work_id,theme,provenance,created_at,text,reviewed_on,id,comments,metaphor,dictionary,updated_at,context
3636,"",HDIS (Poetry),2003-08-13 00:00:00 UTC,"""Is this the region, this the soil, the clime,""
Said then the lost Archangel, ""this the seat
That we must change for Heaven?--this mournful gloom
For that celestial light? Be it so, since he
Who now is sovereign can dispose and bid
What shall be right: farthest from him is best
Whom reason hath equalled, force hath made supreme
Above his equals. Farewell, happy fields,
Where joy for ever 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 own place, and in itself
Can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven.
(Bk. I, ll. 241-55)",2009-01-05,9435,"Satan's speech: ""Better to reign in hell, than serve in heaven"" (l. 263)","""The mind is its own place, and in itself / Can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven.""","",2010-01-06 04:30:42 UTC,Book I
3636,"",HDIS,2003-08-13 00:00:00 UTC,"... Yet not the more
Cease I to wander, where the Muses haunt,
Clear spring, or shady grove, or sunny hill,
Smit with the love of sacred song; but chief
Thee, Sion, and the flowery brooks beneath,
That wash thy hallow'd feet, and warbling flow,
Nightly I visit: nor sometimes forget
So were I equall'd with them in renown,
Thy sovran command, that Man should find grace;
Blind Thamyris, and blind Maeonides,
And Tiresias, and Phineus, prophets old:
Then feed on thoughts, that voluntary move
Harmonious numbers; as the wakeful bird
Sings darkling, and in shadiest covert hid
Tunes her nocturnal note. Thus with the year
Seasons return; but not to me returns
Day, or the sweet approach of even or morn,
Or sight of vernal bloom, or summer's rose,
Or flocks, or herds, or human face divine;
But cloud instead, and ever-during dark
Surrounds me, from the cheerful ways of men
Cut off, and for the book of knowledge fair
Presented with a universal blank
Of nature's works to me expung'd and ras'd,
And wisdom at one entrance quite shut out.
So much the rather thou, celestial Light,
Shine inward, and the mind through all her powers
Irradiate; there plant eyes, all mist from thence
Purge and disperse, that I may see and tell
Of things invisible to mortal sight.
(Bk. III, ll. 26-55)",2009-04-09,9436,"•A new exordium addressed to the ""holy Light."" The mind is, again, its own place here.
•Should this be broken into separate entries? (Light, garden, weather?) REVISIT","""So much the rather thou, celestial Light, / Shine inward, and the mind through all her powers / Irradiate; there plant eyes, all mist from thence / Purge and disperse, that I may see and tell / Of things invisible to mortal sight.""","",2010-01-06 04:32:40 UTC,""
3636,"",HDIS (Poetry),2003-08-19 00:00:00 UTC,"Thus Adam his illustrious guest besought:
And thus the Godlike Angel answered mild.
This also thy request, with caution asked,
Obtain; though to recount almighty works
What words or tongue of Seraph can suffice,
Or heart of man suffice to comprehend?
Yet what thou canst attain, which best may serve
To glorify the Maker, and infer
Thee also happier, shall not be withheld
Thy hearing; such commission from above
I have received, to answer thy desire
Of knowledge within bounds; beyond, abstain
To ask; nor let thine own inventions hope
Things not revealed, which the invisible King,
Only Omniscient, hath suppressed in night;
To none communicable in Earth or Heaven:
Enough is left besides to search and know.
But knowledge is as food, and needs no less
Her temperance over appetite, to know
In measure what the mind may well contain;
Oppresses else with surfeit, and soon turns
Wisdom to folly, as nourishment to wind.
