Paradise Lost Book 7 Video*

book seven of Paradise Lost begins with the continuation of Raphael telling Adam and Eve or mainly Adam what is going on Milton invokes the aid of the muse again but he makes it clear that it is the meaning not the name that he is calling forth his muse is not one of the nine sisters who was born on Mount Olympus but as a heavenly born muse instead wisdom is her sister and the two played in the presence of the Almighty father before the heels were created so the poet asked the muse to guide him safely down to earth his native element from his wanderings in heaven his poem is only half song but he now feels safer and more familiar with mortal things on earth despite the danger and evil days that have come upon him and this allusion to wisdom is a reference to proverbs 8 29 and 30 and then also Exodus 19 20 when the Lord gave the knowledge and the wisdom of the laws and Commandments to Moses on Mount Sinai Raphael has already warned Adam and Eve of what is happening and he continues to give Adam a little bit of warning about what happened to Satan could also happen to them and Adam eagerly wants to know more that is going on since Raphael has described the war in heaven Adam now wants him to give him further knowledge and he has the desire to know so that he can glorify God for all his works and they have been discussing this but Raphael replies that he has been instructed to give knowledge within bounds and that comes from line 120 knowledge is like food that is to be absorbed with temperance basically in moderation but too much can lead to a detriment to one's health and to one's mind in this case and the book describes it as wisdom turning to folly so right they'll explain that God wanted him to repair the loss of heaven so he created man got appointed then the Sun to create the world and Raphael fills Adams request to learn more by telling of the creation story which is of great interest to Adam when the Creator is finished at the end of the sixth day he looks at what he has made and says that it is good and at the end of the seventh the Sun then sits with his father and rest from his labors so Raphael has now fulfilled all of Adam's requests going into some of the references for book eight and giving a little bit of lead in to that he is the narrator is going to change location he has left the war in heaven and stands on earth and he can now use his mortal voice even though he has fallen in evil days and so this allusion to the evil days is a reference to the time after the restoration of England during the time of charles ii milton was in danger because he had supported the execution of Charles the first and was later arrested for political crimes but he was released so in book seven the poet has left the war in heaven and will now stand on earth where he feels again that he can use his mortal voice and in book seven we also realized that Adams curiosity has not been satisfied completely by Raphael's account Raphael feels that he has given a full account but Adam is not completely and wholly satisfied um he has a further desire to know what has transpired before the world begins and he asked revealed to tell him fully about everything from his memory his desire for knowledge is given by metaphors that Milton gives of drought a stream liquid murmur and again the Archangel has been instructed to give knowledge within bounds and so there are many scripture references in here some the first act of Cree to mark for 30 and then the sun's use of the golden compasses alludes to Zeus's golden scales and then also to Proverbs 827 and it's interesting that the allusion to Zeus is golden scale is a reference to in the Iliad when Zeus gets out the fate the golden skills and ways the fate of the Trojans and the Greeks as well so at the end Rafael ends his story totally glorifying the Sun he reiterates the theme that to create is better than to destroy that this is better than Satan and that it is better than the destruction in the Trojan War so as Rafael completely ends his story he tells the angels are glorifying the Sun on the Sabbath day with the songs of praise for his act of creation and so the whole underlying theme is that to create is greater than to destroy

Channel: Rachael Counselman

Views: 1,794

Rating: 5 out of 5

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Id: UXe2-PJIQt4

Length: 5min 21sec (321 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 20 2015