MILTON'S IMAGINATIVE AND DESCRIPTIVE ASTRONOMY
The theme chosen by Milton for his great epic, viz. the Fall of Man and
his expulsion from Paradise--perhaps the most momentous incident in the
history of the human race--was one worthy of the genius of a great poet
and in the treatment of which Milton has been sublimely successful. The
newly created Earth; the untainted loveliness of the Paradise in which
our first parents dwelt during their innocence; their temptation; their
fall and removal from the happy garden, furnished a theme which afforded
him an opportunity for the display of his unrivalled poetic genius.
Though the chief interest in the poem is centred in the Garden of Eden
and its occupants, yet Milton was enabled, by the comprehensive manner
in which he treated his subject, to introduce into his work a cosmology
which embraced not only the system to which our globe belongs, but the
entire starry heavens by which we are surrounded. But the universality
of his genius did not rest here. In the utterance of his sacred song he
soared beyond the starry sphere, describing himself as wrapt above the
pole--the starry pole--up to the Empyrean, or Heaven of Heavens, the
ineffable abode of the Deity and the blissful habitation of angelic
beings who, in adoration and worship, surround the throne of the Most
High.
Descending to that nether world at the opposite pole of the universe, in
the lowest depth of Chaos, the place prepared by Eternal Justice for the
rebellious, he unfolds to our horror-stricken gaze the terrors of this
infernal region; its fiery deluge of ever-burning sulphur; its 'regions
of sorrow;' its 'doleful shades'--the unhappy abode of fallen angels who
'in floods and whirlwinds of tempestuous fire,' alternated by exposure
to unendurable cold and icy torment, experience the direful consequences
of their apostacy.
Milton's 'Paradise Lost' may be regarded as the loftiest intellectual
effort in the whole range of literature. In it we find all that was
known of science, philosophy, and theology. The theme, founded upon a
Bible narrative, itself written under divine inspiration, embraces the
entire system of Christian doctrine as revealed in the Scriptures, and
many of the noblest passages in the sacred volume are introduced into
the poem expressed in the lofty utterance of flowing and harmonious
verse. The choicest classical writings of Greek and Latin authors; the
mythological and traditional beliefs of ancient nations; historical
incidents of valour and renown and all that was great and good in the
annals of mankind were laid under contribution by Milton in the
illustration and embellishment of his poem.
In order to obtain a basis or foundation upon which to construct his
great epic, Milton found it necessary to localise the regions of space
in which the principal events mentioned in his poem are described as
having occurred. The unfathomable abyss of space may be regarded as an
uncircumscribed sphere boundless on all sides round, and so far as we
can comprehend of infinite extent. This sphere Milton divided into two
hemispheres--an upper and a lower. The upper was called Heaven, or the
Empyrean--a glorified region of boundless dimensions; the lower
hemisphere embraced Chaos--a dark, fathomless abyss in which the
elements of matter existed in a state of perpetual tumult and wild
uproar. The occurrence of a rebellion in Heaven necessitated a further
division of the sphere. The revolt, headed by Lucifer, one of the
highest archangels, afterwards known as Satan, who drew after him a
third of the angelic host, contested the supremacy of Heaven with
Michael and the angels which kept their loyalty. After two days'
battle--
Him the Almighty Power
Hurled headlong flaming from the ethereal sky,
With hideous ruin and combustion, down
To bottomless perdition; there to dwell
In adamantine chains and penal fire.--i. 44-48.
Having been precipitated over the crystal wall of Heaven into the deep
abyss, Milton says:--
Nine days they fell; confounded Chaos roared,
And felt tenfold confusion in their fall
Through his wild Anarchy; so huge a rout
Encumbered him with ruin. Hell at last,
Yawning, received them whole, and on them closed.--vi. 871-75.
Hell, Milton locates in the lowest depth of Chaos, a region cut off from
the body of Chaos, through which the expelled angels fell for nine days
before reaching their destined habitation. There are now three divisions
of space: HEAVEN, CHAOS, and HELL. But a fourth is required to enable
Milton to complete his scheme for the delineation of his poem. The Earth
and starry universe were not as yet called into existence, but after the
overthrow of the rebellious angels, God, by circumscribing a portion of
Chaos situated immediately underneath the Empyrean, created the Mundane
Universe, or the 'Heavens and the Earth.'[15] This new universe He
reclaimed from Chaos, and with the embryo elements of matter--
His dark materials to create new worlds.--ii. 916.
He formed the Earth and all the countless shining orbs visible overhead,
and the myriads more which the telescope reveals, scattered in
apparently endless profusion over the circular immensity of space. It is
this new universe--the Earth and Starry Heavens--that claims our chief
attention, and in the delineation of Milton's imaginative and
descriptive powers it is to this latest manifestation of Divine wisdom
and might that our remarks shall principally apply. After the expulsion
of the rebel angels from Heaven, God sent His Son, the Messiah to create
the new universe--a work of omnipotence described by Milton in a manner
worthy of so magnificent a display of almighty power--
Meanwhile the Son
On his great expedition now appeared,
Girt with omnipotence, with radiance crowned
Of majesty divine: sapience and love
Immense; and all his Father in Him shone.
About his chariot numberless were poured
Cherub and Seraph, Potentates and Thrones,
And Virtues, winged Spirits, and chariots winged
From the armoury of God, where stand of old
Myriads, between two brazen mountains lodged
Against a solemn day, harnessed at hand,
Celestial equipage; and now came forth
Spontaneous, for within them Spirit lived,
Attendant on their Lord. Heaven opened wide
Her ever-during gates, harmonious sound!
