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I can't get the line of the poem

 
 
Reply Tue 22 Sep, 2009 08:16 pm

Context:

Belial came last; than whom a spirit more lewd
Fell not from Heaven

-- Milton, Paradise Lost

================================

Does the line mean:
Belial came from the Heavon as the last immortal who came to the Earth? What does "than whom a spirit more lewd
Fell not from Heaven" mean? It gets me so confused!

Would you like to rewrite it in plain English writing for me?
 
dlowan
 
  1  
Reply Tue 22 Sep, 2009 08:24 pm
@oristarA,
belial came last. belial was the lewdest spirit who ever fell from heaven.
oristarA
 
  1  
Reply Tue 22 Sep, 2009 09:04 pm
@dlowan,
Thanks.
But yet I can't get " than whom a spirit more lewd". It seems to me to convey something like this:

A spirit who didn't fall from Heaven is more lewd than Belial.
Which does not hold water. According to your explanation, Belial is the lewdest.
Tell me why I got it wrong, please.
Setanta
 
  3  
Reply Tue 22 Sep, 2009 09:39 pm
@oristarA,
Poetry in many languages uses constructions which are intended to fit the meter (the rhythm) of the poem more than they are intended to directly state things. So, it doesn't mean "A spirit who didn't fall from Heaven is more lewd than Belial." It means "No spirit fell from Heaven who was more lewd than Belial," which is to say, Belial was the lewdest of all the spirits who ever fell from Heaven. Actually, until quite recently in the English language "than whom . . . " and "than which . . . " were commonly used in just such a way. So, for example: Fear is an emotion than which none is more powerful--means that there is no emotion more powerful than fear.
oristarA
 
  1  
Reply Tue 22 Sep, 2009 10:05 pm
@Setanta,
Thank you, Set.

No spirit fell from Heaven who was more lewd than Belial = No spirit, who was more lewd than Belial, fell from Heaven ?
contrex
 
  1  
Reply Wed 23 Sep, 2009 12:24 am
@oristarA,
You have it now, oristarA.

Among all of the spirits that fell from Heaven, none was more lewd than Belial.

Belial was the lewdest of all the spirits that fell from Heaven.
oristarA
 
  1  
Reply Wed 23 Sep, 2009 04:51 am
@contrex,
Thanks

It was the position of "not" in that context made confused.

Now it is clear.
0 Replies
 
contrex
 
  1  
Reply Wed 23 Sep, 2009 12:28 pm
Quote:
It was the position of "not"


The placing of "not" after a verb thus, "fell not" is archaic and/or poetic.
0 Replies
 
 

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