XI The Complex Theme of Paradise Lost At the very outset the problem of the theme of Paradise Lost is bedevilled by the figure of Satan. So mightily alive - indeed the sole living character in the poem - is the Arch-demon that all other concerns than his are from the dramatic viewpoint dwarfed. And, if by the theme is meant whatever grips us most out of a work, Paradise Lost has its burning centre in the fortunes of Satan. Whether Milton intended it or no, the Fall of Satan, his fight against God and Man, his heroism or villainy, his success or failure are the main interest of the epic. But Satan's doings have evidently to be seen with chief re

II Milton, Macaulay and Sri Aurobindo I hope my introductory words have toned up the reader to an interest in Paradise Lost and in the difficult job I have taken on myself under the influence of the ardours and rigours of Milton's epic inspiration. But before I actually start, let me evoke two pictures in which our poet does not directly figure yet which may aid our minds better to appreciate him. Go back to 1834. A British ship is on way to India. In those days it used to take five months to make the voyage and there were many hazards: the ships were far more at the mercy of storms than our modern luxury-liners. And this particul

XII The Metaphysics of Paradise Lost B. Rajan, in his important study, Paradise Lost and the Seventeenth Century Reader, has observed that Paradise Lost was meant to be an epic of the Christian world and therefore aimed at the utmost general conformity to the body of universal Christian belief. The words "utmost general" are, of course, the operative ones. Rajan would hardly deny unorthodox traces. Milton, being what he was, would certainly not violate his own integrity by quite submerging his differences from universal Christianity; but, according to Rajan, he would never let them obtrude in a work which was intended to be a moral and religious po

-02_Milton^s Spaciousness of Soul and Sound.htm I Milton's Spaciousness of Soul and Sound Paradise Lost - here we have an epic which would seem almost to make paradise worth losing, since without that loss Milton could not have sung so sublimely and almost regained Paradise for poetry-mad people like the present writer. But more than three hundred years after its composition, years during which a lot of poetry-mad people have had their say about it, it is difficult to avoid making just a rehash of past critical comments. Yet, difficult or no, if one feels that the last word has not yet been spoken, one must make the attempt to bring new aspects forward or at least to present certa

IX Early Milton and What Paradise Lost Might Have Been Clues from Early Sri Aurobindo Savitri is in many respects unMiltonic. However, Sri Aurobindo's early blank verse which assimilates several influences into a varied vigorous originality mingles Paradise Lost most with the chief immediate influence - Stephen Phillips's Christ in Hades and Marpessa - and the principal background influence - Kalidasa's Vicramorvasie. And this blank verse is of particular interest because of a certain question raised by Sri Aurobindo in connection with Milton: "One might speculate on what we might have had

-09_Poetry of the Thought Mind and Overhead Poetry ~ Milton^s Paradise Lost and Sri Aurobindo^s Savitri.htm VIII Poetry of the Thought-Mind and "Overhead Poetry" Milton's Paradise Lost and Sri Aurobindo's Savitri Milton knew himself to be for "an audience fit, though few." It is impossible for many to address him in their minds as he makes Eve address Adam: O sole in whom my thoughts find all repose, My glory, my perfection! 1 But in a poetic sense Milton can be likened to Adam and regarded as our glory and perfection if we interpret from the standpoint of poetic psychology the phrase: O sole in whom my thoughts find all repose. For, Milton is the

The Scientific Mind and the Mystical Outlook The scientific mind and the mystical outlook figure in the popular imagination as eternal enemies. Both are felt to be important but somehow irreconcilable in ultimate matters. It is worth inquiring whether the supposed irreconcilableness is anything other than a superficial impression. We may remark at the very beginning that, historically, science and religion have not always stood in stark opposition. And most significantly the absence of stark opposition has been with regard to the science that is the very foundation of all sciences: physics. What is called classical or Newtonian physics was

Science Materialism Mysticism by Amal Kiran (K. D. Sethna) Foreword to the second Edition The Clear Ray Trust, Pondicherry, is happy to publish the second Edition of Amal Kiran's book "Science Materialism, Mysticism". The Issue Materialism versus Mysticism now seems to be an important point of intellectual debate and this book throws a considerable amount of light on the subject and helps to clarity many concepts relating to the subject. Did Classical Physics Bear Out Materialism? One of the distinguishing marks of the present century is the revolution in physics. This revolution has swept away many of the old

Matter, Life, Mind 1 Our scrutiny of scientific opinions has deals so far with the problem of matter and mind and the problem of with the life. We have examined these problems in indent" and each other, thus giving the fullest scope possible scientific features peculiar to either of them and not subduing them in the interests of a theory derived from outside? field concerned. Both our surveys have reached a corn conclusion which is all the stronger because reached along two independent lines: namely, that matter is not the basic reality. We have discovered, on strictly scientific grounds, that mind cannot be reduced to matter and that matter can

Mysticism and Einstein's Relativity Physics I When Archbishop Davidson, in the early days of relativity theory, asked Einstein what effect his theory would have on religion, Einstein answered: "None. Relativity is a purely scientific theory and has nothing to do with religion." This answer seems to give short shrift to any attempt at aligning with a mystical view of the universe the revolution in scientific thought which Einstein brought about. But Eddington suggests that Einstein's remark must be under- stood in the context of the times in which it was made. In those days, Eddington, explains, one had to become expert in dodging p