On golden hinges moving, to let forth
The King of Glory, in his powerful Word
And Spirit, coming to create new worlds.
On Heavenly ground they stood, and from the shore
They viewed the vast immeasurable abyss
Outrageous as a sea, dark, wasteful, wild,
Up from the bottom turned by furious winds
And surging waves, as mountains to assault
Heaven's highth, and with the centre mix the pole.
'Silence, ye troubled Waves, and thou Deep, peace!'
Said then the omnific Word: 'your discord end!'
Nor stayed; but on the wings of Cherubim
Uplifted, in paternal glory rode
Far into Chaos, and the World unborn;
For Chaos heard his voice. Him all his train
Followed in bright procession, to behold
Creation, and the wonders of his might.
Then stayed the fervid wheels, and in his hand
He took the golden compasses, prepared
In God's eternal store, to circumscribe
This Universe, and all created things.
One foot he centred, and the other turned
Round through the vast profundity obscure;
And said, 'Thus far extend, thus far thy bounds;
This be thy just circumference, O World!'
Thus God the Heaven created, thus the Earth,
Matter unformed and void. Darkness profound
Covered the abyss; but on the watery calm
His brooding wings the Spirit of God outspread,
And vital virtue infused, and vital warmth,
Throughout the fluid mass; but downward purged
The black, tartareous, cold, infernal dregs,
Adverse to life; then founded, then conglobed
Like things to like; the rest to several place
Disparted, and between spun out the Air;
And Earth self balanced on her centre hung.--vii. 192-242.
Milton begins his narrative of the Creation by describing the progress
of the Deity on His great expedition, accompanied by hosts of angels and
surrounded with all the solemn pomp and splendour of Heaven. The
brilliant throng having passed through Heaven's gates, which opened wide
their portals, they beheld in front of them the dark abyss of Chaos--a
tempest-tossed sea of warring elements upturned in wild confusion. At
God's instant command silence and peace reigned over the deep, and
tranquil calm succeeded noisy discord. Then on the wings of Cherubim He
rode far into Chaos, and with His golden compasses decreed the
dimensions of the universe by circumscribing the vast vacuity of space.
Into the elements which hasted to their several places, His Spirit
infused vital warmth and caused the formless mass of matter to assume
the figure of a sphere, and thus the Earth poised on her axis
unsupported, and in darkness shrouded hung suspended in space. The
placing of the golden compasses in the hands of the Creator, with which
He measured out the heavens, is a noble conception on the part of
Milton, and one most appropriate, since the construction of the universe
is based upon the principles of geometrical science.
'Let there be Light!' said God; and forthwith Light
Ethereal, first of things, quintessence pure,
Sprung from the Deep; and from her native east
To journey through the aery gloom began,
Sphered in a radiant cloud; for yet the Sun
Was not; she in a cloudy tabernacle
Sojourned the while. God saw the light was good;
And light from darkness by the hemisphere
Divided; light the day, and darkness night
He named. Thus was the first day even and morn:
Nor passed uncelebrated, nor unsung
By the celestial quires, when orient light
Exhaling first from darkness they beheld;
Birthday of Heaven and Earth; with joy and shout
The hollow universal orb they filled,
And touched their golden harps, and hymning praised
God and his works: Creator Him they sung,
Both when first evening was, and when first morn.--vii. 243-60.
The appearance of Light, which sprung into existence at the fiat of the
Creator, was the next great event witnessed by beholding
angels--birthday of Heaven and Earth, first morning and first evening,
which the celestial choirs celebrated with praise and shouts of joy.
The creation of the firmament was the great work of the second day.
Again God said, 'Let there be firmament
Amid the waters, and let it divide
The waters from the waters!' And God made
The firmament, expanse of liquid, pure,
Transparent, elemental air, diffused
In circuit to the uttermost convex
Of this great round--partition firm and sure,
The waters underneath from those above
Dividing; for as the Earth, so He the World
Built on circumfluous waters calm, in wide
Crystalline ocean, and the loud misrule
Of Chaos far removed, lest fierce extremes
Contiguous might distemper the whole frame:
And Heaven he named the Firmament. So even
And morning chorus sung the second day.--vii. 261-275.
After describing the gathering of the waters off the face of the globe
into seas, causing the dry land to appear, which at the word of God
became clothed with vegetation, rendering the Earth a habitable abode,
Milton proceeds to describe the creation of the heavenly bodies--
Again the Almighty spake: 'Let there be Lights
High in the expanse of Heaven, to divide
The day from night; and let them be for signs,
For seasons, and for days, and circling years;
And let them be for lights, as I ordain
Their office in the firmament of Heaven,
To give light on the Earth!' and it was so.
And God made two great Lights, great for their use
To Man, the greater to have rule by day,
The less by night, altern; and made the Stars,
And set them in the firmament of Heaven
To illuminate the Earth, and rule the day
In their vicissitude, and rule the night,
And light from darkness to divide. God saw,
Surveying his great work, that it was good:
For, of celestial bodies, first, the Sun,
A mighty sphere He framed, unlightsome first,
Though of ethereal mould; then formed the Moon
Globose, and every magnitude of Stars,
And sowed with stars the Heaven thick as a field.
Of light by far the greater part he took,
Transplanted from her cloudy shrine, and placed
In the Sun's orb, made porous to receive
And drink the liquid light; firm to retain
Her gathered beams, great palace now of Light.
Hither, as to their fountain, other stars
Repairing, in their golden urns draw light,
And hence the morning planet gilds her horns;
By tincture or reflection they augment
Their small peculiar, though, from human sight
So far remote, with diminution seen.
