Ambition and prayer comingle - Paradise Lost Book 1 - The Uncovered English

Paradise Lost Book - I

John Milton

How do ambition and prayer comingle in Milton's invocation in Paradise Lost Book - 1 ?

In pursuance of epic convention laid down by Homer and Virgil, Milton begins his Paradise Lost Book - 1 with an invocation of 26 lines.

Milton proposes to sing "Of Man's first disobedience" to God in eating the fruit of the forbidden tree in Paradise which brought death to the world and all his sufferings till Jesus Christ restore human being to Paradise. The theme proposed is a grand, mighty and universal one. It represents the origin of sin its consequences and the fight of Good and Evil. Milton insists upon the sublimity of his subject. He aims at soaring not to the middle air but to heaven. He will rise higher than Mount Helican which represents classical poetry and will treat: "Things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme." That means he will write his epic upon a higher theme than that chosen by Homer or any other Greek poets.

In order to achieve his ambition he prays to the Holy Spirit (Urania) instead of Homer or Virgil's classical Muse. He appeals to his spirit who dwells in pursue heart to charge him with a high inspiration to compose his grand poem. He also says:

"...What in me is dark
Illumine, What is low raise and support:
★★★
I may assert eternal providence
And justify the ways of God to men."
Thus ambition and prayer comingle in Milton's invocation.

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