(Bk. VII, ll. 109-130)",2004-01-28,9437,"•Adam wants to know how the world was created. The note in the Longman PL reads ""The metaphor implicit in earlier uses of savoury (see e.g., v 84-5n) is now made an explicit simile. Cp. Davenant, Gondibert (1651) II viii 22: 'For thought Books serve as Diet of the Minde; / If knowledg, early got, self vallew breeds, / By false digestion it is turn'd to winde; / And what should nourish, on the Eater feeds.'"" (p.364). I should enter Davenant in the database.
•I'm not sure I am happy with the proposition. Should this be two entries? REVISIT (10/22/2003)","""But knowledge is as food, and needs no less / Her temperance over appetite, to know / In measure what the mind may well contain; / Oppresses else with surfeit, and soon turns / Wisdom to folly, as nourishment to wind.""","",2013-06-10 18:11:28 UTC,Book VII
3636,"",HDIS,2003-08-19 00:00:00 UTC,"Thus fenced, and, as they thought, their shame in part
Covered, but not at rest or ease of mind,
They sat them down to weep; nor only tears
Rained at their eyes, but high winds worse within
Began to rise, high passions, anger, hate,
Mistrust, suspicion, discord; and shook sore
Their inward state of mind, calm region once
And full of peace, now tost and turbulent:
For Understanding ruled not, and the Will
Heard not her lore; both in subjection now
To sensual Appetite, who from beneath
Usurping over sovran Reason claimed
Superiour sway: From thus distempered breast,
Adam, estranged in look and altered style,
Speech intermitted thus to Eve renewed.
(Bk. IX, ll. 1119-33)",,9438,"• Adam and Eve have dressed themselves in leaves. N.B., the raining tears.
•There is (real) bad weather in the next book. ","""Thus fenced, and, as they thought, their shame in part / Covered, but not at rest or ease of mind, / They sat them down to weep; nor only tears / Rained at their eyes, but high winds worse within / Began to rise, high passions, anger, hate, / Mistrust, suspicion, discord; and shook sore / Their inward state of mind, calm region once / And full of peace, now tost and turbulent.""","",2009-12-28 06:03:20 UTC,Book IX
3636,"",HDIS (Poetry),2003-08-19 00:00:00 UTC,"Then Satan first knew pain,
And writhed him to and fro convolved; so sore
The griding sword with discontinuous wound
Passed through him: But the ethereal substance closed,
Not long divisible; and from the gash
A stream of necturous humour issuing flowed
Sanguine, such as celestial Spirits may bleed,
And all his armour stained, ere while so bright.
Forthwith on all sides to his aid was run
By Angels many and strong, who interposed
Defence, while others bore him on their shields
Back to his chariot, where it stood retired
From off the files of war: There they him laid
Gnashing for anguish, and despite, and shame,
To find himself not matchless, and his pride
Humbled by such rebuke, so far beneath
His confidence to equal God in power.
Yet soon he healed; for Spirits that live throughout
Vital in every part, not as frail man
In entrails, heart of head, liver or reins,
Cannot but by annihilating die;
Nor in their liquid texture mortal wound
Receive, no more than can the fluid air:
All heart they live, all head, all eye, all ear,
All intellect, all sense; and, as they please,
They limb themselves, and colour, shape, or size
Assume, as likes them best, condense or rare.
(Bk. VI, ll. 327-353)",2007-03-07,9439,"","""Yet soon he healed; for Spirits that live throughout / Vital in every part, not as frail man / In entrails, heart of head, liver or reins, / Cannot but by annihilating die; / Nor in their liquid texture mortal wound / Receive, no more than can the fluid air: / All heart they live, all head, all eye, all ear, / All intellect, all sense; and, as they please, / They limb themselves, and colour, shape, or size / Assume, as likes them best, condense or rare.""","",2011-03-07 17:07:38 UTC,""
3636,"",HDIS (Poetry),2003-08-20 00:00:00 UTC,"At once came forth whatever creeps the ground,
Insect or worm: those waved their limber fans
For wings, and smallest lineaments exact
In all the liveries decked of summer's pride
With spots of gold and purple, azure and green:
These, as a line, their long dimension drew,
Streaking the ground with sinuous trace; not all
Minims of nature; some of serpent-kind,
Wonderous in length and corpulence, involved
Their snaky folds, and added wings. First crept
The parsimonious emmet, provident
Of future; in small room large heart enclosed;
Pattern of just equality perhaps
Hereafter, joined in her popular tribes
Of commonalty: Swarming next appeared
The female bee, that feeds her husband drone
Deliciously, and builds her waxen cells
With honey stored: The rest are numberless,
And thou their natures knowest, and gavest them names,
Needless to thee repeated; nor unknown
The serpent, subtlest beast of all the field,
Of huge extent sometimes, with brazen eyes
And hairy mane terrifick, though to thee
Not noxious, but obedient at thy call.
