, and instantly leaped upward

·        "Upon the wing, as when men wont (=want) to watch"
Into the air on their wings—behaving just like soldiers who are supposed to be standing guard on night watch duty,

·        "On duty, sleeping found by whom they dread (=fear),"
But are caught fast asleep by the commanding officer whom they fear most,

·        "Rouse and bestir (=to become active) themselves ere (=earlier) well awake."
And violently startle themselves awake, scrambling frantically to get to their feet before they are even fully conscious.

·        "Nor did they not perceave the evil plight"
It was not that they failed to realize the terrible, agonizing situation [Milton uses a double negative here to mean they fully realized the horrific state]

·        "In which they were, or the fierce pains not feel;"
They were in, nor were they numb to the searing, agonizing pain of the fire;

·        "Yet to thirGenerals Voyce they soon obeyd"
Nevertheless, they immediately obeyed the commanding voice of their general (Satan),

·        "Innumerable. As when the potent Rod"
Rising up in numbers too vast to count. They were just like the time when the powerful staff

·        "Of Amrams Son in Egyptsevill day"
Of Moses (referred to biblically as the "Son of Amram") during the plagues of ancient Egypt,

·        "Wav'd round the Coast, up call'd a pitchy cloud"
Was waved over the land, summoning a massive, pitch-black ("pitchy") cloud

·        "Of Locusts, warping on the Eastern Wind,"
Of locusts swarming and flying heavily on the blowing East Wind,

·        "That ore the Realm of impious Pharaoh hung"
Which hovered threateningly over the kingdom of the wicked ("impious") Pharaoh

·        "Like Night, and darken'd all the Land of Nile:"
Like total nighttime, completely blocking out the sun across the entire Nile valley:

·        "So numberless were those bad Angels seen"
In that exact same, terrifyingly infinite quantity, the wicked angels were seen

·        "Hovering on wing under the Cope of Hell"
Flying and hovering under the massive, vaulted ceiling ("cope") of Hell.

The Simile: Milton writes that just as Moses waved his powerful ("potent") staff ("rod") to summon a massive,dark cloud of locusts that blocked out the sun over Pharaoh’s realm, the numberless bad angels rose up on their wings, hovering over the fires of Hell, completely filling the view.

·        "'Twixt upper, nether, and surrounding Fires;"
They flew trapped between the fires above them, the fires below them ("nether"), and the fires surrounding them on every side;

·        "Till, as a signal giv'n, th' uplifted Spear"
Until, acting as a command, the raised spear

·        "Of thir great Sultan waving to direct"
Of their absolute ruler (Satan, called a "Sultan" here) waved through the air to guide

·        "Thir course, in even ballance down they light"
Their flight path, causing them to glide downward in a steady, controlled balance and land

·        "On the firm brimstone, and fill all the Plain;"
Onto the solid sulfur ("brimstone") ground, completely blanketing the vast desert floor;

·        "A multitude, like which the populous North"
An army so massive that even the heavily populated regions of Northern Europe

·        "Pour'd never from her frozen loyns, to pass"
Never generated ("poured from her frozen loins") such numbers when they crossed

·        "loins" as a poetic and biblical term for the human reproductive organs.

·        "Rhene or the Danaw, when her barbarous Sons"
The Rhine ("Rhene") or the Danube ("Danaw") rivers, when those invading barbarian tribes. (vast populations moving acrossRhine and Danube rivers).

·        "Came like a Deluge on the South, and spread"
Flooded down like a destructive tidal wave ("deluge") over Southern Europe, destroying everything and scattering

·        "Beneath Gibralter to the Lybian sands."
From south of the Straits of Gibraltar (Spain) all the way across to the deserts of North Africa ("Libya").

·        "Forthwith from every Squadron and each Band"
Immediately, from every military division and distinct troop,

·        "The Heads and Leaders thither hast where stood"
The chiefs and commanders hurried over to the exact spot where

·        "Thirgreat Commander; Godlike shapes and forms"
Their top general (Satan) was standing—displaying magnificent, godlike bodies and statures

·        "Excelling human, Princely Dignities,"
That far surpassed human limitations, looking like royal royalty,

·        "And Powers that earst in Heaven sat on Thrones;"
And mighty rulers who formerly ("earst") sat on glorious thrones in Heaven.

