The Complete Poems (Penguin Classics)

  No second stroke intend, and such a frown

  Each cast at th’ other, as when two black clouds

  715 With heav’n’s artillery fraught, come rattling on

  Over the Caspian, then stand front to front

  Hov’ring a space, till winds the signal blow

  To join their dark encounter in mid air:

  So frowned the mighty combatants, that Hell

  720 Grew darker at their frown, so matched they stood;

  For never but once more was either like

  To meet so great a foe: and now great deeds

  Had been achieved, whereof all Hell had rung,

  Had not the snaky sorceress that sat

  725 Fast by Hell gate, and kept the fatal key,

  Ris’n, and with hideous outcry rushed between.

  O father, what intends thy hand, she cried,

  Against thy only son? What fury O son,

  Possesses thee to bend that mortal dart

  730 Against thy father’s head? and know’st for whom;

  For him who sits above and laughs the while

  At thee ordained his drudge, to execute

  Whate’er his wrath, which he calls justice, bids,

  His wrath which one day will destroy ye both.

  735 She spake, and at her words the Hellish pest

  Forbore, then these to her Satan returned:

  So strange thy outcry, and thy words so strange

  Thou interposest, that my sudden hand

  Prevented spares to tell thee yet by deeds

  740 What it intends; till first I know of thee,

  What thing thou art, thus double-formed, and why

  In this infernal vale first met thou call’st

  Me father, and that phantasm call’st my son?

  I know thee not, nor ever saw till now

  745 Sight more detestable than him and thee.

  T’ whom thus the portress of Hell gate replied;

  Hast thou forgot me then, and do I seem

  Now in thine eye so foul, once deemed so fair

  In Heav’n, when at th’ assembly, and in sight

  750 Of all the Seraphim with thee combined

  In bold conspiracy against Heav’n’s King,

  All on a sudden miserable pain

  Surprised thee, dim thine eyes, and dizzy swum

  In darkness, while thy head flames thick and fast

  755 Threw forth, till on the left side op’ning wide,

  Likest to thee in shape and count’nance bright,

  Then shining Heav’nly fair, a goddess armed

  Out of thy head I sprung: amazement seized

  All th’ host of Heav’n; back they recoiled afraid

  760 At first, and called me Sin, and for a Sign

  Portentous held me; but familiar grown,

  I pleased, and with attractive graces won

  The most averse, thee chiefly, who full oft

  Thyself in me thy perfect image viewing

  765 Becam’st enamoured, and such joy thou took’st

  With me in secret, that my womb conceived

  A growing burden. Meanwhile war arose,

  And fields were fought in Heav’n; wherein remained

  (For what could else) to our Almighty Foe

  770 Clear victory, to our part loss and rout

  Through all the Empyrean: down they fell

  Driv’n headlong from the pitch of Heaven, down

  Into this deep, and in the general fall

  I also; at which time this powerful key

  775 Into my hand was giv’n, with charge to keep

  These gates for ever shut, which none can pass

  Without my op’ning. Pensive here I sat

  Alone, but long I sat not, till my womb

  Pregnant by thee, and now excessive grown

  780 Prodigious motion felt and rueful throes.

  At last this odious offspring whom thou seest

  Thine own begotten, breaking violent way

  Tore through my entrails, that with fear and pain

  Distorted, all my nether shape thus grew

  785 Transformed: but he my inbred enemy

  Forth issued, brandishing his fatal dart

  Made to destroy: I fled, and cried out Death;

  Hell trembled at the hideous name, and sighed

  From all her caves, and back resounded Death.

  790 I fled, but he pursued (though more, it seems,

  Inflamed with lust than rage) and swifter far,

  Me overtook his mother all dismayed,

  And in embraces forcible and foul

  Engend’ring with me, of that rape begot

  795 These yelling monsters that with ceaseless cry

  Surround me, as thou saw’st, hourly conceived

  And hourly born, with sorrow infinite

  To me, for when they list into the womb

  That bred them they return, and howl and gnaw

  800 My bowels, their repast; then bursting forth

  Afresh with conscious terrors vex me round,

  That rest or intermission none I find.

  Before mine eyes in opposition sits

  Grim Death my son and foe, who sets them on,

  805 And me his parent would full soon devour

  For want of other prey, but that he knows

  His end with mine involved; and knows that I

  Should prove a bitter morsel, and his bane,

  Whenever that shall be; so Fate pronounced.

  810 But thou O father, I forewarn thee, shun

  His deadly arrow; neither vainly hope

  To be invulnerable in those bright arms,

  Though tempered Heav’nly, for that mortal dint,

  Save he who reigns above, none can resist.

  815 She finished, and the subtle Fiend his lore

  Soon learned, now milder, and thus answered smooth.

