Sublimity in paradise lost

Sublimity is the most distinguishing characteristic of Milton's poetry. it is

the capacity to enlarge the imagination of the reader. Milton has surpassed
both the ancient and modern poets in this respect.
As John Dennis puts it "Where he has excelled all other poets, is in what he
has expressed, which is the surest, and noblest mark the most transporting
effect of sublimity."
GRAND THEME
The sublimity of Paradise Lost is constituted both by its theme and poetic
style. The great epic deals with cosmic theme. It presents the fall of the rebel
angels, the creation of man and the earth, man's disobedience of God's
command and his consequent expulsion from earthy Paradise. It is a great
theme, and perhaps no other epic of the world, whether ancient or modern
has dealt with a theme equally great.
Discussing the vast scope of Paradise Lost, Mr. F.E. Hutchinson says: "It
ranges over all time and space and even beyond them both. It depicts
Heaven and Earth and chaos, the imagined utterances of superhuman
beings, events, before the emergence of man upon earth, the history of man
from the creation and by prophecy, to the end of time, and his eternal
destiny... Not all the mountain of theological speculation in the Christian
centuries built upon a single chapter of Genesis is comparable with Milton's
structure, heaven-high and hell-deep."
Extra-Ordinary Characters
The characters of Milton's epic are no ordinary beings. They are God and
His faithful angels, Satan and his followers and Adam and Eve. Human
mind reels to think of the great number of angels who are actors in the vast
drama of man's origin. Satan's followers form only a portion of the
population of Heaven. But even they are countless, at least so far as human
reckoning is concerned. The muster of devil in Hell surpasses all gatherings
of men in human history.
In Book-I of Paradise Lost, we only come across Satan and the fallen angels.
Milton has thrown around Satan a singularity of daring, a grandeur of
sufferance and a ruined splendour which constitute the very height of poetic
sublimity
GRAND SETTING
This great story of man's creation and fall is presented against the
background of entire space, and of regions which transcend space. The
scenes of Paradise Lost lie in Heaven, Hell and Earth. Satan, while
searching for the Earth traverses almost the entire space. Heaven, Hell and
Earth combined, form a space of action which is as vast as Creation itself.
Sublime Poetic Style
The next factor which contributes to the sublimity of Milton's epic is the
grandeur of his verse. In Paradise Lost Milton's blank verse reaches its
perfection.
Milton's stately blank verse in Paradise Lost is in full accord with the
grandeur of his epic's theme. Both the form and the subject-matter of the
poem combine to make it a great epic. Dryden ascribed loftiness of mind to
Homer, and "mygesty" to Virgil, and a combination of the two to Milton.
The story goes that when Paradise Lost was published, the Earl of Dorset
sent copy of it to Dryden, who in a short time returned it with the comment:
"This man cuts us all out and the Ancients too. In sublimity of thought and
majesty of expression both sustained at almost superhuman pitch, Milton
has no superior, and no rival except Dante. "
Sentence Construction
Besides the references and vocabulary, Milton also tends to use Latinate
constructions. English is a syntactical language using word order in sentences to
produce sense. Latin, in contrast, is an inflected language in which endings on
words indicate the words' functions within a sentence, thereby making word order
less important. Latin verbs, for example, often come at the end of the sentence or a
direct object may precede the subject. In Paradise Lost, Milton seems purposely to
strive for atypical English syntactical patterns. He almost never writes in simple
sentences. Partly, this type of inverted, at times convoluted, syntax is necessary for
the poetics, to maintain the correct meter, but at other times the odd syntax itself
seems to be Milton's stylistic goal.

Allusions and Vocabulary

The first aspect of the grand style that most readers notice is the number of allusions
and references, many of which seem obscure, along with the arcane and archaic
vocabulary. In just the first few lines of the poem references to "Oreb" (7), "That
Shepherd" (8), "chosen seed" (8), "Siloa's Brook" (10), and "Aonian Mount" (15)
occur. The purpose of the references is to extend the reader's understanding through
comparison.
That shepherd, who taught the chosen seen,
In the beginning how the heavens and eart
E.g of vocabulary
And shook his throne. What though the field be lost?
All is not lost; the unconquerable will,
And study of revenge, immortal hate,