(Bk. VII, ll. 475-98)",,9440,"•An ""emmet"" is an ant.
•Note in Longman says that ""large heart"" means ""'capacious intellect; wisdom' (see OED s.v. Large A II 3 c)"" (p.386). Also referenced is 1 Kings iv 29.","""First crept / The parsimonious emmet, provident / Of future; in small room large heart enclosed""","",2010-01-06 04:39:50 UTC,Book VII
3636,"",Searching in HDIS (Poetry),2003-08-20 00:00:00 UTC,"O Parent, these are thy magnifick deeds,
Thy trophies! which thou viewest as not thine own;
Thou art their author, and prime architect:
For I no sooner in my heart divined,
My heart, which by a secret harmony
Still moves with thine, joined in connexion sweet,
That thou on earth hadst prospered, which thy looks
Now also evidence, but straight I felt,
Though distant from thee worlds between, yet felt,
That I must after thee, with this thy son;
Such fatal consequence unites us three!
(Bk. X, ll. 354-64)",2009-01-05,9441,"•Sin to Satan on his returning to Hell
•See also ll. 238-249
I cannot be
But that success attends him; if mishap,
Ere this he had returned, with fury driven
By his avengers, since no place like this
Can fit his punishment, or their revenge.
Methinks I fell new strength within me rise,
Wings growing, and dominion given me large
Beyond this deep; whatever draws me on,
Or sympathy, or some connatural force
Powerful at greatest distance to unite
With secret amity things of like kind
By secret conveyance.
•The Longman edition annotates ""sympathy."" ""Philemon Holland defined the term as meaning 'a fellow feeling, used in Pliny, for the agreement or amitie naturall in divers senceless things, as betweene yron and the loadstone' (Pliny's Historie of the world (1634) tom. ii, A 6v)"" (p. 519-20). Adam also feels sympathy for Eve, a premonition of her Fall.","""For I no sooner in my heart divined, / My heart, which by a secret harmony / Still moves with thine, joined in connexion sweet, / That thou on earth hadst prospered, which thy looks / Now also evidence, but straight I felt, /
Though distant from thee worlds between, yet felt, / That I must after thee, with this thy son.""","",2010-06-29 03:33:55 UTC,Book X
3636,"",HDIS,2003-08-20 00:00:00 UTC,"Thus they, in lowliest plight, repentant stood
Praying; for from the mercy-seat above
Prevenient grace descending had removed
The stony from their hearts, and made new flesh
Regenerate grow instead; that sighs now breathed
Unutterable; which the Spirit of prayer
Inspired, and winged for Heaven with speedier flight
Than loudest oratory: Yet their port
Not of mean suitors; nor important less
Seemed their petition, than when the ancient pair
In fables old, less ancient yet than these,
Deucalion and chaste Pyrrha, to restore
The race of mankind drowned, before the shrine
Of Themis stood devout. To Heaven their prayers
Flew up, nor missed the way, by envious winds
Blown vagabond or frustrate: in they passed
Dimensionless through heavenly doors; then clad
With incense, where the golden altar fumed,
By their great intercessour, came in sight
Before the Father's throne: them the glad Son
Presenting, thus to intercede began.
