"The mind is its own place, and in itself / Can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven."
— Milton, John (1608-1674)
Author
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Samuel Simmons
Date
1667; 2nd ed. in 1674
Metaphor
"The mind is its own place, and in itself / Can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven."
Metaphor in Context
"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)
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)
Categories
Provenance
HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
Originally working with online edition based on H. J. Todd's 1809 edition in twelve books: published by the Academic Text Service of Stanford University, 1996.
See Paradise Lost. A Poem Written in Ten Books by John Milton. Licensed and entred according to order. (London: Printed [by Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker under Creed Church neer Aldgate; and by Robert Boulter at the Turks Head in Bishopsgate-street; and Matthias Walker, under St. Dunstons Church in Fleet-street, 1667). <Link to ESTC>
See also Paradise Lost. A Poem in Twelve Books. The Author John Milton. The Second Edition Revised and Augmented by the same Author. (London: Printed by S. Simmons next door to the Golden Lion in Aldersgate-street, 1674). <Link to ESTC> <Link to LION>
Reading Alastair Fowler's Longman edition: John Milton, Paradise Lost (London and New York, 1971).
See Paradise Lost. A Poem Written in Ten Books by John Milton. Licensed and entred according to order. (London: Printed [by Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker under Creed Church neer Aldgate; and by Robert Boulter at the Turks Head in Bishopsgate-street; and Matthias Walker, under St. Dunstons Church in Fleet-street, 1667). <Link to ESTC>
See also Paradise Lost. A Poem in Twelve Books. The Author John Milton. The Second Edition Revised and Augmented by the same Author. (London: Printed by S. Simmons next door to the Golden Lion in Aldersgate-street, 1674). <Link to ESTC> <Link to LION>
Reading Alastair Fowler's Longman edition: John Milton, Paradise Lost (London and New York, 1971).
Date of Entry
08/13/2003
Date of Review
01/05/2009
