How is language used in Satan's approach to Eden in 'Paradise Lost'?

Milton's poetic style is famously teeming with long and winding sentences which spill over enjambed lines and often only deploy the main verb at the end. It means that, as readers, we're always struggling to make sense of what Milton describes. But in Satan's approach to Eden, Milton uses these luxurious and complex syntax patterns in order to make one of the poem's key moral suggestions. When the reader first encounters Eden, it is through Satan's eyes. Milton uses a device which would become more strongly associated with novelists, called free indirect discourse; it creates the impression that we are in fact reading Satan's own thoughts. Therefore we should not think of the language used to build up the approach to Eden as Milton's but rather Satan's.
Milton led a deeply puritanical life, which meant he was a very conservative and devout Christian. He didn't indulge in excess, and yet language is used throughout the approach to Eden in order to create an impression of excess. For instance, examine how Milton uses suffixes: [...] Into his nether empire neighbouring round. And higher than that wall a circling row Of goodliest trees loaded with fairest fruit [...]Milton repeats the present continuous inflection "ing" which conjures a sense of movement. But he also uses the comparative suffix "er" which bursts out into the superlative "iest". By building up these suffixes, Milton creates the impression of looking higher and higher at the vastness of Eden, an effect which C.S.Lewis describes as "kinaesthesia", or, reading with the senses. However, rather than stand in awe of Milton's Eden and his use of language, we can ask whether Milton himself approved of this idea of Eden, or whether he uses Satan in order to ask his reader to reconsider what sort of moral and not simply materialistic paradise they imagine.

Related English Literature A Level answers

All answers ▸

What points should I consider when writing an analysis of a poem?


Why does punctuation matter in poetry?


Discuss Christina Rossetti's presentation of love in her poem 'A Triad'.


How am I meant to analyse an unseen poem when I can't even work out what the poem is about?


We're here to help

contact us iconContact usWhatsapp logoMessage us on Whatsapptelephone icon+44 (0) 203 773 6020
Facebook logoInstagram logoLinkedIn logo
Cookie Preferences