First in his east the glorious lamp was seen,
Regent of day, and all the horizon round
Invested with bright rays, jocund to run
His longitude through Heaven's high road; the grey
Dawn, and the Pleiades before him danced,
Shedding sweet influence. Less bright the Moon,
But opposite in levelled west was set
His mirror, with full face borrowing her light
From him; for other light she needed none
In that aspect, and still that distance keeps
Till night; then in the east her turn she shines,
Revolved on Heaven's great axle, and her reign
With thousand lesser lights dividual holds,
With thousand thousand stars that then appeared
Spangling the hemisphere. Then first adorned
With their bright luminaries, that set and rose,
Glad evening and glad morn crowned the fourth day.--vii. 339-86.
The first creation was Light, and Milton, according to Scriptural
testimony, ascribes its origin to the bidding of the Creator. 'God said,
Let there be light; and there was light!' The Sun he describes as a
mighty sphere, but at first non-luminous. There was light, but no sun.
The reason usually given in explanation of this phenomenon is, that the
heavenly bodies were created at the same time as the Earth, but were
rendered invisible by a canopy of vapour and cloud which enveloped the
newly-formed globe; and that afterwards, when it dispersed, they
appeared in the firmament, shining in all their pristine splendour.
Milton does not, however, adhere to this view of things, but says that
light for the first three days sojourned in a cloudy shrine or
tabernacle, and was afterwards transplanted in the Sun, which became a
great palace of light.
He expresses himself in a somewhat similar manner in Book III., which
opens with an address to Light--one of the most beautiful passages in
the poem, in which he alludes to his blindness when expressing his
thoughts and sentiments with regard to this ethereal medium, which
conveys to us the pleasurable sensation of vision--
Hail, holy Light! offspring of Heaven first-born!
Or of the Eternal co-eternal beam,
May I express thee unblamed? since God is light,
And never but in unapproached light
Dwelt from eternity--dwelt then in thee,
Bright effluence of bright essence increate!
Or hear'st thou rather, pure Ethereal stream,
Whose fountain who shall tell? Before the Sun,
Before the Heavens thou wert, and at the voice
Of God, as with a mantle, didst invest
The rising world of waters dark and deep,
Won from the void and formless Infinite.--iii. 1-12.
The Sun having become a lucent orb, Milton poetically describes how the
planets repair to him as to a fountain, and in their golden urns draw
light; and how the morning planet Venus gilds her horns illumined by his
rays. The poet associates joyous ideas with the new-born universe. The
Sun, now the glorious regent of day, begins his journey in the east,
lighting up the horizon with his beams; whilst before him danced the
grey dawn, and the Pleiades shedding sweet influences. There existed an
ancient belief that the Earth was created in the spring, and in April
the Sun is in the zodiacal constellation Taurus, in which are also
situated the Pleiades; they rise a little before the orb, and precede
him in his path through the heavens. The stars of this group have always
been regarded with a peculiar sacredness, and their rays, mingling with
those of the Sun, were believed to shed sweet influences upon the Earth.
The Moon, less bright, with borrowed light, in her turn shines in the
east, and, with the thousand thousand luminaries that spangle the
firmament, reigns over the night.
We learn in Book III. that the archangel Uriel, who was beguiled by
Satan, witnessed the Creation, and described how the heavenly bodies
were brought into existence, he having perceived what we should call the
gaseous elements of matter rolled into whorls and vortices which became
condensed into suns and systems of worlds. This mighty angel says:--
I saw when, at his word the formless mass,
This World's material mould, came to a heap:
Confusion heard his voice, and wild Uproar
Stood ruled, stood vast Infinitude confined;
Till at his second bidding darkness fled,
Light shone, and order from disorder sprung.
Swift to their several quarters hasted then
The cumbrous elements, Earth, Flood, Air, Fire;
And this ethereal quintessence of Heaven
Flew upward, spirited with various forms,
That rolled orbicular, and turned to stars
Numberless, as thou seest, and how they move;
Each had his place appointed, each his course;
The rest in circuit walls this Universe.--iii. 708-21.
In his sublime description of the Creation Milton has adhered with
marked fidelity to the Mosaic version, as narrated in the first two
chapters of Genesis, when God, by specific acts in certain stated
periods of time, created the visible universe and all that it contains.
The successive acts of creation are described in words almost identical
with those of Scripture, embellished and adorned with all the wealth of
expression which our language is capable of affording. The several
scenes presented to the imagination, and witnessed by hosts of admiring
angels as each portion of the magnificent work was accomplished, are
full of a grandeur and majesty worthy of the loftiest conceivable effort
of Divine power and might.
The return of the Creator after the completion of His great work is
described by Milton in a manner worthy of the progress of Deity through
the celestial regions. The whole creation rang with jubilant delight,
and the bright throng which witnessed the wonders of His might followed
Him with acclamation, ascending by the glorified path of the Milky Way
up to His high abode--the Heaven of Heavens--
Here finished He, and all that He had made
Viewed, and behold! all was entirely good.
So even and morn accomplished the sixth day:
Yet not till the Creator from his work
Desisting, though unwearied, up returned,
Up to the Heaven of Heavens, His high abode,
Thence to behold this new created World,
The addition of his empire, how it showed
In prospect from His throne, how good, how fair,
Answering his great idea. Up He rode,
Followed with acclamation, and the sound
Symphonious of ten thousand harps, that tuned
Angelic harmonies: The Earth, the Air
Resounded (thou remember'st, for thou heard'st)
The Heavens and all the constellations rung,
The planets in their stations listening stood,
While the bright pomp ascended jubilant.