Paradise lost as an epic

1. GRAND SETTING
This great story of man's creation and fall is presented against the
background of entire space, and of regions which transcend space, The
scenes of Paradise Lost lie in Heaven. Hell and Earth. Satan, while
searching for the Earth traverses almost the entire space. Heaven, Hell and
Earth combined, form a space of action which is as vast as Creation itself.
2. GREAT ACTIONS AND ITS FAR REACHING IMAPACTS.
There is a perfect unity of action in Paradise Lost. The theme of Paradise Lost
is 'Fall of man'; everything in the poem either leads up to it or follows from it. The
plucking of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge by Eve is the peak of the whole
pyramid of Paradise Lost. The war between God and Satan, followed by Satan's
fall, is only a prelude to the main action. Satan defeated and punished, sought to
take revenge on God by bring about the fall of man. The whole action of Paradise
Lost is single and compact.
3. Beginning, Middle and end of "Paradise Lost"
Paradise Lost begins not at the beginning, but in the middle, then retraces the
earlier history bit by bit and finally takes the story forward to complete the narration
in a striking end. The fall of man is a long story, and its beginnings are to be traced
back to Creation itself by the Almighty. But Milton chooses to deal with the Fall of
Satan in the first book. This is a striking episode which arrests our attention, for we
are introduced to Satan lying stunned in the sulphurous lake of endless fires after
having been hurled down from high heaven by God. This is according to the
classical convention that the action of an epic should plunge abruptly into the
middle of the action. Who was Satan, why he fell, are the questions that engage our
attention, and the poet then proceeds to tell us all about these in the later book of the
poem. Hence it has proper beginning, middle and an end.
4. Invocation of "Paradise Lost"
There is an introductory invocation or prayer to God to inspire and bless the poet
to complete his task properly. This is a common feature of all ancient epics. The
ancient epics appealed to gods and goddesses in whom the moderns no more
believe. Instead, Milton prays to God to give him the necessary inspiration to
complete his task.
In the invocation to the Muse, Milton follows a poetic tradition adopted from
antiquity. The Heavenly Muse is in reality the divine inspiration which revealed the
truths of religion of Moses and also the spirit of God which dwells in the heart of
every believer.
Invoke thy aid to my adventurous song
That with no middle flight intends to soar

5. NUMBER OF CHARACTERS
Not only is the hero of outstanding personality, but his associates are also
of heroic deeds and stuff. This we find in the description and sketch of
Satan, Beelzebub and the other fallen angels.
In one respect 'Paradise Lost' differs from the classical epics and that is
in the number of the characters portrayed. The earlier epics were rich in
characterization with many mortals and gods taking part in the action. Their
personality and the motivations of all the participants in the different phases
of the story, capture the interest of the readers; and there is also constant
suspense about their fates. The subjects-matter of the fall of Adam and Eve
obviously precluded any such generosity of characterization, especially of
human beings.
DRYDEN'S OBJECTION AGAINST "PARADISE LOST"
AS A CLASSICAL EPIC
Dryden, however, doubted its claim to be called an epic, because, (1) it is
not heroic enough; its main theme is not a war but the tale of man's loss of
his happiness; (2) unlike other epics it ends unhappily; (3) again, unlike
other epics, it contains only two human characters.
 It is a needless restriction on epic poetry to say that it must always have a
war as its main theme. Similarly, the fact that epics generally end happily
does not mean that all epics must end so.
Johnson points out, Paradise Lost does not end unhappily. "If success be
necessary, then Adam's deceiver was at last crushed; Adam was restored to
his Maker's favour, and therefore may securely resume his human rank."
Dryden's third objection is sufficiently refuted by Addison. He says that
though the number of characters in Milton's epic are not many, yet each of
the characters is represented in more than one aspect. Thus we have Adam
and Eve as they are before their fall and as they are after it. God is revealed
as the Creator, the avenger of man's wrongs and as man's redeemer. Satan
has three different aspects of his character. He is God's enemy, man's
tempter and a great leader to his followers. Besides, abstract characters such
as Sin and Death, are introduced. And surely, God and the angels, good and
bad, are also characters. They are not merely "heavenly machines."
……………………………………………………………………..

Milton’s Poetic Style

1. LANGUAGE

Milton’s style has been called ‘grand style’ because it has always an unmistakable
stamp of majesty in it. Milton’s language is not the language of ordinary life. his
language has a force and spontaneity of its own. He uses a lot of Latin words. He
borrows words from Latin and employs them in his language in a befitting manner.
He creates a language and diction which quite appropriate to his theme. The
Miltonic diction follows the ancient models. Similes and metaphors abound; with
the result that the impression that is left on our minds after reading his poetry is that
of grandeur, majesty and dignity.
We can describe Milton’s grand style in the words of Matthew Arnold, who says,
“In the sure and flawless perfection of his rhythm and diction, he is as admirable as
Virgil or Dante, and in this respect he is unique amongst us. None else in English
literature possesses the like distinction.”
It is sometimes said that the language of ‘Paradise Lost’ is ‘no language’. But in the
art of literature one often comes across several instances where the literary language
is no spoken language.
The diction of Milton’s epic is a thing composed of many elements – all tending to
result in a rich and varied medium. Milton’s vocabulary contains a large proportion
of Latinized words such as ‘untamed reluctance’, ‘horrid here’, ‘prodigious’,
‘officious’ etc. Often Milton uses words in their Latin sense or sometimes in senses
which have become obsolete.

