Milton’s Use of Similes in Paradise Lost Book-1
The most striking feature of Milton’s
style in Paradise Lost is his use of the epic or expanded simile. An ordinary
simile consists in a comparison between two things of different kinds,
expressed by the use of the word ‘like’ or ‘as’. An epic or expanded simile is
a complex type of simile in which the point of likeness is elaborated to such
an extent that it gives birth to a short descriptive poem in itself. It serves the purpose of illustration and
decoration. Miltonic similes are marked by their grand style, their terrible
and vivid images and their impact on the imagination of the reader.
Milton’s similes are two-fold. Some of
similes are small, while others are grand and have been described as Homeric
similes. Let us consider the extended description of Satan with the help of a
simile which indicates his gigantic size:
‘Thus Satan talking to his nearest
mate
With head up-lift above the wave,
and eyes
That sparkling blazed; his other
parts besides
Prone on the flood, extended long
and large
………………………………………………………………..
So stretcht out huge in length the
arch-fiend lay
Chained on the burning lake.’
On going through this simile we learn
that Satan is compared first to the legendary Titans, then at much more length
to the Levia-than which God ‘of all His works created hugest.’ Milton develops
old mariners’ fish stories of a sea creature larger even than the whale, which
had been often mistaken by pilots for an island against which they tried to
moor their boats. Only after eight lines of such details, we return to Satan
who is being compared with these things-‘So similes stretcht out, huge in
length the arch-fiend lay.’
In our second example, let us take the
famous simile in which the mass of fallen angels are seen.
‘Thick as Autumnal leaves that
strow the brooks
In Vallombrosa.’
Milton here suddenly reduces the size
and significance of the host and at the same time brings a breath of fresh air
into the poem. The perspective, as well as the atmosphere, shifts again when
Milton goes on to compare them to Pharaoh’s horsemen drowned in the Red Sea.
Milton, here begins by comparing the fallen angels to the scattered sedge
afloat on the Red Sea, and then with a characteristic use of clauses
(when..whose..while) he reminds us that the Red Sea was the scene of the
overthrow of Pharaoh’s host, and this defeated host is in a similar state.
To sum up, by using similes, the poet
gives rest to his imagination exhausted by the sublimity of heaven and hell. He
harmonizes between the sublime pictures of heaven or hell and the familiar
scenes on the earth.
Jitni ap nay is question ma similes post ki hain to Kia book 1 ma yahi hain bs? Is say qs ki requirement complete hojay gi? Plz bata dain mjy
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