(Bk. XI, ll. 1-21)",,9442,"•See Ezekiel 11:19: ""And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a new heart of flesh."" Cited in Longman. Appears in this database.","""Thus they, in lowliest plight, repentant stood / Praying; for from the mercy-seat above / Prevenient grace descending had removed / The stony from their hearts, and made new flesh / Regenerate grow instead.""","",2010-01-06 04:47:55 UTC,Adam and Eve repent and pray
3636,"",HDIS,2003-08-20 00:00:00 UTC,"See Father, what first-fruits on earth are sprung
From thy implanted grace in Man; these sighs
And prayers, which in this golden censer mixed
With incense, I thy priest before thee bring;
Fruits of more pleasing savour, from thy seed
Sown with contrition in his heart, than those
Which, his own hand manuring, all the trees
Of Paradise could have produced, ere fallen
From innocence. Now therefore, bend thine ear
To supplication; hear his sighs, though mute;
Unskilful with what words to pray, let me
Interpret for him; me, his advocate
And propitiation; all his works on me,
Good, or not good, ingraft; my merit those
Shall perfect, and for these my death shall pay.
Accept me; and, in me, from these receive
The smell of peace toward mankind: let him live
Before thee reconciled, at least his days
Numbered, though sad; till death, his doom, (which I
To mitigate thus plead, not to reverse,)
To better life shall yield him: where with me
All my redeemed may dwell in joy and bliss;
Made one with me, as I with thee am one.
(Bk. XI, ll. 22-44)",,9443,"•After Adam and Eve repent and pray the Son intercedes with God the Father
•The ""sweet savour"" of acceptable offerings is biblical commonplace, reports the Longman edition. ","""Fruits of more pleasing savour, from thy seed / Sown with contrition in his heart, than those / Which, his own hand manuring, all the trees / Paradise could have produced.""","",2010-01-06 04:51:23 UTC,Book XI
3636,"",HDIS (Poetry),2003-08-20 00:00:00 UTC,"Thus with ten wounds
The river-dragon tamed at length submits
To let his sojourners depart, and oft
Humbles his stubborn heart; but still, as ice
More hardened after thaw; till, in his rage
Pursuing whom he late dismissed, the sea
Swallows him with his host; but them lets pass,
As on dry land, between two crystal walls;
Awed by the rod of Moses so to stand
Divided, till his rescued gain their shore:
Such wondrous power God to his saint will lend,
Though present in his Angel; who shall go
Before them in a cloud, and pillar of fire;
By day a cloud, by night a pillar of fire;
To guide them in their journey, and remove
Behind them, while the obdurate king pursues:
All night he will pursue; but his approach
Darkness defends between till morning watch;
Then through the fiery pillar, and the cloud,
God looking forth will trouble all his host,
And craze their chariot-wheels: when by command
Moses once more his potent rod extends
Over the sea; the sea his rod obeys;
On their embattled ranks the waves return,
And overwhelm their war: The race elect
Safe toward Canaan from the shore advance
Through the wild Desart, not the readiest way;
Lest, entering on the Canaanite alarmed,
War terrify them inexpert, and fear
Return them back to Egypt, choosing rather
Inglorious life with servitude; for life
To noble and ignoble is more sweet
Untrained in arms, where rashness leads not on.
(Bk. XII, ll. 190-222)",2009-12-22,9444,"•Milton does Exodus. The Longman annotation to the line supplies this bit of arcana: ""Svendsen 99 notes that according to Swan's Speculum mundi snow 'melting on high hilles, and after frozen againe, becommeth so hard, that it is a stone, and is called Christall.'"" (p. 619). ","""Thus with ten wounds / The river dragon tamed at length submits / To let his sojourners depart, and oft / Humbles his stubborn heart; but still, as ice / More hardened after thaw.""","",2009-12-22 22:43:54 UTC,""