Milton's Language Flashcards
(108 cards)
1
Q
What does John 1:14 refer to?
A
the Word made flesh
This phrase signifies the incarnation of Christ.
2
Q
How does Aquinas describe the angelic understanding of Adam? (Summa Theologica,)
A
capable of moving through objects to concepts instantly
3
Q
According to Locke, what do words signify? (Essay Concerning)
A
only Men’s peculiar Ideas, and that by a perfectly arbitrary Imposition
4
Q
What is the significance of name order in Adam’s understanding?
A
names then understands – the names are a means of understanding not a consequence of pre-existing knowledge
5
Q
Define ‘apprehension’ according to the OED.
A
grasping with the intellect; the forming of an idea
6
Q
What gift did Adam have according to Milton’s Tetrachordon?
A
‘to discern perfectly’ – can speak perfect truth as he sees truth perfectly
7
Q
What effect did the Fall have on Adam’s intellect?
A
‘his more attentive mind/ Labouring’ - verbal obscurity
8
Q
heavenly light
A
God is ‘unapprochèd light’
9
Q
Twilight ‘short arbiter/ Twixt day and night’
A
Twilight briefly balances light and dark - like prelapsarian life
10
Q
How does Donne describe naming in his ‘sermons’
A
Adam alone has authority of naming
11
Q
What happens to names in relation to the devils in hell?
A
echo legal or clerical actions, but with a divine finality
their names in Heavenly records now/ Be no memorial, blotted out and rased’
12
Q
How does Satan’s title diminish alongside his dimensions?
A
Archfiend (I), the fiend, arch-felon, the Devil (4)
13
Q
What is the collective call at the start the text?
A
Restore us
14
Q
What does Eve signify in the context of divine truth?
A
Mother of all Mankind – anticipates ‘second Eve’ of PR
15
Q
What does Adam name Eve when she becomes corrupted?
A
Thou serpent, that name best
16
Q
What does Christ’s language represent?
A
pure and uncorrupted with ‘persuasive rhetoric’ (paradise regained)
17
Q
How does Raphael communicate heavenly language?
A
‘by likening spiritual to corporeal forms/ As may express them best’
18
Q
a various spirit to raze native language, sow a jangling noise of words unknown - Babel
A
“to raze” and “sow” creates a rhetorical balance, but also a contrast: destruction (“raze”) is paired with creation (“sow”)—but what is created is not harmony, but discord.
“Various” implies diversity, multiplicity, and fragmentation
“Raze” is a violent, destructive verb
Native tongue - unity of prelapsarian language
Noise” is contrasted with meaningful “language”—it’s a void of communication.
19
Q
What is noted about the Speech of Eve by Addison (Spectator)?
A
dress’d up in such a soft and natural Turn of Words and Sentiments
20
Q
What is the difference in Eve’s formation compared to Sin’s birth?
A
Eve formed from Adam’s left side near his heart, Sin born from the left side opening wide out of Satan’s head
21
Q
In Milton’s tract The Likeliest Means to Remove Hirelings out of the Church he argues that learning beyond knowledge of languages and scripture is inessential to a minister. What examples does he se to represent this?
A
temptation of food = lure of Catholic idolatry.
22
Q
In paradise Regained how Satan confuses the worldy view of food as temptation? How does Christ respond (what bible chapter)
A
Deuteronomy; “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word / Proceeding from the mouth of God.”
23
Q
how does Adam know the nature of the animals?
A
‘with such knowledge God endued/ My sudden apprehension’
24
Q
Who can Adam not name?
A
God - ‘Surpassest far my naming; how may I / Adore thee, Author of this universe’
25
What does Paul write in Corinthians about fallen knowledge
‘we see through a glass, darkly’
26
Hell is described as...
darkness, visible
27
What does Milton say about his external blindness
‘thou celestial light/ Shine inward’ - inner illumination
28
What are the devils called when the humans name them
Satan, Beelzebub, Moloch etc.
29
Who does the Father send into the world?
’sent his living Oracle… his Spirit of Truth’
30
What is the tower of Babel called?
‘the work Confusion named’
31
What does eve represent
Reason - 'But bid her well beware' - foreshadowing imminent temptation scene
32
Adam to Eve: ‘That I should mind thee oft, and mind thou me’ - analyse
Chiasmus – responsive obedient love
Follows him identifying Eve as reason
accompanies free will - freely choosing what is right (not everything)
33
Shift from Adam earlier identify Eve as
“of inward less exact” then after Fall calls her “exact of taste / and elegant, of sapience no small part.” (IX)
This reflects more physical, sensual awareness, but worldly – they lose spiritual moral faculties and display distorted wisdom not derived from obeying God.