 

·        "Though of thir Names in heav'nly Records now"
Even though there is absolutely no mention of their original names in the archives of Heaven now,

·        "Be no memorial blotted out and ras'd"
Because every single trace and memory of them was completely erased and wiped clean ("ras'd")

·        "By thir Rebellion, from the Books of Life."
From the celestial "Books of Life" as a direct punishment for their treasonous revolt.

·        Books of life = a heavenly ledger or record book kept by God

·        "Nor had they yet among the Sons of Eve"
Furthermore, they had not yet interacted with human beings (the "Sons of Eve")

·        "Got them new Names, till wandring ore the Earth,"
Or acquired the new names they would later hold, until they began roaming all across the Earth—

·        "Through Gods high sufferance for the tryal of man,"
Which was allowed only because of God's supreme permission ("sufferance") to test human free will,

·        "By falsities and lyes the greatest part"
And using deception, illusions, and outright lies, the vast majority

·        "Of Mankind they corrupted to forsake"
Of the human race was successfully tricked by them into abandoning

·        "God thir Creator, and th' invisible"
God, their true Creator, and discarding the unseen,

·        "Glory of him that made them, to transform"
Magnificent spirit of the One who built them, choosing instead to foolishly change

·        "Oft to the Image of a Brute, adorn'd"
Their worship toward the physical likeness of common animals and beasts ("a brute"), which were decorated

·        "With gay Religions full of Pomp and Gold,"
With flashy, superficial religious rituals ("gay") packed with theatrical arrogance, wealth, and gold,

·        "And Devils to adore for Deities:"
Bowing down to worship literal demons as if they were holy gods.

·        "Then were they known to men by various Names,"
It was only after this corruption took root that humans began identifying these demons by different titles,

·        "And various Idols through the Heathen World."
Constructing different physical statues to worship them throughout the ancient, non-Christian ("Heathen") world.

 

·        "Say, Muse, thir Names then known, who first, who last,"
Tell me, divine Muse, what names they eventually became known by—who was the very first to step forward, and who was the last,

·        "Rous'd from the slumber, on that fiery Couch,"
As they woke up from their paralyzed state on that burning bed ("couch") of fire,

·        "At thir great Emperors call, as next in worth"
Responding to the command of their great Emperor (Satan), and ranked in order of their power and status ("worth")

·        "Came singly where he stood on the bare strand,"
Walked up one by one to the exact spot where Satan stood on the barren shoreline,

·        "While the promiscuous croud stood yet aloof?"
While the disorganized, ordinary mass of common soldiers ("promiscuous crowd") still stood further back at a distance?

·        "The chief were those who from the Pit of Hell"
The most prominent leaders were the ones who, escaping from the abyss of Hell,

·        "Roaming to seek thir prey on earth, durst fix"
Roamed across the Earth hunting for human souls, and later had the sheer audacity ("durst") to build

·        "Thir Seats long after next the Seat of God,"
Their own temples and thrones right next to the temple and throne of the true God,

·        "Thir Altars by his Altar, Gods ador'd"
Setting up their pagan altars right beside His holy altar, getting themselves worshipped as gods

·        "Among the Nations round, and durst abide"
By all the surrounding kingdoms, and even dared to stand their ground and live right next to

·        "Jehovah thundring out of Sion, thron'd"
The Lord (Jehovah), who sends down thunder from Mount Zion and sits enthroned

·        "Between the Cherubim; yea, often plac'd"
Between the golden statues of the Cherubim; yes, these demons frequently went so far as to place

·        "Within his Sanctuary it itself thir Shrines,"
Their own unholy shrines directly inside God's most sacred temple sanctuary itself—

·        "Abominations; and with cursed things"
Bringing absolute desecrations ("abominations") and forbidden, unclean items inside,

·        "His holy Rites, and solemn Feasts profan'd,"
Contaminating God's sacred rituals and holy religious festivals,

·        "And with thir darkness durst affront his light."
And brazenly using their spiritual darkness to insult, mock, and confront His divine light.

·        The main leaders of Satan's army were the ones who would later leave Hell to roam the Earth, hunting for human souls like prey. In the future, they would have the ultimate nerve ("durst fix") to set up their own worship spaces and statues right next to the true God's temple.

·        They became the false gods worshipped by the nations surrounding Israel. They even dared to stand ground against Jehovah (God), who rules from Mount Zion between the golden statues of the Cherubim. In fact, these demons frequently managed to get their own horrific idols ("abominations") placed directly inside God's sacred temple. By doing this, they ruined holy ceremonies, corrupted religious festivals, and aggressively forced their spiritual darkness to insult and challenge God’s divine light.

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