ADAM AND EVE IN PARADISE.1
Two of far nobler shape, erect and tall,
Godlike erect, with native honour clad,
In naked majesty seemed lords of all,
And worthy seemed; for in their looks divine
The image of their glorious Maker shone,
Truth, wisdom, sanctitude severe and pure
(Severe, but in true filial freedom placed),
Whence true authority in men; though both
Not equal, as their sex not equal seemed;
For contemplation he and valour formed;
For softness she, and sweet attractive grace;
He for God only, she for God in him:
His fair large front and eye sublime declared
Absolute rule; and hyacinthine locks
Round from his parted forelock manly hung
Clustering, but not beneath his shoulders broad:
She, as a veil, down to the slender waist
Her unadorned golden tresses wore
Dishevelled, but in wanton ringlets waved
As the vine curls her tendrils; which implied
Subjection, but required with gentle sway,
And by her yielded, by him best received,
Yielded with coy submission, modest pride,
And sweet, reluctant, amorous delay.
So hand in hand they passed, the loveliest pair
That ever since in love's embraces met;
(1) "Paradise Lost," book iv. "The description of Adam and Eve, as they first appeared to Satan, is exquisitely drawn, and sufficient to make the fallen angel gaze upon them with all that astonishment and those emotions of envy, in which he is represented."-Addison.
(2) Severe, &c.-i. e. strict, but yet consistent with the freedom of children; "denoting," says Dr. Pearce, "a reverence rather than fear of the Deity."
(3) Whence, &c.-i. e. from the truth, wisdom, and holiness, just mentioned, which, Dr. Pearce remarks are qualities that give to magistrates true authority,' that proper authority which they may want who yet have legal authority."
(4) Hyacinthine-a classical epithet, denoting black or dark brown chestnut. (5) Which implied subjection-in reference to 1 Cor. xi. 10: "the woman ought to have power on her head," where the word ovoíav is interpreted in the margin, "a covering," a sign that she is under the power of her husband, (6) Yielded, &c.-i. e. when yielded by her, &c.
Adam the goodliest1 of men since born
His sons; the fairest of her daughters Eve.
Under a tuft of shade that on a green
Stood whispering soft, by a fresh fountain-side
They sat them down; and after no more toil
Of their sweet gardening labour than sufficed
To recommend cool zephyr, and made ease
More easy, wholesome thirst and appetite
More grateful, to their supper fruits they fell-
Nectarine fruits, which the compliant boughs
Yielded them, side-long as they sat recline2
On the soft downy bank damasked with flowers.
The savoury pulp they chew, and in the rind,
Still as they thirsted, scoop the brimming stream.
About them frisking played
All beasts of the earth, since wild, and of all chace
In wood or wilderness, forest or den;
Sporting the lion ramped, and in his paw
Dandled the kid; bears, tigers, ounces, pards,
Gamboled before them; the unwieldy elephant,
To make them mirth used all his might, and wreathed
His lithe proboscis; close the serpent sly
Insinuating wove with Gordian' twine
His braided train, and of his fatal guile
Gave proof unheeded; others on the grass
Couched, and now filled with pasture gazing sat,
Or bedward ruminating; for the sun,
Declined, was hasting now with prone career
To the ocean isles, and in the ascending scale.
Of heaven the stars that usher evening rose.
(1) Adam the goodliest, &c.—The superlative is here used for the comparative, as sometimes in Greek. The meaning of course is that Adam was a handsomer man than any of his sons, and Eve fairer than any of her daughters.
(2) Nectarine-as sweet as nectar.
(3) Recline-reclining.
(4) Ramped-" Stood on his two hinder legs in the posture of climbing; from the French ramper, to climb. In heraldry, a lion in this attitude is said to be rampant."-Richardson.
(5) Wove with Gordian, &c.-Wove his twisted tail into a complicated braid, like the famous Gordian knot.
(6) Bedward ruminating" Chewing the cud before they go to rest.”—Hume. (7) Ocean isles-the islands in the western ocean.
(8) The ascending scale, &c.-A metaphor for the changes of day and night, as if like a balance, the one ascended as the other sank.
Now came1 still evening on, and twilight grey
Had in her sober livery all things clad;
Silence accompanied; for beast and bird,
They to their grassy couch, these to their nests
Were slunk; all but the wakeful nightingale;
She all night long her amorous descant sung.
Silence was pleased: now glowed the firmament
With living sapphires; Hesperus, that led
The starry host, rode brightest; till the moon,
Rising in clouded majesty, at length
Apparent queen, unveiled her peerless light,
And o'er the dark her silver mantle threw :
When Adam thus to Eve: "Fair consort! the hour
Of night, and all things now retired to rest
Mind us of like repose; since God hath set
Labour and rest, as day and night, to men
Successive and the timely dew of sleep,3
Now falling with soft slumbrous weight, inclines
Our eyelids. Other creatures all day long
Rove idle, unemployed, and less need rest;
Man hath his daily work of body or mind
Appointed, which declares his dignity,
And the regard of heaven on all his
While other animals unactive range,
And of their doings God takes no account.