34
What is the OED definition of "exact" and what does it signify in the context?
“Perfect, consummate, finished.” Nature groans as the Fall is complete.
35
What is the significance of Adam placing Eve above God? and critic quote
Adam says, “All higher knowledge in her presence falls / Degraded.” Raphael replies, “and to realities yield all her shows.” James Grantham Turner "in equating Eve with ‘shows,’ he declares her intrinsically fallen.”
36
How does Satan use language to deceive Eve?
Satan separates Eve from higher intellect with words that to her seem “impregned / with reason.”
37
What did Addison say about Milton’s use of language?
A: Milton “has carried our Language to a greater height than any of the English Poets have ever done before or after him.”
38
What does the metaphor “Imparadis’d in one another’s arms” suggest?
A: Love is paradise – it depicts a perfect, holy marriage.
39
What does Milton claim about his muse in Book VII?
Above the Olympian hill I soar, / Above the flight of Pegasean wing.” Pegasus symbolizes inspiration and contemplative imagination after striking the Muses’ spring in Helicon.
40
What is Milton’s invocation in Book I about divine assistance?
“What in me is dark / Illumine' (1) 'That I may see and tell/Of things invisible to mortal sight’ (3)
41
How does Milton’s light metaphor evolve through Paradise Lost?
It overshadows earlier negations of sight, extends sight to insight, and culminates with A and E seeking a “Paradise within thee, happier far.”
42
The blind poet and John 9.3 - man born blind
His own light is “quencht,” vision is “dim” and “veiled,” and he “can find no dawn” –
43
How does John 9:3 relate to Milton’s blindness?
A: It is a sign that “the works of God should be made manifest in him.”
44
What does Michael do to Adam's sight and how does this relate to the reader
'the film removed' shows Adam visions of the future, including the coming of Christ and humanity’s redemption.
45
How does the reader engage with Adam and Eve’s story, according to Addison?
The reader identifies with Adam and Eve; Addison quotes Aristotle – it raises both pity and terror because we fear similar misfortunes and resemble the characters.
46
What is the critique of Satan’s rhetoric?
A: “High words” are only a “Semblance of Worth, not Substance.” Martin Evans calls it “empty bombastic noise” if reread.
47
What does Satan (rare insight) confess in Book 4?
“Myself am hell. / And in the lowest deep a lower deep.”
48
# Satan speech to Eve
“ye shall not die”
| death is false and unnecessary to heed
Dehortatio
| (discouraging or warning against a course of action)
49
# Satan speech to Eve
it gives you life/ To knowledge
Protrope
| (Encouragement toward an action, often virtuous or desirable)
50
# Satan speech to Eve
‘look on me, me, who have touched and tasted; yet both live’
exuscitatio and martyria
| (Exciting or stirring the audience emotionally) (testimony as proof)
51
# Satan speech to Eve
‘your dauntless virtue’
| Satan twists virtue to ambiguous, stoic, heroic —courage in suffering.
Equivocation
| Using a word or phrase in more than one sense to mislead or confuse.
52
# Satan speech to Eve
‘petty trespass’
| Undermines divine authority, questions why small act deserves punishment
meiosis
| deliberate understatement
53
# Satan speech to Eve
What is paradeistole
| In comparison to meiosis
'when vices are excused'
## Footnote
Peacham, Puttenham
54
Can you give examples of paradiastole in classical thought?
Rutilius unmasks hypocrisy by exposing how virtues are falsely claimed to cover vices.
Quintilian, on the other hand, demonstrates how a speaker can justify questionable behavior by framing it positively.
Aristotle presents the golden mean — where excess and deficiency are reframed as vices, while moderation is praised — showing how traits are judged contextually.
55
How does Satan use paradeistole in his speech to Eve?
1. He softens and redefines sin.
2. He inverts moral values, turning rebellion into virtue and obedience into cowardice.
3. He uses rhetorical cunning to reshape Eve’s moral compass.
56
How many negatives does Satan use in his temptation speech
7 negatives in 6 lines
57
Satan's pride as heroism - paradeistole
- “Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven.”
58
What does “such wonder seized” reveal about Satan’s perception of Eden?
more wonder at creation than the Creator
59
How does Paradise Regained overturn the epic hero tradition?
“He, unobserved, / Home to his mother’s house private returned.” Christ’s quiet return contrasts with epic hero’s triumphalism.