'Open ye everlasting gates!' they sung;
'Open ye Heavens! your living doors; let in
The great Creator, from his work returned
Magnificent, his six days' work, a World;
Open, and henceforth oft; for God will deign
To visit oft the dwellings of just men,
Delighted; and with frequent intercourse
Thither will send his winged messengers
On errands of supernal grace.' So sung
The glorious train ascending: He through Heaven,
That opened wide her blazing portals, led
To God's eternal house direct the way--
A broad and ample road, whose dust is gold,
And pavement stars, as stars to thee appear
Seen in the Galaxy, that Milky Way
Which nightly as a circling zone thou seest
Powdered with stars.--vii. 548-81.
Milton, throughout his description of the Creation, sustains with lofty
eloquence his sublime conception of this latest display of almighty
power; and invests with becoming majesty all the acts of the Creator,
who, when He finished His great work, saw that all was entirely good.
Shortly after the creation of the new universe, Satan, having escaped
from Hell, plunged into the abyss of Chaos, and, after a long and
arduous journey upwards, in which he had to fight his way through the
surging elements that raged around him like a tempestuous sea, he
reached the upper confines of this region where less confusion
prevailed, and where a glimmering dawn of light penetrated its darkness
and gloom, indicating that the limit of the empire of Chaos and ancient
Night had been reached by the adventurous fiend. Pursuing his way with
greater ease, he leisurely beholds the sight which is opening to his
eyes--a sight rendered more glorious by his long sojourn in darkness. He
sees:--
Far off the empyreal Heaven, extended wide
In circuit, undetermined square or round,
With opal towers and battlements adorned
Of living sapphire, once his native seat,
And, fast by, hanging in a golden chain,
This pendent World, in bigness as a star
Of smallest magnitude close by the Moon.--ii. 1047-53.
He gazes upon his native Heaven where once he dwelt, and observes the
pendent world in quest of which he journeyed hither--hung by a golden
chain from the Empyrean and no larger than a star of the smallest
magnitude when close by the Moon. In this passage Milton does not allude
to the Earth, which was invisible, but to the entire starry heavens--the
newly created universe reclaimed from Chaos, which, when contrasted with
the Empyrean, appeared in size no larger than the minutest star when
compared with the full moon. Pursuing his journey, the new universe as
it is approached expands into a globe of vast dimensions; its convex
surface--round which the chaotic elements in stormy aspect
lowered--seemed a boundless continent, dark, desolate, and starless,
except on the side next to the wall of Heaven, which though far-distant
afforded it some illumination by its reflected light. Satan, having
alighted on this convex shell which enclosed the universe, wandered long
over its bleak and dismal surface, until his attention was attracted by
a gleam of light which appeared through an opening at its zenith right
underneath the Empyrean. Thither he directed his steps, and perceived a
structure resembling a staircase, or ladder, which formed the only means
of communication between Heaven and the new creation, and upon which
angels descended and ascended--
Far distant he descries,
Ascending by degrees magnificent
Up to the wall of Heaven, a structure high;
At top whereof, but far more rich, appeared
The work as of a kingly palace gate,
With frontispiece of diamond and gold
Embellished; thick with sparkling orient gems
The portal shone, inimitable on Earth
By model, or by shading pencil drawn.
The stairs were such as whereon Jacob saw
Angels ascending and descending, bands
Of Guardians bright, when he from Esau fled
To Padan Aram, in the field of Luz
Dreaming by night under the open sky,
And waking cried, '_This is the gate of Heaven._'--iii. 501-15.
Sometimes this mysterious structure was drawn up to Heaven and
invisible. At the time that Satan reached the opening, the stairs were
lowered, and standing at their base he looked down with wonder upon the
entire starry universe--
Such wonder seized, though after Heaven seen,
The Spirit malign, but much more envy seized,
At sight of all this World beheld so fair,
Round he surveys (and well might, where he stood
So high above the circling canopy
Of night's extended shade) from eastern point
Of Libra to the fleecy star that bears
Andromeda far off Atlantic seas
Beyond the horizon; then from pole to pole
He views in breadth, and without longer pause,
Down right into the World's first region throws
His flight precipitant, and winds with ease
Through the pure marble air his oblique way
Amongst innumerable stars, that shone
Stars distant, but nigh hand seemed other worlds,
Or other worlds they seemed, or happy isles,
Like those Hesperian Gardens famed of old,
Fortunate fields, and groves, and flowery vales;
Thrice happy isles! But who dwelt happy there
He staid not to inquire: above them all
The golden Sun, in splendour likest Heaven
Allured his eye: thither his course he bends
Through the calm firmament, (but up or down
By centre or eccentric hard to tell
Or longitude) where the great luminary,
Aloof the vulgar constellations thick,
That from his lordly eye keep distance due,
Dispenses light from far. They, as they move
Their starry dance in numbers that compute
Days, months, and years, towards his all-cheering lamp
Turn swift their various motions, or are turned
By his magnetic beam, that gently warms
The Universe, and to each inward part
With gentle penetration, though unseen,
Shoots invisible virtue even to the Deep;
So wondrously was set his station bright.--iii. 552-87.
