The condition of being late colours the entire discourse of the

Invocation to Book I of paradise lost. Explain.

John Milton born in Bread, street London on 9 December 1608 was an English poet and
intellectual. At the early age of sixteen, Milton aspired to write the great English epic. The
classical epics like Homer's odyssey and Iliad made him fantasize about bringing such
brilliance to English language. But for a certain period of time Milton gave up the nation of
writing an epic at all and got indulged in politics. At the age of 30, Milton began writing
prose pamphlets on current church controversies. The political climate was charged as
Charles invaded Scotland.

Milton wrote pamphlets entitled of Reformation and the reason for church government in
1642. For the young poet, the puritan aspect of his work, at least in the public eye, began to
take prudence over his poetry. He began involved in politics and a much talented and God
gifted poet who was once aspired to write an epic became a full time man in politics writing
pamphlets. But However in the mid 1650s, Milton now returned to an idea he had previously
had for a verse play. The story of Adam and Eve. He concluded that the story might fail as a
drama but succeed as an epic. This selection of writing the story of Adam and Eve also
signifies how the feeling of lateness that he was late and has lost so much time is also come
into Milton. Milton knew that he was late for writing an epic that's why he thinks that he
would write something which is something earliest in the history of mankind. Unlike, Iliad
and others he did not want to address some heroes but the story of the first man to ever walk
on earth. Being a genius, Milton knew that the only thing that could help him from being in
the feeling of lateness would be the story of Adam and Eve. What he intended to under take
with his epic was the story of Man's first disobedience and the "Loss of Eden" his main
objective, However, is to justify the ways of God to men. The first thing we need to grasp
about Milton's epic is that virtually everything in it is bigger and better than it had been in
previous epics. Homer and Virgil gave a nod to the muses, but their invocations are over
nearly as soon as the begin. But Milton pours so much into its opening invocations that it
takes on a life of its own. Milton follows all the rules of epic genre in this invocation. Epics
begin with ritual, and so does paradise host. In this invocation Milton sets the pattern for the
whole poem. He points to his classical forebears, respecting them and seeking to enter into
their epic canon, but at the same time he wants to soar beyond then in terms of ambition and
truth. Milton's Muse is the Holy spirit, and his subject the fall of man, so his epic will be
more fundamentally true (to the Christian world views) and more sweeping in scope than the
epics of homer and Virgil. He invokes the aid of his muse is to assist him in expanding his
poetic vision over the whole act of creation. Milton wants the theme to be announced in all its
magnitude for the readers to recognise that no ordinary muse can be sufficient in the
Endeavor. The "Muse" or in other words, inspirational Diety, was a popular classical device,
which apparently Milton seems to follow. His Muse Urania, unlike the other classical muses,
does not reside on Olympus, but far above being not a human but heavenly entity. Such a
deviation is necessary since Milton's subject is of a higher order than those of classical epics
(dealing with human heroes and their worldly predicaments). Milton expresses his humility
with an earnest appeal for divine support to overcome his limitations.

"What in me is dark Illumine, what is low raise and support"

It is a poignant reference to his terrible limitations as a poet his blindness. Metaphorically, the
darkness might the ignorance of the poet has any. The invocation of paradise host is of high
merit. The beginning of it is similar in gravity and seriousness to the book from which Milton
takes much of his story; the book of genesis, the first book of Bible. Milton's approach to the
invocation of muse in which he takes classical literary convention and reinvents it from a
Christian perspective. The setting or world of Milton's epic is large enough to include those
smaller classical worlds. Milton also displays his world's superiority while reducing those
classical epics to the level of old, nearly forgotten stories. For example, the nine muses of
classical epics still exist on mount helicon in the World of paradise host, but Milton's muse
haunts other areas and has the ability to fly above those other, less powerful classical muses.
Thus Milton makes himself the authority on antiquity and subordinates it to his Christian
worldview.

The Iliad and the Aeneid are the great epic poems of Greek and Latin, respectively and
Milton emulates them because he intends paradise host to be the first English epic. Milton
wants to make glorious art out of the English language the way the other epics had done for
their language. In Milton's view, the story he will tell is the most original story known. To
man, as it is the first story of the world and of the first Human beings. Homer and Virgil may
have described great wars between men, but Milton tells the story of the most epic battle
possible: the battle between God and Satan, good and evil.