To-morrow, ere fresh morning streak the east
With first approach of light, we must be risen,
And at our pleasant labour, to reform
Yon flowery arbours, yonder alleys green,
Our walk at noon, with branches overgrown,
That mock our scant manuring, and require
More hands than ours to lop their wanton growth:
(1) Now came, &c.-"Words cannot furnish out a more lovely description. The greatest poets in all ages have, as it were, vied with one another in their descriptions of evening and night; but for the variety of numbers and pleasing images, I know of nothing parallel or comparable to this to be found among all the treasures of ancient or modern poetry."-Newton.
(2) Descant-a song with various modulations.
(3) The timely dew of sleep-" Did not the beauty of the poetry keep the mind awake, the words would lull the reader insensibly."-Richardson.
(4) Manuring-from the French manœuvrer, to work with the hands-manual labour; a very unusual sense of the word.
Those blossoms also, and those dropping gums,
That lie bestrown, unsightly and unsmooth,
Ask riddance, if we mean to tread with ease;
Meanwhile, as nature wills, night bids us rest."
To whom thus Eve, with perfect beauty adorned:
"My author1 and disposer, what thou bidd'st,
Unargued I obey; so God ordains.
God is thy law, thou mine: to know no more
Is woman's happiest knowledge and her praise.
With thee conversing, I forget all time;
All seasons and their change-all please alike.
Sweet is the breath3 of morn, her rising sweet,
With charm of earliest birds; pleasant the sun,
When first on this delightful land he spreads
His orient beams, on herb, tree, fruit, and flower,
Glistering with dew; fragrant the fertile earth
After soft showers; and sweet the coming on
Of grateful evening mild; then silent night,
With this her solemn bird," and this fair moon,
And these the gems of heaven, her starry train:
But neither breath of morn, when she ascends
With charm of earliest birds; nor rising sun
On this delightful land; nor herb, fruit, flower,
Glistering with dew; nor fragrance after showers;
Nor grateful evening mild; nor silent night,
With this her solemn bird; nor walk by moon,
Or glittering star-light, without thee is sweet.'
THE MORNING HYMN IN PARADISE.6
"THESE are Thy glorious works, Parent of good,
Almighty! Thine this universal frame,
(1) Author-because Eve was made out of Adam.
(2) Seasons-the different periods and changes of the day, not of the year; this sense is determined by the lines that follow.
(3) Sweet is the breath, &c.—Addison remarks that "the variety of images in this passage is infinitely pleasing," and that "the recapitulation of each image, with a little varying of the expression, makes one of the finest turns of words" he had ever See "Tatler," No. 114.
(4) Charm-i. e. song, from carmea, a song.
(5) Solemn bird-Milton calls the nightingale "most melancholy" in "Il Penseroso;" in both passages, referring rather to the circumstances under which the bird sings than to the tone of its music.
(6) "Paradise Lost," book v.
(7) These are, &c.-" The morning hymn is written in imitation of one of those psalms [the 148th for instance] where, in the overflowings of gratitude and praise,
Thus wondrous fair; Thyself how wondrous then!
Unspeakable, who sitt'st above these heavens,
To us invisible, or dimly seen
In these thy lowest works; yet these declare
Thy goodness beyond thought, and power divine.
Speak ye who best can tell, ye, sons of light,
Angels! for ye behold Him, and with songs
And choral symphonies, day without night,
Circle his throne rejoicing; ye, in heaven-
On earth, join all ye creatures, to extol
Him first, him last, him midst, and without end.
Fairest of stars, last in the train of night,
If better thou belong not to the dawn,
Sure pledge of day, that crown'st the smiling morn
With thy bright circlet, praise him in thy sphere,
While day arises, that sweet hour of prime.
Thou sun, of this great world both eye and soul,
Acknowledge him thy greater; sound his praise
In thy eternal course, both when thou climb'st,
And when high noon hast gained, and when thou fall'st.
Moon!2 that now meet'st the orient sun, now fliest,
With the fixed stars-fixed in their orb that flies;
And ye five other3 wandering fires! that move
In mystic dance not without song, resound
His praise, who out of darkness called up light.
Air, and ye elements! the eldest birth
Of nature's womb, that in quaternion" run
Perpetual circle, multiform, and mix
And nourish all things; let your ceaseless change
Vary to our great Maker still new praise.
the Psalmist calls not only upon the angels, but upon the most conspicuous parts of the inanimate creation, to join with him in extolling their common Maker. Invocations of this nature fill the mind with glorious ideas of God's works, and awaken that divine enthusiasm which is so natural to devotion."-Addison.
(1) Speak ye who, &c.-"He is unspeakable-no creature can speak worthily of him as he is, but speak ye who are best able, ye angels, &c."-Newton.
(2) Moon, &c.-The construction is:-Thou moon that now meetest and now fliest the orient sun, together with the fixed stars-fixed in their orb which flies -and ye five other wandering fires, or planets, &c.
(3) Five other, &c.-i. e. Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and Venus-considering the reference to the morning star as not marking any particular planet.
(4) Mystic dance, &c.-In allusion to the music of the spheres. (See extracts from Shakspere, p. 287.)
(5) In quaternion run-i. e. "that in a fourfold mixture and combination run a perpetual circle, one element continually changing into another."-Newton.
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