...Milton, whose portrayal of the Holy Spirit in the opening lines of Paradise Lost is androgynous: . . . thou from the first Wast present, and, with mighty...brooding on the vast abyss And mad'st it pregnant . . . (1.19-22) In this passage, which fascinated the English romantic poets, the Holy Spirit becomes...

...geography — are enacted in Milton's poem only seven lines after he invokes the authority of Moses: And chiefly Thou O Spirit, that dost prefer Before...brooding on the vast Abyss And mad'st it pregnant. (1.17-22) Both the metaphoric possibility of birdlike flight and the stance of "satst brooding" are...

...lines of Paradise Lost, Milton's evocation of the muse modulates into a prayer to the Holy Spirit: "And chiefly thou, O Spirit, that dost prefer / Before...heart and pure, / Instruct me, for thou know'st." Could you comment on the evolution of your muse — from the early muse that "remain[s] in your human...

...God, 28. 15 In the opening invocation to Paradise Lost Milton addresses the Holy Spirit as Thou [who] from the first Wast present, and with mighty wings...brooding on the vast Abyss And mad'st it pregnant (1.19-22). All citations of Milton's poetry from Complete Poems and Major Prose, ed. Hughes. 16 For...

...end of the spectrum of echo, and so unnoticed, occurs in the opening lines of Paradise Lost (1 7-19): And chiefly Thou O Spirit, that dost prefer Before...all Temples th' upright heart and pure, Instruct me. . . . I think Milton must be remembering the full text from the Beatitudes in Matthew, in a glancing...

...but "created" - a crucial distinction. The opening invocation (I. 17-23) asks the spirit of God, who "with mighty wings outspread / Dove-like satst brooding on the vast Abyss / And mad'st it pregnant" (lines 21-3), to inspire his sacred song. Poetic creation is analogous to the original Creation. Like...

...deference, and a conscientious regard to what we believe to be Truth, proceed to the illustration. And, " Thou, O Spirit, that dost prefer Before all temples...th" upright heart and pure, Instruct me, for thou knowest : thou from the first Wast present, and with mighty wings outspread, Dove-like sat'st brooding...

...that demonic insemination parodies inspiration by the Holy Spirit that bridges it, as it were, . . . with mighty wings outspread Dove-like sat'st brooding on the vast abyss And madest it pregnant. (1.20-22) (The Spirit's androgyny sustains the double sense of "brooding" and "breeding.")...

...the androgynous Holy Spirit that bridges it, according to the opening invocation of Paradise Lost, "with mighty wings outspread / Dove-like sat'st brooding on the vast abyss / And madest it pregnant" (1.20-22). The "rock" upon which Jesus ordered Peter to erect the church is the...

...suggests that demonic insemination parodies inspiration by the Holy Spirit that bridges it, as it were, with mighty wings outspread Dove-like sat'st brooding on the vast abyss And madest it pregnant. (1.2o-22) (The Spirit's androgyny sustains the double sense of "brooding" and "breeding.")...