  Dear daughter, since thou claim’st me for thy sire,

  And my fair son here show’st me, the dear pledge

  Of dalliance had with thee in Heav’n, and joys

  820 Then sweet, now sad to mention, through dire change

  Befall’n us unforeseen, unthought of, know

  I come no enemy, but to set free

  From out this dark and dismal house of pain,

  Both him and thee, and all the Heav’nly host

  825 Of Spirits that in our just pretences armed

  Fell with us from on high: from them I go

  This uncouth errand sole, and one for all

  Myself expose, with lonely steps to tread

  Th’ unfounded deep, and through the void immense

  830 To search with wand’ring quest a place foretold

  Should be, and, by concurring signs, ere now

  Created vast and round, a place of bliss

  In the purlieus of Heav’n, and therein placed

  A race of upstart creatures, to supply

  835 Perhaps our vacant room, though more removed,

  Lest Heav’n surcharged with potent multitude

  Might hap to move new broils: be this or aught

  Than this more secret now designed, I haste

  To know, and this once known, shall soon return,

  840 And bring ye to the place where thou and Death

  Shall dwell at ease, and up and down unseen

  Wing silently the buxom air, embalmed

  With odours; there ye shall be fed and filled

  Immeasurably, all things shall be your prey.

  845 He ceased, for both seemed highly pleased, and Death

  Grinned horrible a ghastly smile, to hear

  His famine should be filled, and blessed his maw

  Destined to that good hour: no less rejoiced

  His mother bad, and thus bespake her sire.

  850 The key of this infernal pit by due,

  And by command of Heav’n’s all-powerful King

  I keep, by him forbidden to unlock

  These
adamantine gates: against all force

  Death ready stands to interpose his dart,

  855 Fearless to be o’ermatched by living might.

  But what owe I to his commands above

  Who hates me, and hath hither thrust me down

  Into this gloom of Tartarus profound,

  To sit in hateful office here confined,

  860 Inhabitant of Heav’n, and Heav’nly-born,

  Here in perpetual agony and pain,

  With terrors and with clamours compassed round

  Of mine own brood, that on my bowels feed:

  Thou art my father, thou my author, thou

  865 My being gav’st me; whom should I obey

  But thee, whom follow? thou wilt bring me soon

  To that new world of light and bliss, among

  The gods who live at ease, where I shall reign

  At thy right hand voluptuous, as beseems

  870 Thy daughter and thy darling, without end.

  Thus saying, from her side the fatal key,

  Sad instrument of all our woe, she took;

  And towards the gate rolling her bestial train,

  Forthwith the huge portcullis high up drew,

  875 Which but herself not all the Stygian powers

  Could once have moved; then in the key-hole turns

  Th’ intrícate wards, and every bolt and bar

  Of massy iron or solid rock with ease

  Unfastens: on a sudden open fly

  880 With impetuous recoil and jarring sound

  Th’ infernal doors, and on their hinges grate

  Harsh thunder, that the lowest bottom shook

  Of Erebus. She opened, but to shut

  Excelled her power; the gates wide open stood,

  885 That with extended wings a bannered host

  Under spread ensigns marching might pass through

  With horse and chariots ranked in loose array;

  So wide they stood, and like a furnace mouth

  Cast forth redounding smoke and ruddy flame.

  890 Before their eyes in sudden view appear

  The secrets of the hoary deep, a dark

  Illimitable Ocean without bound,

  Without dimension, where length, breadth, and heighth,

  And time and place are lost; where eldest Night

  895 And Chaos, ancestors of Nature, hold

  Eternal anarchy, amidst the noise

  Of endless wars, and by confusion stand.

  For Hot, Cold, Moist, and Dry, four champions fierce

  Strive here for mast’ry, and to battle bring

  900 Their embryon atoms; they around the flag

  Of each his faction, in their several clans,

  Light-armed or heavy, sharp, smooth, swift or slow,

  Swarm populous, unnumbered as the sands

  Of Barca or Cyrene’s torrid soil,

  905 Levied to side with warring winds, and poise

  Their lighter wings. To whom these most adhere,

  He rules a moment; Chaos umpire sits,

  And by decision more embroils the fray

  By which he reigns: next him high arbiter

  910 Chance governs all. Into this wild abyss,

  The womb of Nature and perhaps her grave,

  Of neither sea, nor shore, nor air, nor fire,

  But all these in their pregnant causes mixed

  Confus’dly, and which thus must ever fight,

  915 Unless th’ Almighty Maker them ordain

  His dark materials to create more worlds,

  Into this wild abyss the wary Fiend

  Stood on the brink of Hell and looked a while,

  Pondering his voyage; for no narrow frith

  920 He had to cross. Nor was his ear less pealed

  With noises loud and ruinous (to compare

  Great things with small) than when Bellona storms,

  With all her battering engines bent to raze

  Some capital city; or less than if this frame

  925 Of heav’n were falling, and these elements

  In mutiny had from her axle torn

  The steadfast earth. At last his sail-broad vans

  He spreads for flight, and in the surging smoke

  Uplifted spurns the ground, thence many a league

  930 As in a cloudy chair ascending rides

  Audacious, but that seat soon failing, meets

  A vast vacuity: all unawares

  Flutt’ring his pennons vain plumb down he drops

  Ten thousand fathom deep, and to this hour

  935 Down had been falling, had not by ill chance

  The strong rebuff of some tumultuous cloud

  Instínct with fire and nitre hurried him

  As many miles aloft: that fury stayed,

  Quenched in a boggy Syrtis, neither sea,

  940 Nor good dry land: nigh foundered on he fares,

  Treading the crude consistence, half on foot,

  Half flying; behooves him now both oar and sail.

