From John Milton's Paradise Lost, in his account of Adam and Eve, we have some of the most stunning and tender expressions of love and caring, possessing remarkable beauty, that can be found in all of English Literature. We all know, or should know, the greatness of John Milton's poetry and that Paradise Lost is the finest epic in the language if not also the finest poetry ever written in English. But, I must confess that as I was re-reading this masterpiece I was moved by the power of sentiment and truth in his expressions of Love, Sacrifice for Love and Loss. Milton is a great poet of Love!
First ---- Adam's profession of love and commitment to Eve.
In Conversation with Raphael,
Neither her outside formed so fair, nor aught
In procreation, common to all kinds
(Though higher of genial bed by far,
And with mysterious reverence, I deem),
So much delights me as those graceful acts,
Those thousand decencies, that daily flow
From all her words and actions, mixed with love
And sweet compliance, which declare unfeigned
Union of mind, or in us both one soul
Harmony to behold in wedded pair
More grateful than harmonious sound to the ear.
(Paradise Lost VIII.596-604)
It is in the 'thousand decencies' enacted by Eve that Adam finds the most stirring aspect of his love for her. Who could blame him? What a perfect phrase, "thousand decencies that flow from all her words and actions, mixed with love..." 'Decencies' is such the perfect word - conveying all the thoughtfulness, manners, good form, kindness, never extravagant or bombastic, just simple and true. 'Flow' makes the image of the decencies all the more tender as the decencies flow, as if completely effortless like water that flows from up stream to down stream, as if anything else would be completely foreign and backwards. From whence do the decencies flow? From ALL her words and actions - in all she does and says... words do not contradict her actions or her actions do not betray her words, but they are united in their flow of decencies which are 'mixed' in their union and coherence by 'love'. Not only is this amazing poetry - beautiful in the highest degree, but it makes one long for the very thing it portrays.
Though we can regret the phrase 'sweet compliance' which is revealing of a hierarchy of the social order in which 'good wives' were expected to be compliant with their husbands wishes, if we can set this aside and make allowances for the historic time and setting, we find a very tender and delicate statement by Adam in rapture with the gentle thoughtfulness of Eve in the 'thousand decencies' which 'daily flow' from both her words and actions.
His rapture meets its height in his declaration of their harmonious state of union - dedication to one another strengthened by a shared sense of the world and by shared 'decencies' to one another. It is a beautiful expression of love and the contentment / fullness of being in love.
The next expression or declaration of love by Adam that bares quotation is his response to her after she has told him that she has eaten of the forbidden tree and bids him to do the same.How art thou lost, how on a sudden lost,
Defaced, deflowered, and now to death devote?
Rather, how hast thou yielded to trangress
The strict forbiddance, how to violate
The sacred fruit forbidden? Some cursed fraud
Of enemy hath beguilded thee, yet unknown,
And me with thee hath ruined; for with thee
Certain my resolution is to die;
How can I live without thee, how forgo
Thy sweet converse, and love so dearly joined,
To live again in these wild woods forlorn?
Should God create another Eve, and I
Another rib afford, yet loss of thee
Would never from my heart; no, no, I feel
The link of nature draw me: flesh of flesh,
Bone of my bone thou art, and from thy state
Mine never shall be parted, bliss or woe.
(Paradise Lost IX.900-916)
Take particular note of the lines beginning, "How can I live without thee?" Adam declares how can I not be with you, have conversations with you, be alone? Even if God were to create another 'Eve' from yet another rib of mine, the loss of you will never leave me - would break my heart. And so, Adam chooses the death threat of eating of the forbidden tree rather than the loss of Eve. Having heard the story of the fallen angels and the battle in heaven that lead to their eternal damnation and separation from God, Adam is aware that he is at great risk in joining Eve. Love of Eve conquers his fear of death (a great unknown for Adam particularly) and loss of God (incomprehensible for Adam who daily conversed with Angels and had heard the voice of God). He will be damned to death, labor and separation from God - i.e. loneliness at its deepest level. Adam and Eve must now depend on their love to compensate for their loneliness - the absence of the divine. One is left to wonder whether outside the Paradise of Eden the 'thousand decencies' continue from either party?
1 comment:
That was a heartfelt summation of Milton's poetic sensibility, and especially of his dedication to love. I particularly liked your question at the end about whether these thousand decencies would continue outside of Eden and as book nine closes, we get a glimpse of the divide as the two engage in vain arguments.
But it really does make you seek that character and that devotion and I can imagine the audiences then eagerly waiting to hear a few of his lines and fancying themselves in love, not unlike people today do on imdb or youtube, watching trailers of romantic films and reading novels.
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