The Ptolemaic cosmology having been adopted by Milton in the elaboration
of his poem, he describes the universe in conformity with the doctrines
associated with this form of astronomical belief. To each of the first
seven spheres which revolved round the steadfast Earth there was
attached a heavenly body; the eighth sphere embraced all the fixed
stars, a countless multitude; the ninth the crystalline; and enclosing
all the other spheres as if in a shell was the tenth sphere, or Primum
Mobile, which in its diurnal revolution carried round with it all the
other spheres. The nine inner spheres were transparent, but the tenth
was an opaque solid shell-like structure, which enclosed the new
universe and constituted the boundary between it and Chaos underneath
and the Empyrean above. It was on the surface of this sphere that Satan
wandered until he discovered the opening at its zenith, where, by means
of a staircase or ladder, communication was maintained with the
Empyrean. Standing on the lower steps of this structure he paused for a
moment to look down into the glorious universe which lay beneath him--
another Heaven
From Heaven-gate not far, founded in view
On the clear hyaline the glassy sea.--vii. 617-19.
He beholds it in all its dimensions, from pole to pole, and
longitudinally from Libra to Aries, then without hesitation precipitates
himself down into the world's first region, and winds his way with ease
among the fixed stars. Around him he sees innumerable shining worlds,
sparkling and glittering in endless profusion over the circumscribed
immensity of space--mighty constellations that shone from afar;
clustering aggregations of stars; floating islands of light; twinkling
systems rising out of depths still more profound, and a zone luminous
with the light of myriads of lucid orbs verging on the confines of the
universe. All these worlds the fiend passed unheeded, nor stayed he to
inquire who dwelt happy there. In splendour above them all the Sun
attracted his attention and, directing his course towards the great
luminary of our system, he alights on the surface of the orb.
Milton now makes a digression in order to describe what Satan observed
in the Sun after having landed there. The poet embraces an opportunity
for exercising his imaginative and descriptive powers by giving an ideal
description of what, judging from the appearance of the orb, might be
the natural condition of things existing on his surface--
There lands the Fiend, a spot like which perhaps
Astronomer in the Sun's lucent orb
Through his glazed optic tube, yet never saw.
The place he found beyond expression bright,
Compared with aught on Earth, metal or stone;
Not all parts like, but all alike informed
With radiant light, as glowing iron with fire;
If metal, part seemed gold, part silver clear;
If stone, carbuncle most or chrysolite,
Ruby or topaz, to the twelve that shone
In Aaron's breastplate, and a stone besides,
Imagined rather oft than elsewhere seen;
That stone, or like to that, which here below
Philosophers in vain so long have sought,
In vain, though by their powerful art they bind
Volatile Hermes, and call up unbound
In various shapes old Proteus from the sea,
Drained through a limbec to his native form.
What wonder then if fields and regions here
Breathe forth elixir pure, and rivers run
Potable gold, when, with one virtuous touch,
The arch-chemic Sun, so far from us remote,
Produces, with terrestrial humour mixed,
Here in the dark so many precious things
Of colour glorious, and effect so rare?
Here matter new to gaze the Devil met
Undazzled; far and wide his eye commands;
For sight no obstacle found here, nor shade,
But all sunshine, as when his beams at noon
Culminate from the equator, as they now
Shot upward still direct, whence no way round
Shadow from body opaque can fall; and the air,
Nowhere so clear sharpened his visual ray
To objects distant far, whereby he soon
Saw within here a glorious Angel stand.--iii. 588-622.
The physical structure of the interior of the Sun is unknown; all that
we see of the orb is the photosphere--the dazzling luminous envelope
which indicates to the eye the boundary of the solar disc, and which is
the source of light and heat. Milton, in his imaginative and beautifully
poetical description of the Sun, is not more fanciful in his conception
of the nature of the refulgent orb than a renowned astronomer (Sir
William Herschel) who writes in the following strain: 'A cool, dark,
solid globe, its surface diversified with mountains and valleys, clothed
in luxuriant vegetation and richly stored with inhabitants, protected by
a heavy cloud-canopy from the intolerable glare of the upper luminous
region, where the dazzling coruscations of a solar aurora some thousands
of miles in depth evolved the stores of light and heat which vivify our
world.' Satan, disguised as a cherub, makes himself known to Uriel,
Regent of the Sun. The upright Seraph in response to his request directs
him to the Earth, the abode of Man--
Look downward on that Globe, whose hither side
With light from hence, though but reflected, shines,
That place is Earth, the seat of Man; that light
His day, which else, as the other hemisphere,
Night would invade; but there neighbouring Moon
(So call that opposite fair star) her aid
Timely interposes, and her monthly round
Still ending, still renewing, through mid-Heaven,
With borrowed light her countenance triform
Hence fills and empties, to enlighten the Earth,
And in her pale dominion checks the night.--iii. 722-32.
It would be impossible not to feel impressed with the accuracy and
comprehensiveness of Milton's astronomical knowledge; and how he has
united in charming poetic expression the dry details of science with the
divine inspiration of the heavenly muse. The distinctive appearances of
the Sun, Moon, planets, and stars; their functional importance as
regards this terrestrial sphere; the splendour and lustre peculiar to
each; and the glory displayed in the entire created heavens, are
portrayed with a skill indicative of a masterly knowledge of the science
of astronomy.
Descend from Heaven, Urania, by that name
If rightly thou art called, whose voice divine
Following, above the Olympian hill I soar,
Above the flight of Pegasean wing!
The meaning, not the name, I call; for thou
Nor of the Muses nine, nor on the top
Of old Olympus dwell'st; but heavenly-born,
Before the hills appeared or fountain flowed,
Thou with Eternal Wisdom didst converse,
Wisdom thy sister, and with her didst play
In presence of the Almighty Father, pleased
With thy celestial song. Up led by thee,
Into the Heaven of Heavens I have presumed,
An earthly guest, and drawn empyreal air,
Thy tempering. With like safety guided down,
Return me to my native element;
Lest, from this flying steed unreined, (as once
Belerophon, though from a lower clime)
Dismounted, on the Aleian field I fall,
Erroneous there to wander, and forlorn.
