A Variorum Commentary on the Poems of John Milton: Volume 5, Part 8 [Paradise Lost, Books 11-12]

Book 11

9 ParadiseLost, Book 11 The Argument: The second edition of 1674, which divided the original book 10 into books 11 and 12, also divided the original 1668 Argument between the two new books. He makes intercession: cf. DocCh 1.15, which specifies Christ’s intercession as, first, appearing on humanity’s behalf before God and, second, “rendering our prayers agreeable to God” (Maurice Kelley 162; Patterson, Works 15:295); Adam and Eve’s prayers are described in PL 11.14–32. The Arguments were prefixed to the original ten books for the first time in the edition of 1669, producing several variants: 1669 prayers, 1674 Prayers; 1669 and, 1674 but; 1669 Cherubims, 1674 Cherubim; 1669 signs, 1674 signs; 1669 happen, 1674 happ’n; 1669 Flood, 1674 Flood. 1–21. In his analysis of the musical tempos and dynamics of the last two books, Reesing argues that book 11 begins allegretto and piano, dynamics that prolong the quietness of book 10’s conclusion (89–90); see also 11.737, 11.763–86, 11.890–901; 12.79, 12.105–06, 12.115–20, 12.126–34, 12.176–90, 12.260–62, 12.267–69, 12.307–14, 12.419–35, 12.451–65, 12.473–78, 12.524–51, 12.561–73, 12.575–87, and 12.610–23. 1–10. Burke, who argues that the choice of humility over pride is “Milton’s inner crisis,” finds that these ten verses represent a necessary clarification of that crisis (205). 1–4. Cope calls this passage “the fortunate fall in little,” since descending grace enables Adam and Eve’s prayers to fly up (143). Shawcross compares Milton’s 10 A Variorum Commentary on the Poems of John Milton “alchemical transformation” here both to his Ps 114, 17–18, where water flows from rocks, and to the emblem on the title page to Henry Vaughan’s Silex Scintillans of the stony heart being made flesh; he also contrasts the image to the “obdurate...hard’n’d” fallen spirits of PL 6.790–91 (“Paradise Lost” 19); see also Pharaoh’s hardened heart in PL 12.192–94 and the law written in hearts in PL 12.489. lowliest: “very lowly,” a Latinate construction. R. C. Browne (1877) and others cite a similar use of the superlative in PL 10.859. 1–2. repentant stood: the sudden contrast to “kneel’d and fell prostrate” in the preceding line (PL 10.1099) has been variously explained. Bentley emends stood to kneel’d, also because of the “kneel’d and fell prostrate” of the preceding book, but the participles adjacent to stood encourage its interpretation in a way that discredits Bentley’s emendation of it to kneeling (Hughes, “Variorum”). Pearce argues that stood has the sense of “were” (cf. “stand in arms” of PL 2.55, and stetit [Latin] and ἐσήκε [Greek]). The Richardsons read stood as “remained, continued”; Fowler also argues for “remained.” Todd surmises that Milton may have thought of Mark 11:25 (“when ye stand praying, forgive”), and Keightley even suggests Milton may have been thinking of both the publican and the Pharisee , who stood while they prayed in Luke 18:11, 13. Joseph Hunter insists that Milton follows the Dissenters’ preference for a standing posture in prayer (70). Montgomery thinks Milton may have meant stood literally, since 8–9 indicate dignified demeanor. Hughes (“Paradise Lost,” A Poem) notes Adam standing to pray in PL 4.720. Le Comte refers to the stood of 14 and also to “the Puritan in Christian Doctrine.” In DocCh 2.4, Milton wrote that “no particular posture of the body in prayer was enjoyned even under the Law,” citing such examples of standing prayer as 1 Kings 8:22, 2 Chron. 20:5, and Luke 18:13 as examples of standing to pray (Patterson, Works 17:90); this passage is also noted by Maurice Kelley (187); cf. 11.150. In “Standing Prostrate,” an article dedicated to the passage, Parish argues that the confusion between stances is intentional, and links it to the paradox that only by humbling himself can postlapsarian humanity rise. Kirkconnell lists an analogue in Avitus, “Together on the earth they fell in prayer; / Then rose, and entered on an empty world” (17), though that prayer occurs after the Expulsion. Sims references the standing position of the repentant Israelites in Neh. 9:2 (Bible 269). Paradise Lost, Book 11 11 2–7. Whaler...