Kyle Long

ENG. 369
Instructor: G. Kuchar

Invocations
By Kyle Long, University of Victoria

Milton begins his epic poem Paradise Lost with an invocation to a

heavenly Muse:

Of Man’s first disobedience and the fruit

Of that forbidden tree whose mortal taste

Brought death into the world and all our woe

With loss of Eden till one greater Man

Restore us and regain the blissful seat

Sing Heav’nly Muse” (1.1-6).

According to classical mythology, the Muses are traditionally nine goddesses who

preside over the arts and sciences. However a Muse can also be defined as a

writer’s poetic inspiration. Milton beginning Paradise Lost with the invocation to

a muse serves a couple purposes. To begin with, Milton sets out to write Paradise

Lost as an epic poem and then follows the traditions of epic poetry, one of which

is invocation of the muse. In particular, Milton invokes the Muses because he

wasn’t present during the war between God and Satan or even the creation of

earth. Milton’s Muse is different compared to the other Muses who inspired other
memorable poets; Milton’s Muse is the Holy Spirit. Including the invocation in

Paradise Lost is clearly a stylistic nod to other great epic poems such as The Iliad,

The Odyssey and The Aeneid. In some ways Milton’s invocation can be seen as a

conscious act of rebellion, even in its imitation of previous conventions: Milton

not only goes against the classical tradition but also, in invoking Christian divinity.

The invocation uses fragments of other work to fit a conventional shape to make a

picture that is to an extent new. It is here that we find the answer to the paradox of

Milton's revolution in being reactionary, the first Christian epic.

Milton’s narrator calls upon the Muse as a form of poetic inspiration, using

it to speak through him. For example, he prays “Fast by the oracle of God, I thence

/ Invoke thy aid to my advent’rous song” (1.12-13). However, Milton explains that

his Muse was the one who inspired Moses to receive the Ten Commandments and

write Genesis. The Holy Spirit is not one of the traditional nine muses who reside

on Mount Helicon, but was the inspiration behind the Christian Bible. Milton’s

states that his poem is very much like his Muse, superior and flying above all

previous muses. Accordingly, he claims that he “with no middle flight intends to

soar / Above th’ Aonian mount.” (1.14-15). Milton believes that by including the

Holy Spirit he is accomplishing something that has never been done before in

poetry. The epic poet knows his main source of inspiration is greater than any

other poets. Milton made these claims by channeling all of the imaginative,

stylistic and rhetorical resources of the English Renaissance verse into Paradise
Lost. Milton “individualized and universalized” them, but did not change the

conventional story of the fall in Genesis; he to an extent modernized it, so that “its

figures would become as actual and immediate as the very real presence that had

been part of the events that occurred” (Gregory, 1989).

The narrator then invokes the Muse asking to be granted knowledge of how

the world originated because The Holy Spirit had a hand in the creation of the

world. The narrator wants this knowledge because he wants to show mankind that

Adam and Eve’s fall was all part of a greater plan constructed by God: “I may

assert Eternal Providence / And justify the ways of God to men” (1.25-26). In

other words, he wants to explain why a good God allows evil in the world.

The invocation in The Iliad begins with the poet praying to the Muse, the

goddess of poetic inspiration, “Begin, Muse, when the two first broke and clashed,

/ Agamemnon lord of men and brilliant Achilles” (1.8-9). In other words, the poet

wants the Muse to tell him about the rage of Achilleus, and how it hurt the

Achaians. Homer declaring his theme through the invocation carries the reader to

where the trouble originally started, which is where the story of The Iliad begins

(during the middle of war). Furthermore, an epic poem must be constructed almost

flawlessly due to its length; its subject must be original but have aims towards

nobility and heroism. In other words, Milton believes that his story Paradise Lost

will be the most original story ever created because it’s the story of the creation of
the new world and the tragic journey of mans fall of disobedience to God. Milton

wants to justify Gods greater plan, and why theodicy must occur “I may assert

Eternal Providence / And justify the ways of God to men” (1.25-26).

In The Odyssey the narrator begins with the invocation of the Muse:

“Sing to me of the man, Muse, the man of twists and turns…

driven time and again off course, once he had plundered

the hallowed heights of Troy.

Many cities of men he saw and learned their minds,

many pains he suffered, heartsick on the open sea, fighting to save

his life and bring his comrades home” (1.1-6).

In other words, the narrator is asking for inspiration to tell the story of Odysseus,

which begins 10 years after the Trojan War (The Iliad). Athena then goes to Ithaca

disguised as Mentes giving advice how to deal with Telemachus’ mother and the

suitors to encourage Telemachus to go on a trip to Pylos and Sparta. The narrator

imagines the Muse singing through him for inspiration. This is comparable to the

invocations in both Paradise Lost and The Iliad because both begin with a form of

inspiration.

Virgil’s begins The Aeneid with the words “I sing” (1.1) comparable to The

Odyssey: “Sing to me” (1.1) and waits a few lines before beginning his invocation.

In other words, “it seems as Virgil is invoking his Muse out of obligation rather
than through his genuine belief of divine inspiration” (Gregory, 1989). In Virgil's

time, the invocation was only used because it was a “tradition in epic poetry”

(Gregory, 1989). The change in Virgil's invocation reveals his different style to

this epic. However, Virgil and Homer’s invocation are comparable at the opening

of his poem:

“O Muse! The causes and the crimes relate; / What goddess was

provok’d, and whence her hate; / For what offense the Queen of

Heav’n began / To persecute so brave, so just a man; / Involv’d his

anxious life in endless cares, / Expos’d to wants, and hurried into

war! / Can heavn’ly minds such high resentment show, / Or exercise

their spite in human woe?” (1.11-18).

