75 pages • 2 hours read
John MiltonParadise Lost
Fiction | Novel/Book in Verse | Adult | Published in 1667A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Book 7Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Book 7 Summary
Milton evokes the voice of a new muse, Urania (the muse of astronomy), but transforms her into a voice for Christian poetry. He asks her to guide his writing for a fit audience, highlighting his purpose to write for the faithful, even if there is but one among his readers.
The narration shifts back to Adam and Raphael. Adam thanks Raphael for the story and assures him that he and Eve are thankful to God and will work to be loyal to him alone. He tentatively and respectfully asks if he can know more. Raphael agrees to tell Adam the creation story. He tells Adam that God thought of creating humankind in part to replace the many followers he lost after the civil war, but also that God requires that humans prove themselves worthy of the life of angels.
The Son was sent to create the Earth from Chaos, and the creation process began. On the first day, God said “let there be light,” and the day was therefore split into daytime and nighttime. On the second day, he divided land from water; on the third day, he created plants, rivers, oceans, and rain. On the fourth day, he created stars, the sun, and the moon. On the fifth day, he created birds and all creatures of the sea. On the sixth day, he created all other animals.
Then, God set to work on his true masterpiece, a creature made in the image of his Son, a creature who could cultivate land and praise God. He created man first, then created woman from man’s body. The rest of the world was for the man and woman to rule over, and their only rule was to not eat from the Tree of Knowledge. After this difficult work, God rested on the seventh day. The Son ensures that this new Earth is close enough to Heaven for angels to come and go.
Book 7 Analysis
At the beginning of Book 7, Milton evokes a new muse, Urania. Urania is the classic muse of astronomy, but Milton gives her the same characteristics of sight as his first and most important muse, the Holy Spirit. Given the story that Raphael tells Adam, it is fitting that Milton would summon Urania’s visions. Urania would have the power to traverse through space, and Raphael’s story is about building Earth from Chaos. The muse helps Milton see the rest of Raphael’s story, which is taken directly from the Book of Genesis.
Adam’s pursuit of knowledge is polite and reverential; he is careful not to overstep his boundaries. Raphael is a good storyteller, helpfully translating ethereal business into language that Adam will understand. However, Eve is absent from this conversation. If she is still with Adam and Raphael, then she is completely silent while they discuss matters of God. If she is not present, then this implies that she is not allowed to ask questions of Raphael the way Adam is. That Eve is excluded from the conversation might foreshadow the moment she eats from the Tree of Knowledge. If Eve can’t seek answers from the angels as Adam does, then she will turn to the angel in her dream. Raphael’s story also brings up a question about God’s intentions in granting Adam all this information. How does God differentiate between what knowledge is allowable and what knowledge is forbidden? It is this line of thinking that drove Satan away from God in the first place, for Satan was the first to wonder why it is only God who gets to decide who knows what, when, and how.
Milton highlights the importance of humans in God’s plan throughout Book 7. First, Raphael reveals that God’s intention in creating humans was to replace the massive loss of followers (the fallen angels) in Heaven. In a way, the creation of Earth and humans is an experiment because God requires that humans prove themselves worthy of a connection to Heaven. It is plausible that God is trying to avoid another civil war by leaving humans on Earth, separated from Heaven, to sort out his loyal followers from the sinners who do not seek forgiveness. Allowing Satan to infiltrate Paradise serves this mission, as God needs Satan to stir trouble in Paradise to enforce God’s high standards for human beings. Although Milton doesn’t say this explicitly, it is one possible reason for the almost pointless civil war waged by the angels.
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