2. MILTON’S PECULARITIES

Among other qualities of Milton’s style are his peculiar use of the Latin idiomatic
participle construction (for example, the loss thus far recovered), the use of
Nominative Absolute (for example, ‘I extinct’ meaning ‘I being extinct’); the use of
past participle, the use of transitive verbs intransitively and vice-versa.
Among other peculiarities of Milton’s diction is the use of adjectives as nouns, as
‘our stronger’ in the sense of ‘he who is stronger than us; a love for conciseness that
compels Milton to compress the maximum meaning into few words in a
characteristic passion with Milton. Milton is also famous for ‘Inversions’. For
instance, take the sentence: “Where to with speedy words the archfiend replied”.
Without inversion this sentence would read as: “The archfiend replied to this with
speedy words”.

Verbal Melody
There is an important characteristic yet to be mentioned – the solemn grandeur of
his verbal melody. This melody is in consonance with general atmosphere of the
poem – a mood of awe and majesty and sublimity. Milton’s style has been called
the grand style as there is grandeur in his music and in his description. Milton
chooses his words for the sake of their sound effect.
“farewell happy fields,
Where Joy forever dwells. Hail Horrors hail,
Infernal world and thou profoundest hell,
Receive thy new possessor, one who brings,
A mind not to be changed by place or time,
The mind is its place and itself,
Can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven.”

Sublimity
Sublimity is the supreme quality of Milton's poetry.  His poetry elevates and uplifts
us. Milton lived a life of purity and his life bears the stamp of the nobility of his
character.  Milton's subject is sublime, and he could never come down to the cheap
love poetry.  Not lovers and lasses but God, Satan, Adam, Eve and Christ are the
characters that Milton has introduced in his poetry.

Sense of Beauty
The chief characteristics of Milton's poetry is his profound love of beauty in its
various forms.  He is deeply sensitive to the beauties of external nature. In 'Paradise
Lost' his sense of beauty is supreme.  In Book Four, he gives a glowing description
of the beauty of Adam and Eve.
High seriousness
High seriousness marks both Milton's character and poetry.  There is a lack of
humour in Milton's writing. His poetry never bothers about a big audience of
admiring readers.  His desire is to have "fit audience though few."
Superb imagination
Only, a man of Milton's imagination could have shaped the Paradise Lost.  The
theme of the epic is vast. The poet creates a world of heaven and hell which could
only have been possible with the superb imagination that he has.  He has an
imagination that can soar above time and space, and be at home in infinity.   
"In the sure and flawless perfection of his rhythm and diction, he (Milton) is as
admirable as Virgil or Dante, and in this respect, he is unique amongst us. No one
else in English literature possess the like distinction.... Shakespeare is divinely
strong, rich and attractive; but sureness, of perfect style Shakespeare himself does
not possess. Milton from one end of Paradise Lost to the other is in his diction and
rhythm constantly a great artist in the great style." (Mathew Arnold)
Grand style of "Paradise Lost"
The greatest work of Milton is Paradise Lost, and when we speak of the style of
Milton, we usually think of the majestic style of this great epic. When Tennyson
spoke of Milton as being the "God-gifted organ-voice of England," he was no doubt
referring to the majestic blank verse of Paradise Lost.
Allusiveness
An essential quality of Milton's poetic style is its allusiveness. He, no doubt pressed
to the service of his poetry all that he observed in life and nature; but his vision was
often coloured by his knowledge. The whole treasury of poetry, ancient and
modern, and the whole storehouse of learning were at his command; and he seemed
to assume that they were also at the command of his readers and so he loaded every
rift of his verse with myth and legend, historical, literary, and scientific fact.
Classical and Biblical allusions are most abundant, and are woven into the very
texture of his language. His scholarly habit of mind is illustrated in the comparison
of the army of Satan to various military assemblage mentioned, in legend and
history at the close of Book I of Paradise Lost.

Elevated Speeches

The lofty tone is maintained in the speeches of Satan, as for instance in the speech
to Beelzebub. One cannot help noting the rhetorical eloquence with which Satan
encourages the fallen angels. So Milton maintains a constant elevation and dignity
of style corresponding to the greatness of theme

Milton's Spiritual Import

The distinctive feature of Milton's poetry is its spiritual quality. His intense
godliness found its expression through his poetry. Like the needle of the mariner's
compass which always points to the north pole, Milton's thoughts and actions
always pointed to God. He always felt that he was living under the eye of his loving
Taskmaster. All his writings have a deep religious undertone. To spend an hour
with Milton is to feel the living presence of God. Paradise Lost was written to
justify the ways of God to man.

CONCLUSION

In reading ‘Paradise Lost’ one has a feeling of vastness. One floats under illimitable
sky brimmed with sunshine or hung with constellation. The abyss of space appears
to be somewhere about as one hears the cadenced surge of an unseen ocean. In
loftiness of thought, splendid dignity of expression and rhythmic felicities, Milton
has few peers, no superior. In ‘Paradise Lost’ Milton has invented a type of poem,
the divine epic superior to anything in antiquity.