UM Honors Blog 2021-2022

     In book 7 we see this conversation between Raphael and Adam that describes the creation story. In line 131-137, he tells Adam that Lucifer rebelled but in his rebellion It allowed for God to reveal his greater will for eternity. Further on we see God speak to Jesus about created earth and that some day heaven and earth will be one. Then he sends Jesus to go and fulfill. In line 165-169 it says, " My overshadowing spirit and might with thee I send along: ride forth and bid the deep within appointed bounds be heaven and earth! Boundless the deep because I am who fill infinitude,..." I am reminded of scripture in Genesis 1:2, "The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the spirit of God was hovering over the waters."     In this section we see God acknowledge a setback but command a new plan to further reveal his glory. That touch of revelation in line 160 just send shivers down my spine. In this section Gods Willi...

 According to the Oxford dictionary, youth is defined as "the state or quality of being young, especially as associated with vigor, freshness or immaturity." When we think of youth, we tend to think of our younger years, long before anything "bad" happened. Youth was a time of purity, of happiness. There were no looming worries in our life and the scariest thing was the closet at night. Youth, however, fades much faster than we anticipate. We're young, we have all we could desire, and we can't wait to grow up. There's an underlier here: the illusion of protection. When we are young we are invincible, at the top of our own little world, but with one wrong shift of our precariously stacked pile, we can fall with a deafening crash. For us, our crash was in eighth grade. I won't go into many details, but let's just say there's a reason I am using plural pronouns for myself. The eighth grade was one of discovery, learning more about mental health,...

I almost feel sorry for Adam, truthfully. His character is so innocent & naive in his conversations with Raphael about the origin of creation, the angelic war, why the stars are positioned the way they are, etc. that when Adam gushes about Eve's beauty in Book VIII, some of the remarks he exclaimed caught me by surprise. Ok, that needs some rephrasing: I was surprised by the abundance of which the adoration came, not by him loving Eve. I think Milton is including this part of the dialogue of man & angel as a foreshadowing of how Adam was/will be pulled into sinning with Eve because he clearly loves her too much to resist if she were to pressure him into doing something; good or not. I'd also like to point out the difference in what Adam says about his love for Eve versus what Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 13 as to what love really is, & how Adam is on the verge of losing himself if he continues down his current path. And while we will find that Adam & Eve certain...

     In book five of Paradise Lost , Milton presents a new character; one that will act as yet another foil to his wonderfully antagonistic protagonist, Satan. Through Raphael's words on the fall of the angels, he presents Abdiel, the angel that joined Satan's followers in listening to a speech against the unfair domination of God over them all. Though he listens to what Satan has to say, Abdiel is the first and only angel in the assembly to contradict it. He vouches for God's majesty and justice and then runs through the night to God's side in order to tell him everything.      While Milton may be making another jab at Predestination (ahem; why does God need a tattletale to tell Him what's going on?), he is certainly pointing at a form of redemption for Abdiel. While Satan and his army are eventually thrown out of heaven, Abdiel gains a spot among the faithful servants of God, proving His righteousness. Milton suggests a fleeting thought of rebellion in th...

Milton portrays Eden as a beautiful paradise. In this creation, the ordered landscape, the sweet scent of the flowers, and the tasty fruit all lend themselves to a wonderful experience of the senses. But I would assert that the pinnacle of goodness and beauty in this garden  is found in those for which it was formed, in Adam and Eve; "for in their looks divine/The image of their glorious maker shone" (Book 4, lines 291-292). Our first parents are equally made in the image of God. At the same time, however, they each differ distinctly from the other, so much that "Though both/Not equal as their sex nor equal seemed" (4. 295-296). Adam is described as tall and broad-shouldered, with hair no longer than shoulder length. He also seems to speak first in each dialogue. Such exterior traits of his figure and his deeds exemplify his role as leader, protector, and provider for his wife. In stark contrast to the man, the woman is depicted as being smaller, softer, and much mo...

               While Satan may be viewed as a powerful, sympathetic character for the first three books, he is more accurately presented as a whiny child in the next two. I was vividly reminded of a spoiled child blaming their parents for their own bad choices and mistakes, and his unrepentant attitude eradicated some of the sympathy he garnered earlier in the story. One large example I saw was in lines 58-61 of Book 4, in which Satan complains that if God had made him a lesser angel than he would not have sinned against him. Essentially, Satan blames God for making him so powerful as to why he ultimately rebelled, since if he was a weaker angel he never would have even thought about overthrowing God. His first large monologue from this section dissects his inner thoughts on the matter, and we can see how he hates his decision and is angry and sorrowful at his new lot in life. This provides a more detailed look into his character, and he becomes m...

       Early on, I was unsure of Milton's true motivations for portraying Satan in an almost sympathetic manner. However, in Book 4, the confrontation in the garden between Satan and God's angels continues to peel back the layers of his hypocrisy, making it difficult to feel bad for Milton's Satan at this point. It becomes evident that Milton hopes to expose readers to the lies of Satan, hopefully helping save them from his deceptive clutches in the process. Gabriel points out that Satan is not living up to the image of the strong leader that he has tried to convince everyone he is. Though he appears a coward, Satan turns the words back on Gabriel by asking him "Who would not, finding way, break loose from Hell / Though thither doomed?" (4.888-889). He avoids addressing the conflicting roles he is playing, likely because the situation makes him question his own identity and place in the universe. Additionally, while Satan has projected an appearance of courage and...