File:The epic of the fall of man; a comparative study of Caedmon, Dante and Milton (1896) (14802914913).jpg

Identifier: epicoffallofmanc00gurtuoft (find matches)
Title: The epic of the fall of man; a comparative study of Caedmon, Dante and Milton
Year: 1896 (1890s)
Authors: Gurteen, Stephen Humphreys Villiers, 1840-1898
Subjects: Caedmon Milton, John, 1608-1674 Dante Alighieri, 1265-1321 Fall of man
Publisher: New York G.P. Putnam's sons
Contributing Library: Robarts - University of Toronto
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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The rebel host, and such a rancorous mind As he possessed who first moved discontent And horrid discord. And so in Milton, the poet himself tells us in his argument that the First Book proposes, first inbrief, the whole subject ; and he carries out hisdesign in the form of a query addressed to theMuse. . . what causeMoved our grand Parents, in that happy state,Favoured of Heaven so highly, to fall offFrom their Creator, and transgress his willFor one restraint, lords of the World besides.Who first seduced them to that foul revolt ?The infernal Serpent ; he it was whose guile,Stirred up with envy and revenge, deceivedThe mother of mankind, what time his prideHad cast him out from Heaven, with all his hostOf rebel Angels, by whose aid aspiring,To set himself in glory above his peers,He trusted to have equalled the Most High,If he opposed, and, with ambitiotts aimAgainst the throne and monarchy of God,Raised impious war in Heaven and battle proud,With vain attempt. Him the Almighty Power
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% ■it A Comparative Study 149 Hurled headlong flaming from the ethereal sky,With hideous ruin and combustion, downTo bottomless perdition, there to dwellIn adamantine chains and penal fire,Who durst defy the Omnipotent to arms. In this opening section or Introduction to thepoem, Csedmon enlarges somewhat on the subjectof the treason which had long been smouldering inthe heart of the Arch-Traitor, and its final outburstin open rebellion ; and the few words of bitter dis-loyalty which Caedmon ascribes to the Angel ofPresumption, as he styles Satan, are truly grand intheir defiance : Then the Archangel spake.His soul inflamed with dark, malicious thoughts :* In the North part of Gods sublime domainWill I a kingdom found, a palace rear,Such is my sovereign will. The Anglo-Saxon poet brings this first section toa close by telling, in brief, the discomfiture andpunishment of the rebel Angels: Then was God wrothWith that rebellious host, whom at the first,With Heavenly glory and Angelic mi

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