Half yet remains unsung, but narrower bound
Within the visible diurnal sphere.
Standing on Earth, not rapt above the pole,
More safe I sing with mortal voice, unchanged
To hoarse or mute, though fallen on evil days,
On evil days though fallen, and evil tongues,
In darkness, and with dangers compassed round,
And solitude; yet not alone, while thou
Visit'st my slumbers nightly, or when morn
Purples the east. Still govern thou my song,
Urania, and fit audience find though few.--vii. 1-32.
The Muses were Greek mythological divinities who possessed the power of
inspiring song, and were the patrons of poets and musicians. According
to Hesiod they were nine in number and presided over the arts. Urania
was the Goddess of Astronomy, and Calliope the Goddess of Epic Poetry.
They are described as the daughters of Zeus, and Homer alludes to them
as the goddesses of song who dwelt on the summit of Mount Olympus. They
were the companions of Apollo, and accompanied with song his playing on
the lyre at the banquets of the Immortals. Milton does not invoke the
mythological goddess, but Urania the Heavenly Muse, whose aid he also
implores at the commencement of his poem prior to his flight above the
Aonian Mount. Under her divine guidance he ascended to the Heaven of
Heavens and breathed empyreal air, her tempering; in like manner he
requests her to lead him down to his native element lest he should meet
with a fate similar to what befell Bellerophon. Half his task he has
completed, the other half, confined to narrower bounds within the
visible diurnal sphere, remains unsung, and in its fulfilment he still
implores his celestial patroness to govern his song.
The natural phenomena which occur as a consequence of the motions of the
heavenly bodies and the diurnal rotation of the Earth on her axis, are
accompanied by agreeable alternations in the aspect of nature with which
every one is familiar. The rosy footsteps of morn; the solar splendour
of noonday; the fading hues of even; and night with her jewelled courts
and streams of molten stars, have been sung with rapturous admiration by
poets of every nation and in every age. They, as ardent lovers of
nature, have described in choicest language the pleasing vicissitudes
brought about by the real and apparent motions of the celestial orbs.
In this respect Milton is unsurpassed by any poet in ancient or in
modern times. The occasions on which he describes the heavenly bodies,
or alludes to them in association with other phenomena, testify to the
felicity of his thoughts and to the greatness of his poetic genius.
Surely no poet has ever given us a lovelier description of evening, or
has added more to its exquisite beauty by his allusion to the celestial
orbs, than Milton when he describes the first evening in Paradise--
Now came still Evening on, and Twilight gray
Had in her sober livery all things clad;
Silence accompanied; for beast and bird,
They to their grassy couch, these to their nests
Were slunk, all but the wakeful nightingale.
She all night long her amorous descant sung;
Silence was pleased. Now glowed the firmament
With living sapphires: Hesperus that led
The starry host, rode brightest, till the Moon,
Rising in clouded majesty, at length
Apparent queen, unveiled her peerless light,
And o'er the dark her silver mantle threw.--iv. 598-609.
In the avowal of her conjugal love, Eve, with charming expression,
associates the orbs of the firmament with the delightful appearances of
nature which presented themselves to her observation after she awoke to
the consciousness of intelligent existence.
Sweet is the breath of Morn, her rising sweet,
With charm of earliest birds: pleasant the Sun,
When first on this delightful land he spreads
His orient beams, on herb, tree, fruit, and flower,
Glistering with dew; fragrant the fertile Earth
After soft showers; and sweet the coming on
Of grateful Evening mild; then silent Night,
With this her solemn bird, and this fair Moon,
And these the gems of Heaven, her starry train:
But neither breath of Morn, when she ascends
With charm of earliest birds; nor rising Sun
On this delightful land; nor herb, fruit, flower,
Glistering with dew; nor fragrance after showers;
Nor grateful Evening mild; nor silent Night,
With this her solemn bird; nor walk by Moon,
Or glittering star-light, without thee is sweet.
But wherefore all night long shine these? for whom
This glorious sight, when sleep hath shut all eyes?--iv. 641-58.
One of the charms of Milton's verse is the devoutly poetical sentiment
which pervades it. His thoughts, though serious, are not austere or
gloomy, and it is in his loftiest musings that his reverence becomes
most apparent. This feeling is conspicuous in Adam's reply to the
inquiry addressed to him by Eve--
Daughter of God and Man, accomplished Eve,
These have their course to finish round the Earth
By morrow evening, and from land to land
In order, though to nations yet unborn,
Ministering light prepared, they set and rise;
Lest total Darkness should by night regain
Her old possession, and extinguish life
In Nature and all things; which these soft fires
Not only enlighten, but with kindly heat
Of various influence foment and warm,
Temper or nourish, or in part shed down
Their stellar virtue on all kinds that grow
On Earth, made hereby apter to receive
Perfection from the Sun's more potent ray.
These, then, though unbeheld in deep of night,
Shine not in vain; nor think, though men were none,
That Heaven would want spectators, God want praise:
Millions of spiritual creatures walk the Earth
Unseen, both when we wake, and when we sleep:
All these with ceaseless praise his works behold
Both day and night. How often from the steep
Of echoing hill or thicket, have we heard
Celestial voices to the midnight air,
Sole, or responsive each to other's note
Singing their Great Creator! Oft in bands
While they keep watch, or nightly rounding walk,
With heavenly touch of instrumental sounds
In full harmonic number joined, their songs
Divide the night, and lift our thoughts to Heaven.--iv. 660-88.
