Kelly’s Reviews > Paradise Lost > Status Update

“There wanted yet the masterwork,the end
Of all yet done; a creature who not prone
And brute as other creatures, but endued
With sanctity of reason, might erect
His stature, and upright with front serene
Govern the rest, self-knowing…” VII, 505-10

“Half yet remains unsung…” VII, 21

“Though to recount almighty works
What words or tongue of seraph can suffice,
Or heart of man suffice to comprehend?” 112-4

“But knowledge is as food, and needs no less
Her temperance over appetite” 126-7

“Whose wisdom had ordained
Good out of evil to create, instead
Of spirits malign a better race to bring
Into their vacant room…” 187-90

“But of this cursed crew
The punishment to other hands belongs,
Vengeance is his” VI, 806-8

“They astonished all resistance lost,
All courage…wish’s the mountains now might be again
Thrown on them as a shelter from his ire.” 838-43

“Nine days they fell…so huge a rout…hell at last
Yawning received them whole, and on them closed.” 871-5

“But pain is perfect misery, the worst
Of evils, and excessive, overturns
All patience.” VI, 462-4

“Meanwhile revive;
Abandon fear; to strength and counsel joined…and their languished hope revived.” 493-7

“…disgorging foul
Their devilish glut, chained thunderbolts and hail
Of iron globes…that whom they hit…down they fell
By thousands…and forced rout” 588-98

“Expert
When to advance…or turn the sway
…no thought of flight,
None of retreat, no unbecoming deed
That argued fear; each on himself relied” VI, 233-8

“Long time in even scale
The battle hung” 245-6

“Deep entering sheared
All his right side; then Satan fist knew pain” 326-7

“Cancelled from heaven and sacred memory…through infamy seeks fame: therefore eternal silence be their doom.” 379-85

“Pursuing drive them out from God and bliss,
Into their place of punishment, the gulf
Of Tartarus…” VI, 52-4

“…their bright legions, to the sound
Of instrumental harmony that breathed
Heroic ardour to adventurous deeds
Under their godlike leaders, in the cause
Of God and his Messiah.” 64-8

“Thyself not free, but to thyself enthralled” 181

“…ruinous assault
And inextinguishable rage” 216-7

“…yet fraught
With envy against the Son of God, that day
Honoured by his great father, and proclaimed
Messiah king anointed, could not bear
Through pride that sight…” V, 661-5

“Drew after him the third part of heaven’s host” 710

“…and teach us to cast off this yoke?” 786

“Flatly unjust, to bind with laws the free” 819

“Cease then this impious rage…
While pardon may be found” 845-9

“…but in those hearts
Love unlibidinous reigned, nor jealousy
Was understood, the injured lover’s hell.” V, 448-50

“…whence the soul
Reason receives, and reason is her being,
Discursive, or intuitive; discourse
Is oftest yours” 486-9

“In contemplation of created things
By steps we may ascend to God” 511-12

“…ordained thy will
By nature free, not overruled by fate
Inextricable…” 526-8

“Them thus employed beheld
With pity heaven’s high king…” V, 219-20

“Happiness in his power left free to will,
Left to his own free will, his will though free,
Yet mutable; whence warn him to beware
He swerve not too secure…
By violence no, for that shall be withstood,
But by deceit and lies; this let him know,
Lest wilfully transgressing he pretend
Surprised, unadmonished, unforewarned.” 235-45

“…for his sleep
was airy light from pure digestion bred.” V, 3-4

“And why not gods of men, since good, the more
Communicated, more abundant grows” 71-2

“This uncouth dream, of evil sprung I fear;
Yet evil whence?” 98-9

“…the five senses represent,
She forms imaginations..
Which reason joining or disjoining, frames
All what we affirm or what deny” 104-7

“To us invisible, or dimly seen” 157