ABSTRACT
It is difficult to know what to do with some of the finest passages in Milton’s great poem. Milton was a very great poet, second only (if second) to the very greatest, such as Dante and Shakspeare; and, like all great poets, equal to them in particular instances. He had no pretensions to Shakspeare’s universality; his wit is dreary; and (in general) he had not the faith in things that Homer and Dante had, apart from the intervention of words. He could not let them speak for themselves without helping them with his learning. Allegro and Penseroso are the happiest of his productions; and in none is the poetical habit of mind more abundantly visible. Paradise Lost is a study for imagination and elaborate musical structure. Milton’s great poem never has been, and never can be popular (sectarianism apart) compared with his minor ones.
