A young man who wishes to remain a sound Atheist cannot be too careful of his reading. There are traps everywhere – ‘Bibles laid open, millions of surprises,’ as Herbert says, ‘fine nets and stratagems.’ God is, if I may say it, very unscrupulous. –C. S. Lewis “Surprised by Joy” All the books were beginning to turn against me. Indeed, I must have been blind as a bat not to […]
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“Pilgrim’s Progress” by John Bunyan
Pilgrim’s Progress is an original work that does not borrow grandeur from classics but becomes a classic by its own simplicity and profundity. Bunyan writes with clarity and structure, and insights into human nature. In his essay Why I am not a Christian, Bertrand Russell lists disbelief in a literal Hell as one of the reasons. I didn’t get far into this book on my first attempt more than twenty […]
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“Samson Agonistes” by John Milton
Samson Shorn All mortals I excell’d, and great in hopes With youthful courage and magnanimous thoughts Of birth from Heav’n foretold and high exploits, Full of divine instinct, after some proof Of acts indeed heroic, far beyond The Sons of Anac, famous now and blaz’d, Fearless of danger, like a petty God I walk’d about admir’d of all and dreaded On hostile ground, none daring my affront. Then swoll’n with […]
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“Paradise Regained” by John Milton
Humanity On Trial Milton recounts and reinterprets the Biblical story of Satan Tempting Christ in Paradise Regained, in which he lays open to criticism and derision the whole of human existence and history. There is a distinct undertone of defiance and bitterness. In the poem, Christ is represented, not so much as the only begotten Son of God, but a heroic moral figure, who triumphs over Satan, not by His […]
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Paradise Lost: III. It is Not Good for Man to be Alone
In Book 8 of Paradise Lost, there is an interesting discourse between God and Man on the state of solitude and happiness. Adam expresses his desire for rational companionship, without which he cannot be happy or content. God then asks Adam whether he thinks God, who is alone for all eternity, is possessed of happiness. Adam: Thou hast provided all things: but with mee I see not who partakes. In […]
Read moreParadise Lost: II. Blindness and Death
A passage in Book 3 where Milton laments his blindness reminds me of the suicide speech of Sophocles’ Ajax. Such is the power of poetry, which made me realize for the first time, that blindness is death, spiritual blindness in particular. Milton uses the same metaphor more explicitly in Samson Agonistes. Ajax But you, Sweet gleam of daylight now before my eyes, And Sun-God, splendid charioteer, I greet you For […]
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Paradise Lost: I. Satan’s Will to Power
The Fall of Satan Confounded though immortal: But his doom Reserv’d him to more wrath; for now the thought Both of lost happiness and lasting pain Torments him; round he throws his baleful eyes That witness’d huge affliction and dismay Mixt with obdurate pride and stedfast hate: … O how unlike the place from whence they fell! … Yet not for those, Nor what the Potent Victor in his rage […]
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