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E211: British Literature to 1760
Milton's Paradise Lost: Chronology
Alfred J. Drake. Office: Hum. 520 | W 3-4 | ajdrake@ajdrake.com
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Immediate are the acts of God, more swift
Than time or motion, but to human ears
Cannot without process of speech be told,
So told as earthly notion can receive. (VII.176-79)
Milton did not open his poem with an account of its chronology.
In the best epic tradition, he began in medias res, in the
middle of things. The entire action takes thirty-one days. The chronological
order of key events is
given below: the figures on the left indicate the "day" of the incident,
and those at the right designate the book in which the action is
either dramatized or described
in retrospect. (Guide courtesy of Professor Vicki Silver, UCI)
|
Day
|
Action
|
Book
|
|
1 |
The heavenly
council: "exaltation" of the Son; birth of Sin.
|
VI (II) |
|
2-4 |
The battle in
Heaven, narrated by Raphael.
|
V-VI |
|
5-13 |
Satan and his allies dropped into Chaos and Hell.
|
VI |
|
14-22 |
Satan and his angels lie stunned on the fiery lake.
|
I |
|
[18] |
God begins the six days of creation, narrated by Raphael.
|
VII |
|
23 |
The sixth day of creation:
|
|
|
|
a. Creation of Adam and Eve; their marriage.
|
VIII (IV.444) |
|
|
b. The council in Hell; Satan goes to Paradise.
|
II, III, IV |
|
|
c. The second "exaltation" of the Son; the
Incarnation revealed.
|
III |
|
|
d. Satan's unsuccessful attempt to seduce
the sleeping Eve. |
II |
|
24 |
Raphael
warns Adam--by describing the War in Heaven and the
creation of the world.
|
VI-VIII (V.224-45) |
|
30 |
The temptation and fall; the arrival of Sin
and Death; discord in the heavens and throughout "nature."
|
IX-XI |
|
31 |
Michael expels Adam and Eve from Paradise,
having first revealed future events and promised the "Messiah."
|
XI-XII |
|