The epic of the fall of man; a comparative study of Caedmon, Dante and Milton . owndescriptions to guide us, and this, not only asregards the two concaves of original space or infini-tude, but also as regards the further development ofthe diagram rendered necessary by the exigencies ofthe epic. The diagram, on the page opposite, representsinfinite space as conceived by both Caedmon andMilton alike. The upper concave Milton describes as, . . the empyreal Heaven, extended wideIn circuit, undetermined square or round,With opal towers and battlements adornedOf living sapphire ; and of the Angelic
The epic of the fall of man; a comparative study of Caedmon, Dante and Milton . owndescriptions to guide us, and this, not only asregards the two concaves of original space or infini-tude, but also as regards the further development ofthe diagram rendered necessary by the exigencies ofthe epic. The diagram, on the page opposite, representsinfinite space as conceived by both Caedmon andMilton alike. The upper concave Milton describes as, . . the empyreal Heaven, extended wideIn circuit, undetermined square or round,With opal towers and battlements adornedOf living sapphire ; and of the Angelic denizens of this Empyrean, thepoet tells us, that A Comparative Study 35 . . on such dayAs Heavens great year brings forth, the empyreal hostOf Angels, by imperial summons called,Innumerable before tlie Almightys throneForthwith from all the ends of Heaven appearedUnder their hierarchs in orders thousand thousand ensigns high advanced,Standards and gonfalons, twixt van and rearStream in the air, and for distinction serveOf hierarchies, of orders, and In the description of the wars in Heaven, when therebel hosts of Satan had been finally overcome,Milton explains that the 136 Epic of the Fall . . crystal wall of Heaven . . opening wide,Rolled inward, and a spacious gap disclosedInto the wasteful Deep. This wasteful Deep, into which the rebelAngels are hurled, lightning-struck, is Chaos, . . a darkIllimitable ocean, without bound. And in another passage, Milton describes it as a . . vast immeasurable Abyss,Outrageous as a sea, dark, wasteful, wild,Up from the bottom turned by furious windsAnd surging waves, as mountains to assaultHeavens highth, and with the centre mix the pole. Into this Abyss, the rebels are forced to headlongruin, when, . . confounded Chaos roaredAnd felt tenfold confusion in their fall. Nine days they fell ; . . Hell at , received them whole, and on them closed,—Hell, their fit habitation. In these passages, we have a clear-c
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade18, booksubjectdantealighieri12651321
