Milton's Conception of Time in the Christian Doctrine

Abstract

In the argument preceding Book I of Paradise Lost, Milton chooses to emphasize at the outset one aspect of his conception of time. He summarizes Satan's report to the fallen angels, and adds “for that Angels were long before the visible Creation, was the opinion of many ancient Fathers.” Nowhere else in these prefatory “arguments” does he feel it necessary to make any explanatory statements about the cosmology of the poem. Here, however, he calls attention to a belief that was in conflict with the prevailing Christian view. But, as Milton realized, the reader must grasp this heterodox belief of his in order to understand the whole design of the poem.

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