![]() While you're probably familiar with the idea of puns, it is in Paradise Lost that the so-called 'anti-pun' comes into play. From our fallen perspective, we can only approximate this kind of linguistic purity as we attempt to put ourselves back in the shoes of Adam and Eve (not that they wore shoes until they were fallen, of course). But it is worth bearing in mind that words have no real etymology in Eden. 5 That is, to a time before language along with mankind, was corrupted in the Fall. In defending the Latinate language used by Milton, Christopher Ricks argues for the ability of the original (often Latinate) senses of words to take us 'back to a time when there were no infected words because there were no infected actions'. God's naming of the world, then, is equivalent to its creation, as the very naming of things initiates their existence as realities.Įdenic Language vs the Fallen Language of the Reader Twice in Book VII, we encounter 'He named' (252, 274), as a synonym for 'he created'. In both the Bible and Paradise Lost, the coordinating conjunction 'and' asserts the success of this speech act, as God only has to say the words for their substance to be realised. 'Sprung' is an inverted iamb, mirroring the initial inverted foot of 'Let there be…' to assert a metrical alignment that parallels the semantic and tangible fulfilment. Milton inverts the arrangement of the identification of the voice and the spoken words themselves, thus absorbing God's voice entirely into the poetic lines. (Genesis, 1:3) Let there be light, said God, and forthwith lightĮthereal, first of things, quintessence pure ![]() 4 The words God speaks at the Creation are the ultimate and original speech act as narrated in Genesis and Paradise Lost, God only has to speak and the words come into effect: And God said, 'Let there be light' and there was light… There is a theory of language called Speech Act Theory which identifies certain types of utterance (speech acts) that perform actions rather than simply saying or describing something. The second line of this quotation can become a wider formula for the dynamic of the relationship between the Son and God: 'This I perform, speak thou, and be it done'. 3 It is the Word/Son that actually performs God's will. Samuel Johnson, in his dictionary, uses the first two lines of this quotation to illustrate the definition of the word 'word' as 'The second person of the ever adorable Trinity'. His Word, the filial Godhead, gave effect. So spake the almighty, and to what he spake This I perform, speak thou, and be it done… 2 When God addresses the Son, God's words become the Word and take effect: And thou my Word, begotten Son, by thee ![]() In Paradise Lost, Milton makes this association explicit Milton's God addresses and names the Son 'My word, my wisdom, and effectual might' (III.170) and later the 'omnific Word' (VII.217). In Christian theology, this 'Word' is the creative power of God and is usually equated with the Son. But before we consider how he manipulated the senses in which he used his words, we must make a foray into biblical realms in order to understand how Milton viewed language.Īt the beginning of the Book of John, we find the famous formulation: 'In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God' (1:1). the linguistic origins) of the words he used. Given this range of linguistic knowledge, it is hardly surprising to find a high level of awareness with regard to the etymology (i.e. Biographers postulate that Milton knew as many as ten languages, among them Latin, Greek, Italian, Dutch and even Hebrew. 1 Milton's MultilingualismĪlthough one can safely conclude that Milton did write in the English tongue (to be more precise, the early modern English of the Renaissance), different languages resonate throughout this epic. Leavis asserted that 'Milton had renounced the English language', the language of Paradise Lost has been embroiled in controversy. Eliot claimed that Milton 'did damage to the English language' and F.R. From as early as the eighteenth century when Samuel Johnson concluded that Milton 'wrote no language', to the twentieth century when T.S. Given this, it is rather strange to find a benign strain of criticism which denies the very Englishness of this epic. Paradise Lost is generally agreed to be our greatest epic, even the greatest work of literature written in the English language. The opening of Book I, from the first edition of 1667.
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