The sun., 1915-10-03

ness. 80 He who would not be frustrat
OF his hope to write well hereafter Il
laudable things ought himself to be a tru
| poem. To he still searching wha
we know not. by what we know. still
I this is the golden rule In theology. as wei
| as In arithmetic. and makes up the bes
harmony in a church
Whether or not Milton was a true
poet brings us to the vexed question
OF his life and affections. 1t is true
that as man 35 years old
and married to girl OF II he
was composing during his honeymoon
a vehement argument in favor of di-
vorce for incompatibility. 1t is true
| that he seemed unable to inspire his
daughters with affection or reverence.
But when one remembers his Pauline
| attitude toward woman in general ar
! being formed solely for service to man,
| and that he forced these daughters
to read aloud to him in tongues which
he preferred them not to understand
| saying jeeringly "one tongue Is enough
for any woman" one realizes at any
| rate that he had not reached Kant's
moral height. from which we must
learn to treat each human being as
an end in himself and never as a
means to an end.
In the chapter on the sources Of
Paradise Lost" MIR. Thompson not
only traces very skilfully and fully
Millions Indebtedness to the Bible, find
ing parallel passages in Zachariah.
Chronicles. st. Matthew. st. Luke. st.
John. Peter. Jude. Revelation, Daniel
Tobias, Hebrews. Genesis, Psalms
Job, jeremiah. but he points out sim
ilarities OF structure with the great
epics of Homer and Virgil. Even
more Indebtedness he feels. however,
Milton owed to Tasso. Milton pos
sessed a thorough knowledge Of clas-
sical literature, as we may see from
'Comus" and Samson" no less than
Paradise Lost" But from the Itai-
ian Renaissance. with which he was
equally familiar. he drew chiefly on
Tasso. There must have been "A great
deal in Tassos sad life to appeal to
Milton. Tasso. too would have under
st cod the long deliberation that Milton
gave to his choice OF subject, since he
speaks of such deliberation as being
the first step In the creation of an
epic. The second step ne names the
giving OF artistic form to the matter
selected. In this. however, Milton was
little influenced by the Italians. rely
ing on his own sure sense of form and
on the models of the ancients. Mr.
Thompson traces the many passages
In the Jerusalem Delivered that re-
mind one of Paradise Lost" Re-
Gently attention has been called To the
work OF Cowley as bearing up Mil
tons work. and the influence of
Fletcher's "Chrst's Victory and Tri-
umph" has frequently been pointed
out. 1t is much more difficult To- credit
the assertion that Milton drew from
Quarless Divine Poems" To these
sources Richard Garnett adds Calde-
ron's "Lucifer" and possible sugges-
tions from Andreini. Nondel and
ochino.
Mr.. Thompson e,oquentjy comhats
the common saying that Satan is the
real hero of Paradise Lost" Satan
himself acknowledges his inferiority to
man. and the final step in his degrade
tion is effectively portrayed in the
S''H' Wl'ie 'dldH announces 10 lIlt
expcctant rebels in he'll his seeming
Absshcd he d.,il stood.
And fe,t how aw'Ii goodness i, anI saw
Virtue ia her shape, how 'o,e.'--saw aud
pned
His loss, bu' chiefly 20 and here observed
His Ius;re visibIv impaired
As to Mil,on's art. Mr.. Thompson
writes that constant rereading Of
Paradise Lost" and Paradise Re- /
gained leaves one with ever increas-
ing sense Of their artistic grandeur !
In harmony Of verse. in Vivldness ~
phrasing and in general structure they .
represent the hest OF English art /
without pedantry. yet his poetry Is .
throughout ruled by principle and m
Ielleci. The sonnets. expressing "a.
Sonnets do. the deepest personal f"ci-
ng and thought, as in Shakospearr's
and Rossettfs sequences. give his
most personal utterances his relations
70 people. his thoughts upon public
events. And throughout his work. in
he early odes and maSques the great
apics and the sonnets his mastcrful
control of rhythmic form with in
initcly varied effects never fails him.
will still turn back to this
arch -idealist Of English letters. "A
,rcat worshipper." as the author calls
>im. '"t purity. justice. liberty and
ruth"