The Morning Hymn of Praise which Adam and Eve offer up in concert to
their Maker contains their loftiest thoughts and most reverent
sentiments, expressed in melodiously flowing verse. In their solemn
invocations they call upon the orbs of the firmament to join in
praising and extolling the Creator, and in their devout enthusiasm and
adoration address by name those that are most conspicuous. Hesperus,
'fairest of stars,' is asked to praise Him in her sphere. The Sun, great
image of his Maker, is told to acknowledge Him his greater, and to sound
His praise in his eternal course. The Moon, the fixed stars, and the
planets are called upon to resound the praise of the Creator, whose
glory is declared in the Heavens--
Fairest of Stars, last in the train of night,
If better thou belong not to the dawn,
Sure pledge of day, that crown'st the smiling morn
With thy bright circlet, praise Him in thy sphere
While day arises, that sweet hour of prime.
Thou Sun, of this great world both eye and soul,
Acknowledge Him thy greater; sound his praise
In thy eternal course, both when thou climb'st,
And when high noon hast gained, and when thou fall'st.
Moon, that now meet'st the orient Sun, now fliest
With the fixed stars, fixed in their orb that flies;
And ye five other wandering Fires, that move
In mystic dance, not without song, resound
His praise, who out of darkness called up Light.--v. 166-79.
Milton's conception of celestial distances, and of the vast regions of
interstellar space, is finely described in the following lines:--
Down thither prone in flight
He speeds, and through the vast ethereal sky
Sails between worlds and worlds, with steady wing
Now on the polar winds; then with quick fan
Winnows the buxom air, till, within soar
Of towering eagles.--v. 266-71.
As in their morning, so in their evening devotions, our first parents
never fail to introduce a reference to the celestial orbs as indicating
the power and goodness of the Creator, made manifest in the beauty and
greatness of His works--
Thus, at their shady lodge arrived, both stood,
Both turned, and under open sky adored
The God that made both Sky, Air, Earth and Heaven
Which they beheld; the Moon's resplendent globe,
And starry pole.--iv. 720-24.
The numerous extracts contained in this volume impress upon one's mind
how largely astronomy enters into the composition of 'Paradise Lost,'
and of how much assistance the knowledge of this science was to Milton
in the elaboration of his poem. Indeed, it would be hard to imagine how
such a work could have been written except by a poet who possessed a
proficient and comprehensive knowledge of astronomy. The chief
characteristic of Milton's poetry is its sublimity, which is the natural
outcome of the magnificence of his conceptions and of his own pure
imaginative genius. Among all the fields of literature, science, and
philosophy explored by him, he found none more congenial to his tastes,
or that afforded his imagination more freedom for its loftiest flights,
than the sublimest of sciences--astronomy. Whether we admire most the
accuracy of his astronomical knowledge, or the wonderful creations of
his poetic fancy, or his beautiful descriptions of the celestial orbs,
it is apparent that in this domain of science, as a poet, he stands
alone and without a rival. In his choice of the Ptolemaic cosmology
Milton adopted a system with which he had been familiar from his
youth--the same which his favourite poet Dante introduced into his poem,
'The Divina Commedia,' and which was well adapted for poetic
description. The picturesque conception of ten revolving spheres,
carrying along with them the orbs assigned to each, which, by their
revolution round the steadfast Earth, brought about with unfailing
regularity the successive alternation of day and night, and in every
twenty-four hours exhibited the pleasing vicissitudes of dawn, of
sunshine, of twilight, and of darkness, relieved by the soft effulgence
of the nocturnal sky, afforded Milton a favourable basis upon which to
construct a cosmical epic. The Copernican theory--with which he was
equally conversant, and in the accuracy and truthfulness of which he
believed--though less complicated than the Ptolemaic in its details, did
not possess the same attractiveness for poetic description that belonged
to the older system. According to this theory there is, surrounding us
on all sides, a boundless uncircumscribed ocean of space, to which it is
impossible to assign any conceivable limit; in every effort to
comprehend its dimensions or fathom its depths, the mind recoils upon
itself, baffled and discomfited, with a conscious feeling that there can
be no nearer approach to the end when end there is none that can be
conceived of. Interspersed throughout the regions of this azure vast of
space is the stellar universe, which to our comprehension is as infinite
as the abyss in which it exists. The solar system, though of magnificent
dimensions, is but a unit in the astronomical whole, in which are
embraced millions of other similar units--other solar systems, perhaps
differing in construction from that of ours, with billions of miles of
interstellar space intervening between each; yet so vast are the
dimensions of the celestial sphere that those distances when measured
upon it sink into utter insignificance. As the receding depths of space
are penetrated by powerful telescopes, they are found to be pervaded
with stars and starry archipelagoes, distributed in profusion over the
circular immensity and extending away into abysmal depths, beyond the
reach of visibility by any optical means which we possess. To the
universe there is no known end--nowhere in imagination can its boundary
be reached! This bewildering conception of the cosmos did not trouble
the minds of pre-Copernican thinkers. They regarded the steadfast Earth
as the most important body in the universe; nor were the celestial orbs
which circled round it believed to be very far distant. Tycho Brahe
imagined that the stars were not much more remote than the planets.
Epicurus thought the stars were small crystal mirrors in the sky which
reflected the solar rays, and the Venerable Bede remarked that they
needed assistance from the Sun's light in order to render them more
luminous.
