PARADISE LOST by John Milton, Book 7, Part 3

PARADISE LOST

Book 7, The Creation

Lines 449 - 640

The angel Raphael, completing his narration of the war in heaven and the fall of Satan and his host, is asked by Adam for more information.

Whence Adam soon repealed/The doubts that in his heart arose: and now/Led on, yet sinless, with desire to know ... /What within Eden, or without, was done/Before his memory; as one whose drought/Yet scarce allayed still eyes the current stream,/Whose liquid murmur heard new thirst excites.

Doubt, curiosity and rational exploration are then encouraged and met by divine Providence/revelation, while at the same time Raphael warns that improper desire for knowledge can lead to foolishness. 

to recount almighty works/What words or tongue of Seraph can suffice,/Or heart of man suffice to comprehend?/Yet what thou canst attain ... 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.

Raphael recounts the Creation story to Adam and Eve, filled to overflowing with the brilliant speculations of Milton in connection to the biblical narrative, he ends by again encouraging human curiosity and investigation:

And thy request think now fulfilled, that asked/How first this world and face of things began,/And what before thy memory was done/From the beginning; that posterity,/Informed by thee, might know: If else thou seekest/Aught, not surpassing human measure, say.

Paradise Lost Book 7 Summary & Analysis | LitCharts

This is an excellent summary and commentary on each of the books in PARADISE LOST. I strongly recommend reading these commentaries over as you listen to our readings of this great poem!

 

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