60
What is the Latin root of “passivity” and how does it apply to Christ?
pati = “to suffer”
same root as “patience.”
61
How is Christ’s humility a paradox?
| Latin humus = “earth.”
Christ humbled on earth to exalt humanity to God. Reflected in Milton’s humble poetic style in PR
61
What is Milton’s stance on Adamic language?
perfectly unified res and verba
62
How is Christ different from Achilles or Aeneas?
VS War the better fortitude / Of patience and heroic martyrdom / Unsung.”
| Christ models Job
63
Satan and Aeneus
Aeneas & companions land on foreign shore = Satan and angels waking on fiery lake in Hell
64
PR: Milton seeks to tell of deeds...
Above heroic, though in secret done
65
What does Addison say is Milton's chief talent?
the Sublimity of his Thoughts.”
66
Compare Satan and Eve’s address of “author.”
Death to Satan: “Thou art my father… my author…”
Satan: “Author of evil”
Eve to God: “My author and disposer”
| After the Fall, titles like “author” lose splendour and moral weight.
67
What warning is given by Raphael to Adam in “Solicit not thy thoughts with matters hid”?
A warning against idle curiosity and speculative theology — perhaps aimed at Milton himself.
| God hath bid well far off all anxious cares’
68
The Right tune
*Preface to The Reason of Church*-Government - Poetry must inbreed virtue, allay perturbations, and set affections to the right tune
*At a Solemn Music * After Fall with harsh din/Broke the fair music'
69
How should a poet live, according to Milton?
Poet must be “himself a true poem” — a model of virtue and “honourablest things.”
## Footnote
From Apology against a Pamphlet
70
What does Goldsmith say about Satan’s final silence?
The Son’s steady, measured speech renders Satan mute — silence becomes an emblem of nonexistence and defeat.
71
What happens to Satan's voice after he tempts Eve and returns to Hell in Paradise Lost?
He returns like a conquering hero, expecting "bliss" (10.503), but becomes 'a din of hissing'
"hiss for hiss ... with forkèd tongue/ To forkèd tongue"
72
How does Satan react to the divine voice during the Ascension in Paradise Regained?
The force of the “voice divine” is so powerful that Satan is
“Nigh thunderstruck” —
73
What happens at the end of Paradise Regained Book II when Jesus finishes speaking?
no reply from Satan
Book III Satan stands: mute, confounded what to say,/ What to reply, confuted and convinced Of his weak arguing and fallacious drift'
then temporarily regains 'soothing words'
74
How does Jesus describe his mission to win hearts in Paradise Regained?
“By winning words to conquer willing hearts, / And make persuasion do the work of fear.”
75
The Spirit "brought’st him thence / By proof the undoubted Son of God."
How does th narrator confirm the 'proof' despite its corruptability as a word
| Has to adopt then adapt Satan's corrupt language
Reaffirms Jesus’ identity through John’s witness and the Father’s voice from Heaven — the sign of the dove at the Ascension.
76
Jesus as Logos
No discrepancy between signifier and thing signified
| monosyllabic plainness confirms Jesus’ linguistic integrity.
77
How does Satan attempt to disrupt Jesus as Logos
‘called… Son / Of God’ – enjamb drive wedge between son and godhead
78
How does Jesus invert John 1 to udermine Satan's words
‘composed of lies/ From the beginning, and in lies wilt end’
79
Satan appropriates Scripture:
| 3rd temptation - leap from pinnacle - rebuttal not in the gospels
Psalm 91:11–12 “For it is written, He will give command…”
but he speaks it “in scorn” — severing word from spirit, rendering it ineffective.
80
How does Jesus respond to Satan’s corrupted citation of Scripture?
With pure alignment of word and deed:
“He said and stood” — do not tempt
a response echoing Genesis: language creates, not deceives.
81
Christopher Ricks on the Fall of language
With the Fall of Man, language falls too
82
How does Ricks describe the language in Milton’s depiction of Paradise?( luxuriant and luxurious.)
Though both are innocent, they ominously foreshadow the post-lapsarian corruption:
“luxurious Cities”, “wealth and luxurie”, “luxurie and riot.”
82
What does Sin's prophecy in Book X say about language after the Fall?
His thoughts, his looks, words, actions all infect.”
83
What does Milton mean by the ‘wantonness’ of Eden?
| growth of branches, ringlets of Eve's hair
‘wanton growth’ of the branches, or—poignantly—in the ‘wanton ringlets’ of Eve.
Adam: 'Began to cast lascivious Eyes, she him
As wantonly repaid.'
