The epic of the fall of man; a comparative study of Caedmon, Dante and Milton . ton once again approaches, although he cannotreach, the higher moral level of the Anglo-Saxonmonk. Soon as the force of that fallacious fruit. That with exhilarating vapour bland About their spirits had played, and inmost powers Made err, was now exhaled, and grosser sleep. Bred of unkindly fumes, with conscious dreams Encumbered, now had left them, up they rose As from unrest, destitute and bareOf all their virtue. Silent, and in faceConfounded, long they sat, as strucken mute ;Till Adam, though not less than Eve
The epic of the fall of man; a comparative study of Caedmon, Dante and Milton . ton once again approaches, although he cannotreach, the higher moral level of the Anglo-Saxonmonk. Soon as the force of that fallacious fruit. That with exhilarating vapour bland About their spirits had played, and inmost powers Made err, was now exhaled, and grosser sleep. Bred of unkindly fumes, with conscious dreams Encumbered, now had left them, up they rose As from unrest, destitute and bareOf all their virtue. Silent, and in faceConfounded, long they sat, as strucken mute ;Till Adam, though not less than Eve abashed,At length gave utterance to these words constrained :— O Eve, in evil hour thou didst give earTo that false Worm, of whomsoever taughtTo counterfeit Mans voice—true in our fall,False in our promised rising; since our eyesOpened we find indeed, and find we knowBoth good and evil, good lost and evil got;Bad fruit of knowledge, if this be to know,Which leaves us naked thus, of honour innocence, of faith, of wonted ornaments now soiled and stained,. Departing tlwnccThey sought (he shelltr of the grateful xvcldWith deepest grief oppressed, and sat apart. The Temptation and Fall of Man 243 And in our faces evident the signsOf foul concupiscence. Oh, might I hereIn solitude live savage, in some gladeObscured, where highest woods, impenetrableTo star or sun-light, spread their umbrage broad,And brown as evening ! Cover me, ye pines !Ye cedars, with innumerable boughsHide me ! . both together wentInto the thickest wood. From thus distempered breastAdam, estranged in look and altered style,Speech intermitted thus to Eve renewed :—Would thou hadst hearkened to my words, and stayed^^ith me, as I besought thee, when that strangeDesire of wandering this unhappy morn,I know not whence possessed thee ! We had thenRemained still happy—not, as now, despoiledOf all our good, shamed, naked, miserable ! To whom, soon moved with touch of blame, thusEve :— w
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade18, booksubjectdantealighieri12651321