  As when a gryphon through the wilderness

  With wingèd course o’er hill or moory dale,

  945 Pursues the Arimaspian, who by stealth

  Had from his wakeful custody purloined

  The guarded gold: so eagerly the Fiend

  O’er bog or steep, through strait, rough, dense, or rare,

  With head, hands, wings, or feet pursues his way,

  950 And swims or sinks, or wades, or creeps, or flies:

  At length a universal hubbub wild

  Of stunning sounds and voices all confused

  Borne through the hollow dark assaults his ear

  With loudest vehemence: thither he plies,

  955 Undaunted to meet there whatever Power

  Or Spirit of the nethermost abyss

  Might in that noise reside, of whom to ask

  Which way the nearest coast of darkness lies

  Bordering on light; when straight behold the throne

  960 Of Chaos, and his dark pavilion spread

  Wide on the wasteful deep; with him enthroned

  Sat sable-vested Night, eldest of things,

  The consort of his reign; and by them stood

  Orcus and Ades, and the dreaded name

  965 Of Demogorgon; Rumour next and Chance,

  And Tumult and Confusion all embroiled,

  And Discord with a thousand various mouths.

  T’ whom Satan turning boldly, thus. Ye Powers

  And Spirits of this nethermost abyss,

  970 Chaos and ancient Night, I come no spy,

  With purpose to explore or to disturb

  The secrets of your realm, but by constraint

  Wand’ring this darksome desert, as my way

  Lies through your spacious empire up to light,

  975 Alone, and without guide, half lost, I seek

  What readiest path leads where your gloomy bounds

  Confine with Heav’n; or if some other place

  From your dominion won, th’ Ethereal King

  Possesses lately, thither to arrive

  980 I travel this profound, direct my course;

  Directed, no mean recompense it brings

  To your behoof, if I that region lost,

  All usurpation thence expelled, reduce

  To her original darkness and your sway

  985 (Which is my present journey) and once more

  Erect the standard there of ancient Night;

  Yours be th’ advantage all, mine the revenge.

  Thus Satan; and him thus the Anarch old

  With falt’ring speech and visage incomposed

  990 Answered. I know thee, stranger, who thou art,

  That mighty leading angel, who of late

  Made head against Heav’n’s King, though overthrown.

  I saw and heard, for such a numerous host

  Fled not in silence through the frighted deep

  995 With ruin upon ruin, rout on rout,

  Confusion wors
e confounded; and Heav’n gates

  Poured out by millions her victorious bands

  Pursuing. I upon my frontiers here

  Keep residence; if all I can will serve,

  1000 That little which is left so to defend,

  Encroached on still through [y]our intestine broils

  Weak’ning the sceptre of old Night: first Hell

  Your dungeon stretching far and wide beneath;

  Now lately heav’n and earth, another world

  1005 Hung o’er my realm, linked in a golden chain

  To that side Heav’n from whence your legions fell:

  If that way be your walk, you have not far;

  So much the nearer danger; go and speed;

  Havoc and spoil and ruin are my gain.

  1010 He ceased; and Satan stayed not to reply,

  But glad that now his sea should find a shore,

  With fresh alacrity and force renewed

  Springs upward like a pyramid of fire

  Into the wide expanse, and through the shock

  1015 Of fighting elements, on all sides round

  Environed wins his way; harder beset

  And more endangered, than when Argo passed

  Through Bosporus betwixt the justling rocks:

  Or when Ulysses on the larboard shunned

  1020 Charybdis, and by th’ other whirlpool steered.

  So he with difficulty and labour hard

  Moved on, with difficulty and labour he;

  But he once passed, soon after when man fell,

  Strange alteration! Sin and Death amain

  1025 Following his track, such was the will of Heav’n,

  Paved after him a broad and beaten way

  Over the dark abyss, whose boiling gulf

  Tamely endured a bridge of wondrous length

  From Hell continued reaching th’ utmost orb

  1030 Of this frail world; by which the Spirits perverse

  With easy intercourse pass to and fro

  To tempt or punish mortals, except whom

  God and good angels guard by special grace.

  But now at last the sacred influence

  1035 Of light appears, and from the walls of Heav’n

  Shoots far into the bosom of dim Night

  A glimmering dawn; here Nature first begins

  Her farthest verge, and Chaos to retire

  As from her outmost works a broken foe

  1040 With tumult less and with less hostile din,

  That Satan with less toil, and now with ease

  Wafts on the calmer wave by dubious light

  And like a weather-beaten vessel holds

  Gladly the port, though shrouds and tackle torn;

  1045 Or in the emptier waste, resembling air,

  Weighs his spread wings, at leisure to behold

  Far off th’ empyreal Heav’n, extended wide

  In circuit, undetermined square or round,

  With opal tow’rs and battlements adorned