The adoption of the Ptolemaic system by Milton afforded greater scope
for the exercise of his imaginative powers, and enabled him to bring
within the mental grasp of his readers a conception of the universe
which was not lost in the immensity associated with the Copernican view
of things. Besides, it also furnished him with a distinctly defined
basis upon which to erect the superstructure of his poem. Above the
circumscribed universe was Heaven or the Empyrean; underneath it was
Chaos, from which it had been reclaimed, and in the lowest depth of
which Milton located the infernal world called Hell. These four regions
embraced universal space; and in the elaboration of his great epic
Milton relied upon his imaginative genius, his brilliant scholarship,
his vast erudition, and the divine inspiration of the heavenly muse.
With these, aided by the power and vigour of his intellect, he was
enabled to produce a cosmical epic that surpassed all previous efforts
of a similar kind, and which still remains without a parallel.
One of the distinguishing features of Milton's mind was his wonderful
imagination, and in its exercise he beheld those sublime celestial and
terrestrial visions on which he reared fabrics of splendour and beauty,
described in harmonious numbers with the fervid eloquence and charm of a
true poet. An example of the loftiness and originality of his
imagination is afforded us in his description of the Creation, the main
facts of which he derived from the first two chapters of Genesis, and
upon these he elaborated in full and striking detail his magnificent
conception of the efforts of Divine Might, which in six successive
creative acts called into existence the universe and all that it
contains. The rising of the Earth out of Chaos; the creation of light
and of the orbs of the firmament; the joyfulness associated with the
onward career of the new-born Sun; the subdued illumination of the
full-orbed Moon, and the thousand thousand stars that spangle the
nocturnal sky--all these afforded Milton a rich field in which his
imagination luxuriated, and in the description of which he found
subject-matter worthy of his gifted intellect.
Milton gives an ampler and more detailed description of the new universe
in his narration of Satan's journey through space in search of this
world, and brings more vividly before the imagination of his readers the
glories of the celestial regions. The fiend, having emerged from the
dark abyss of Chaos into a region of light, first beheld the new
creation from such a distance that to his view it appeared as a star
suspended by a golden chain from the Empyrean. This stellar conception
of the poet's harmonised with the views of the Ptolemaists, who believed
that the universe was of limited extent, and though its dimensions were
vast beyond comprehension, it was, nevertheless, enclosed by the tenth
sphere or Primum Mobile. It was on the surface of this sphere that Satan
alighted, and over which he wandered, until attracted by a beam of light
that appeared through an opening at its zenith, where, by means of a
stair or ladder, communication was maintained between the new universe
and Heaven above. Hither the undaunted fiend hied, and, standing on the
lower steps of this structure, momentarily paused to gaze upon the
glorious sight which burst upon his view before directing his flight
down into the newly created universe. Milton then describes his progress
through the stellar regions, his landing in the Sun and what he saw
there, and the termination of his journey when he descends from the
ecliptic down to the Earth. In doing so the poet gives a wonderfully
beautiful description of the starry universe, of the Sun, Moon, and
Earth (Book III. 540-742), enhanced and adorned with his own poetic
imaginings derived from fable, philosophy, and science.
Milton makes more frequent allusion to the Sun than to any of the other
orbs of the firmament. This we should expect: the poet always gives the
orb the precedence which is his due, and never fails, when the occasion
requires it, to surround him with the 'surpassing glory' which marks his
pre-eminence above all other occupants of the sky. The Moon, his
consort--peerless in the subdued effulgence of her borrowed light; the
beautiful star of evening, Hesperus; the sidereal heavens with their
untold glories; the Galaxy, overpowering in the magnificence of its
clouds and streams of stars--all these have their beauties and charms
mirrored in the pages of this remarkable poem.
That the observation of the celestial orbs, their phases, and the varied
phenomena which occur as a consequence of their motions, were to Milton
an unfailing source of enjoyment and of meditative delight, is evident
from the frequency with which he alludes to them. The following lines
also testify to this:--
For wonderful indeed are all his works,
Pleasant to know, and worthiest to be all
Had in remembrance always with delight!
But what created mind can comprehend
Their number, or the wisdom infinite
That brought them forth, but hid their causes deep?--iii. 703-708.
It is very pleasant, as Milton says, to
sit and rightly spell
Of every star that heaven doth show.
It is also pleasant to know the astronomy of his 'Paradise Lost,' and to
linger over the delightful and harmonious utterances associated with the
sublimest of sciences, expressed in the melodious language of England's
greatest epic poet.
PRINTED BY
SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE
LONDON
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Chambers's _Handbook of Astronomy_.
[2] Brewster's _Martyrs of Science_.
[3] The transit occurred on a Sunday, and the 'business of the highest
importance' to which Horrox alludes was his clerical duties.
[4] A fresco by the late Mr. Ford Maddox-Brown, depicting Crabtree
observing the transit of Venus, adorns the interior of the Manchester
Town Hall.
[5] William Crabtree died on August 1, 1644, aged 34 years.
[6] The constellation Virgo.
[7] _Life of Galileo_ (Library of Useful Knowledge).
[8] Miss Clerke's _System of the Stars_.
[9] Miss Clerke's _System of the Stars_.
[10] Miss Clerke's _System of the Stars_.
[11] _Ibid._
[12] An expression in Book VIII. 148-49 would seem to indicate that this
was inaccurate, but the lines
'and other suns perhaps
With their attendant moons, thou wilt descry,'
are an allusion to the planets Jupiter and Saturn, whose satellites had
been recently discovered.
[13] Mr. E. W. Maunder, in _Knowledge_, March 1894.
[14] Though not a celestial body, it is considered desirable to describe
the Earth as a member of the solar system.
[15] See diagram, chap. iii. p. 96.