Yet he regarded him as a
very great poet and he considered paradise load “a poem which, considered with
respect to design, may claim the first place, and with respect to performance
the second among the production of the human mind.”
In his appreciation of
Paradise Lost Johnson strictly follows in the footsteps of the ancients who, as
rule, always divided a tragedy or an epic into six parts and viewed each part
separately. These parts were plot, characters design, machinery, episode and
sentiments and
Johnson studied Paradise
Lost under these six heads. He begins with congratulating Milton on the fine
choice of his subject for writing his immortal epic. Milton’s subject, he says,
“is not the destruction of a city, the conduct of a colony, the foundation of
an empire. His subject is the fate of worlds, the revolutions of heaven and of
the earth; rebellion against the Supreme King, raised by the highest order of
created beings; the overthrow of their host, and the punishment of their crime;
the creation of a new race of reasonable creatures; their original happiness
and innocence, their forfeiture of immortality, and their restoration to hope
and peace “.
He further says that there are no “funeral
games” or any long description of a shield in Paradise Lost, but refers to the
alleged digressions at the beginning of the third, seventh, and ninth books. He
does not object to these digressions, for “superfluities so beautiful who would
take away? And since the end of poetry
is pleasure, that cannot be unpoetical with which all are pleased.”
Johnson becomes most eloquent when he comes to
deal with the sentiments or the moral tone of Paradise Lost. The motive of
Milton behind his narrative is “the most useful and the most arduous; to
vindicate the ways of God to man; to show the reasonableness of religion, and
the necessity of; obedience to the “Divine Law” (57). Milton displays the power
and mercy of the „Supreme Being‟ the substance of the narrative, says Johnson,
is truth and praises Milton for this quality: “Of his moral sentiments it is
hardly praised to affirm that they excel those of other poets “
He further says: In Milton every line breathes sanctity of thought and purity of manners, except when the train of the narration requires the introduction of the rebellious spirits; and even they are compelled to acknowledge their subjection to God, in such a manner as excites reverence and confirms piety.
Interesting Thing!
Do you think there is any Relationship between Language and Thought? Critics are divided on this discussion or not is illustrated in this topic, which is very interesting. You can read it.
