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EpicRenaissance · 16673 min · 2 passagesDemanding

Paradise Lost — The Invocation

John Milton →

Milton was blind when he dictated this. Read the opening as a man setting out to justify God's ways — then notice how much sympathy he hands the fallen angel.

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The invocation
Invocation

Of Man's first disobedience, and the fruit Of that forbidden tree whose mortal taste Brought death into the World, and all our woe, With loss of Eden, till one greater Man Restore us, and regain the blissful seat, Sing Heav'nly ,

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Plain English

Sing, heavenly Muse, of man's first disobedience, and the fruit of that forbidden tree whose fatal taste brought death into the world — and all our suffering with it, and the loss of Eden — until one greater man restores us and wins back that happy place.

Satan's line
Antithesis

The mind is its own place, and in itself Can make a Heav'n of Hell, a Hell of Heav'n.

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Plain English

The mind is its own place, and by itself it can turn hell into heaven, or heaven into hell.

That's the whole thing.

Read it again slowly — it gets better the second time.

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