84
How does Milton use the concept of divine accommodation to represent God?
Raphael says:
“I shall delineate so, / By likening spiritual to corporeal forms, / As may express them best.”
85
Donne's *Devotions* and Accomodation
“Thou art a direct god… a literall God… But thou art also… a figurative, a metaphoricall God.”
Through metaphor and simile—Greek: to transfer, Latin: carry over—Milton mediates divine truth for fallen human understanding.
86
How does Paradise Lost use apophatic language?
Milton uses negatives to express divine unknowability:
God's light is “unapproached” (III.4)
Divine love is “unexampl’d” (III.410)
Hell is “unbottom’d” (II.405), “unbounded” (X.471)
87
What does Milton's use of simile tell us about postlapsarian understanding?
Similes signify mediated knowledge post-Fall.
Example: Satan’s size likened to Titans and Leviathan (I):
“Lay floating many a rood… fables name of monstrous size…”
| Drawn from myth, not revelation—a fallen mode of analogy, not truth.
88
What metaphor describes Satan's entry into Eden?
“So clomb this first grand Thief into God’s fold.”
This likens Satan to a thief, suggesting a fallen reader’s reliance on fallen concepts.
89
How does the language of obedience change after Eve’s Fall?
Before: dis- prefix marks negation (e.g., disobey).
After: "not obey" replaces active disobedience—Eve’s fall passivised, rooted in temporal distortion.
90
What does Adam’s final silence signify?
Adam “answer’d not” to Eve’s “Promis’d Seed” hope.
Final negative of the poem: no answer.
Reflects fallen human limits—cannot comprehend “the ways of God.”
91
What poetic danger does Ronald McDonald identify in Milton?
Milton risks mimicking Satan’s discourse.
Fallen angels’ song suspends Hell (past tense),
Present tense resumes as Milton imitates its power.
But by usiing long sentences and extended verse paragraphs he undermines the devil's finiteness
92
Ronald McDonald quote
'Milton reveals his uneasy awareness of the proximity of poetic discourse to demonic discourse'
93
What does Fish say about metaphor and ambiguity in Milton?
“If ambiguity and metaphor are the enemies… the enemies live within him [the reader].”
94
What is the central point to *Surprised by Sin*
‘Milton leaves him no choice but to acknowledge himself as the source and lament.’
95
How does Milton’s image of rivers show the Fall’s linguistic impact?
“With mazie errour” — innocent pre-Fall.
Post-Fall, Raphael says rivers move with:
“Serpent errour wandring” — no longer innocent, poet cannot use such language without inflicting flaw.
96
Leonard on Raphael's account of Creation
However painfully self-concious we are made by Raphael’s account of Creation, his voice is joyful’
97
How is the sacred choir used to reflect Milton’s poetic role?
Angels’ sacred song:
“No voice exempt” → “copious matter of my Song”
Lewalski: Milton maintains deliberate ambiguity between summary and quotation
Then excludes himself - ‘Thus they in Heav’n
98
What role does silence play in Eden?
Leonard: Fall is the “breaking of silence” (IX):
“First to himself he inward silence broke.”
Prelapsarian language = silent, perfect → aspiration in a fallen world.
99
How is Paradise Lost itself an oxymoron?
names the limits of heroic power.
100
How is the conflict between free will and fate represented?
Mammon misreads: battle of fate vs. chance.
But God:
“What I will is fate.”
Post-Fall, Eve adopts Satan’s fatalism:
“when fate will permit.”
Adam too speaks of “happened” belief—satanic ideology of mischance.
101
How does Paradise Lost end with Arminian hope?
“The world was all before them, where to choose / Their place of rest, and Providence their guide.”
Free will remains—final Arminian affirmation.
Michael teaches:
“The rule of not too much, by temperance taught.”
102
Adam receives language - Webster Academiarum
'radically and essentially one with him
103
paradeistole - softens and redefines sin.
Me who have ... and ..., yet .... / And .... have attained than ....
Me who have touched and tasted, yet both live, / And life more perfect have attained than Fate
104
paradeistole: He inverts moral values, turning rebellion into virtue and obedience into cowardice.
Ye ... / How should you? by ...? it gives you ... / To .....”
Ye shall not die: / How should you? by the fruit? it gives you life / To knowledge.”
105
paradeistole: He uses rhetorical cunning to reshape Eve’s moral compass.
... therefore cannot ... ye, and be ...
God therefore cannot hurt ye, and be just
106
what do we hear in hell?
‘wanton rites’ and ‘wanton passions’