In particular, The Iliad and The Odyssey stand as a model for Virgil’s epic, for

example, Virgil picks up where Homer’s poem finished. Also the events that

occurred in the The Aeneid construct a sequel to Homer’s The Iliad and are

coexistent with Ulysses in The Odyssey. However, even though Virgil emulates

Homer’s epic, he also wants to surpass Homer, this is comparable to Milton with

his epic Paradise Lost wanting his poem to surpass other epic poets works such as

Homer and Virgil.

The invocations in Paradise Lost, The Illiad, The Odyssey and The Aeneid

all have their own strengths and epic importance. However, Milton views his

invocation as superior to other great poets invocations. Since his invocation leads
to the most original story known to man, as it is the first story of the world and of

the first human beings. Also, while Homer and Virgil only chronicled the journey

of heroic men, like Achilles or Aeneas, Milton chronicles the tragic journey of

humankind and its disobedience. Despite Milton’s well-deserved egotistical view,

I believe Milton, Homer and Virgil, all used their invocations as a source of

knowledge and therefore inspiring all of them to create epic literary poems.
Works Citied

Fagles, Robert. The Aeneid. New York: Penguin, 2008. Print.

The Aeneid is a poem about Aeneas, Achilles’ beginning an incredible

journey to fulfill his destiny as the founder of Rome. This text was used as a
compare and contrast for the invocations in The Iliad, The Odyssey and Paradise
Lost.

Fagles, Robert. The Odyssey. New York: Penguin, 2006. Print.

The Odyssey is one of two ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer.
“It is, in part, a sequel to The Iliad, the other work ascribed to Homer”. This text
was used for a link to Milton’s invocation at the beginning of Paradise Lost: Book
I.

Fagles, Robert. The Iliad. New York, N.Y., U.S.A.: Viking, 1990. Print.

The Iliad “is a Greek epic poem in dactylic hexameter, attributed to Homer.
Set during the Trojan War, the sieging of the city of Troy by a combination of
Greek states”. This text was used for a link to Milton’s invocation at the beginning
of Paradise Lost: Book I.

Gregory, E. R. Milton and the Muses. Tuscaloosa: U of Alabama, 1989. Print.

Gregory’s Milton and the Muses is a study conducted with sources of

inspiration in Milton’s verses. In addition, the source discusses Milton’s use of
ancient Greek resources and the connection between them and various muses.

Phillips, Philip Edward. John Milton's Epic Invocations: Converting the

Muse. New York: Peter Lang, 2000. Print.

Phillip Edward compares and contrasts how Christian writers could use
pagan devices. Furthermore, Edwards illustrates how he finds that the poet,
invoking the inspirational power of the Muses, distinguishes the Muse’s pagan
name from her Christian meaning.
Invocations:

The Iliad:
 
“Sing , goddess, the anger of Peleus’ son Achilleus
and its devastation, which put pains thousandfold upon the Achians,
hurled in their multitudes to the house of Hades strong souls
of heroes, but gave their bodies to be the delicate feasting
of dogs, of all birds, and the will of Zeus was accomplished
since that time when first there stood in division of conflict
Atreus’ son the lord of men and brilliant Achilleus.”
 
The Odyssey:
 
“Tell me, Muse, of the man of many ways, who was driven
far journeys, after he had sacked Troy’s sacred citadel.
many were they whose cities he saw, whose minds he learned of, many the pains
he suffered in his spirit on the wide sea,
struggling for his own life and the homecoming of his companions.
Even so he could not save his companions, hard though
he strove to; they were destroyed by their own wild recklessness,
fools, who devoured the oxen of Helios, the Sun God,
and he took away the day of their homecoming. From some point
here, goddess, daughter of Zeus, speak, and begin our story.”
 
The Aeneid:
 
“Arms, and the man I sing, who, forced by fate,
And haughty Juno’s unrelenting hate,
Expell’d and Exil’d, left the Trojan shore.
Long labors, both by sea and land, he bore,
And in the doubtful war, before he won
The Latian realm, and built the destined town;
His banish’d gods restored to rites divine,
And settled sure succession in his line,
From whence the race of Alban fathers come,
And the long glories of majestic Rome.
            O Muse! the causes and the crimes relate;
Whar goddess was provok’d, and whence her hate;
For what offense the Queen of Heav’n began
To persecute so brave, so just a man;
Involv’d his anxious life in endless cares,
Expos’d to wants, and hurried into wars!
Can heav’nly minds such high resentment show,
Or exercise Their spite in human woe?”
 
Paradise Lost:
 
“Of man’s first disobedience, and the fruit
Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste
Brought death into the world, and all our woe,
With loss of Eden, till one greater Man
Restore us, and regain the blissful seat,
Sing Heav’nly Muse, that on the secret top
Of Oreb, or of Sinai, didst inspire
That shepherd, who first taught the chosen seed,
In the beginning how the heavens and earth
Rose out of chaos: or if Sion hill
Delight thee more, and Siloa’s brook that flowed
Fast by the Oracle of God; I thence
Invoke thy aid to my advent’rous song,
That with no middle flight intends to soar
Above th’ Aonian mount, while it pursues
Things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme.
And chiefly thou O Spirit, that dost prefer
Before all temples the upright heart and pure,
Instruct me for thou know’st; thou from the first
Wast present, and with mighty wings outspread
Dove-like sat’st brooding on the vast abyss
And mad’st it pregnant: what in me is dark
Illumine, what is low raise and support;
That to the highth of this great argument
I may assert Eternal Providence,
And justify the ways of God to men.”