Paradise Lost

From the beginning of Paradise Lost, Milton declares that the poem is about the first disobedience toward God by humankind.  The poem also goes into the consequences of the disobedience.  The poem opens when Adam and Eve are eating the forbidden fruit and have disobeyed God.  Once the ball starts rolling, the poem starts to get interesting.

            The battle between God and Satan is what drew my attention the most.  The poem focuses more on Satan rather than God, which I find to be an interesting twist.  Having Satan as the main focus gives the reader the impression that he’s the hero, or at least an antihero.  The antagonist being discussed is the thing that influenced Adam and Eve so easily.  In the first book, Milton sets up Satan’s character as a surprisingly appealing character.  I admire that he refuses to back down.  His refusal gives Satan the appearance of the war heroes from the old epics.  I find it interesting that the main character isn’t following the same hero’s journey.  In many stories, the protagonist is trying to save the world, while balancing everything else that life decides to throw at them.  It’s always interesting to see a story through the eyes of the antagonist, or someone who is viewed as the antagonist.

Ariel's Song

“Come unto these yellow sands,
And then take hands:
Curtsied when you have, and kiss'd
The wild waves whist,
Foot it featly here and there;
And, sweet sprites, the burthen bear.
Hark, hark!
Bow-wow.
The watch-dogs bark.
Bow-wow.
Hark, hark! I hear
The strain of strutting chanticleer
Cry, Cock-a-diddle-dow.

Full fathom five thy father lies;
Of his bones are coral made;
Those are pearls that were his eyes:
Nothing of him that doth fade,
But doth suffer a sea-change
Into something rich and strange.
Sea-nymphs hourly ring his knell:
Ding-dong.
Hark! now I hear them—Ding-dong, bell.”

                This is the song that Ariel sings to Ferdinand in order to take Ferdinand to Prospero.  While the first stanza doesn’t have much meaning, the second stanza holds meaning for Ferdinand.  Ariel tells Ferdinand that his father is changing.  Although, Ariel could also be trying to tell Ferdinand and the readers that his father will be turning into the sea eventually.

Throughout the song, various rhyme schemes are used.  In the first stanza, the rhyme pattern is “aabbccdedeffg.”  While all of these are end rhymes,  not all of them are identical rhymes.  Many of these are slant rhymes, such as “hear” and “chanticleer.” 

In the second stanza, the rhyme pattern is “ababccded.”  Similar to the first stanza, the second stanza’s rhymes are end rhymes.  The second stanza also has alliteration.  For example, the line “Full fathom five thy father lies” is the line that I found to have the most alliteration.  The “s” sounds are also present throughout the passage, giving a hissing quality to the passage (sibilance).  The alliteration gives the lines a song-like quality to them.  I would like to see if the song is a form of foreshadowing that will come into play later in the play.