"All creation wept" - where are these words from?
September 15, 2009 2:00 AM Subscribe
"All creation wept" - who said it?
A text I'm reading attributes "all creation wept" to Milton's Paradise Lost, and describes it as a comment on the Fall of Man triggered by Eve.
The Internets are telling me, however, that these words are from the poem "The Dream Of The Rood" (see line 55), which is definitely not by Milton (and is about crucifixion rather than Adam&Eve). And I can't find "all creation wept" in Paradise Lost, at all.
Am I missing something? Does Milton use these, or similar, words somewhere else (maybe even refering to the Rood source)? Am I just too stupid to properly search Google Books (most likely explanation...)?
A text I'm reading attributes "all creation wept" to Milton's Paradise Lost, and describes it as a comment on the Fall of Man triggered by Eve.
The Internets are telling me, however, that these words are from the poem "The Dream Of The Rood" (see line 55), which is definitely not by Milton (and is about crucifixion rather than Adam&Eve). And I can't find "all creation wept" in Paradise Lost, at all.
Am I missing something? Does Milton use these, or similar, words somewhere else (maybe even refering to the Rood source)? Am I just too stupid to properly search Google Books (most likely explanation...)?
This post was deleted for the following reason: poster's request -- cortex
Best answer: The idea of all creation or Nature weeping is a motif that Milton uses, which is probably why people want to attribute this line to him. Here, when Eve eats the fruit:
So saying, her rash hand in evil hour
Forth reaching to the Fruit, she pluck'd, she et:
Earth felt the wound, and Nature from her seat
Sighing through all her Works gave signs of woe,
That all was lost. (PL 9.780-84)
And especially when Adam eats, completing the Fall:
Earth trembl'd from her entrails, as again
In pangs, and Nature gave a second groan,
Sky lowr'd, and muttering Thunder, some sad drops
Wept at completing of the mortal Sin
Original (9.1000-04)
You'll also probably see the same idea of creation/Nature weeping in descriptions of the Crucifixion in a nice bit of symmetry, as Christ ("the Second Adam") does the opposite action, redeeming Mankind from Adam and Eve's mistakes.
posted by pised at 6:07 AM on September 15, 2009
So saying, her rash hand in evil hour
Forth reaching to the Fruit, she pluck'd, she et:
Earth felt the wound, and Nature from her seat
Sighing through all her Works gave signs of woe,
That all was lost. (PL 9.780-84)
And especially when Adam eats, completing the Fall:
Earth trembl'd from her entrails, as again
In pangs, and Nature gave a second groan,
Sky lowr'd, and muttering Thunder, some sad drops
Wept at completing of the mortal Sin
Original (9.1000-04)
You'll also probably see the same idea of creation/Nature weeping in descriptions of the Crucifixion in a nice bit of symmetry, as Christ ("the Second Adam") does the opposite action, redeeming Mankind from Adam and Eve's mistakes.
posted by pised at 6:07 AM on September 15, 2009
what text are you reading? it's probable that milton was familiar with the dream of the rood, but I doubt you're going to find an English source much earlier than the rood.
posted by Think_Long at 7:00 AM on September 15, 2009
posted by Think_Long at 7:00 AM on September 15, 2009
Response by poster: Thanks, all!
I should have mentioned that it's an unpublished text. Seems like a mistaken attribution (and I'm glad it wasn't just me being stupid).
pised, thanks for the great explanation of Miltonian motifs, I assume that's where the confusion comes from. These lines definitely read as if they could contain the words "all creation wept", even if they don't...
posted by The Toad at 7:34 AM on September 15, 2009
I should have mentioned that it's an unpublished text. Seems like a mistaken attribution (and I'm glad it wasn't just me being stupid).
pised, thanks for the great explanation of Miltonian motifs, I assume that's where the confusion comes from. These lines definitely read as if they could contain the words "all creation wept", even if they don't...
posted by The Toad at 7:34 AM on September 15, 2009
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by turgid dahlia at 2:23 AM on September 15, 2009