Trees in Paradise Lost

Trees in Paradise Lost

Unpublished work (c) 1979, Lisa Page Weil
All rights reserved.


In the epic poem Paradise Lost, John Milton often uses the simile as a comparative device.  In Book I, lines 612-615; the simile:

                                "...as when heaven's fire
                  Hath scathed the forest oaks, or mountain pines,
                  With singed top their stately growth though bare
                  Stands on the blasted heath"

is used to describe the ranks of fallen angels waiting for their leader to speak.  Although the first impression is of the majesty of the still-standing trees, the image is primarily negative, stressing the powerless position of these angels when confronted with heaven's wrath.  The desolation of the scene is also stressed with the images of the charred remains of a forest fire.

"The blasted heath" describes the wasteland of hell.  Thoroughly unconductive to life, it exemplifies worthless destruction.  Similarly, the angels themselves are removed of vitaliy.  They are described as the remains of trees; deformed, blackened, and silent.  Their means of nourishment has been destroyed, since trees depend on their greenness for photosynthesis to sustain themselves.  This pathetic sight of scarred desolation emphaszes the power of fire over a forest, however large.

The defenselessness of the angels to the fury of heaven's fire is most graphically demonstrated by comparing the angels to trees which, however majestic, must stand in one place and are at the mercy of their environment.  The fallen angels believe that they are God's equals and persuasively argue that position throughout the first book.  Milton shows in this simile that despite what the angels may say; they are inferior to God and are doomed to lose whatever encounter they may have with Him.

The barren and powerless position of the fallen angels is disclosed in the forest fire simile.  This foreshadows the triumph of good over evil and helps to keep the discourse of the angels in perspective, as they often appear to be heroic and courageous.  Their ultimate fallibility undermines the overall illusion of grandeur and wronged respectability that they strive to portray, and serves as a reminder of their innate evil.


FOOTNOTE:

Milton, John, "Paradise Lost:  A Norton Critical Edition," edited by Scott Elledge, (W.W. Norton & Company, New York) 1975. (paperback edition)

January 8, 1979