John Milton, Paradise Lost
Death in Paradise Lost
Death’s form is difficult to fix: a shadow-like shape bearing a kingly crown and a dreadful dart. He blocks Satan’s passage and challenges his claim to command. When offered a new world full of prey, Death greets the promise with a ghastly smile. His hunger becomes a motive for opening the way beyond the infernal enclosure.
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In the sources
Principal account
LiteraryDeath’s form is difficult to fix: a shadow-like shape bearing a kingly crown and a dreadful dart. He blocks Satan’s passage and challenges his claim to command.
Further detail
LiteraryWhen offered a new world full of prey, Death greets the promise with a ghastly smile. His hunger becomes a motive for opening the way beyond the infernal enclosure.
Context & interpretation
The entry concerns the personified Death at the gates in Milton’s poem. His speech, appetite and kinship are literary devices; they are not presented as an empirical description of what happens after death.
Original passages
Source 1
Paradise Lost: Illustrated by Gustave Doré
The likeness of a kingly crownOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Milton, Paradise Lost, active reader leaf 62
Exact passage checked against active scan text and original-leaf mapping; scan line breaks normalised.
- Edition
- IMJ-0115-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0115-E001-P0062
- Original scan leaf
- 63
- Recorded leaf number
- 63
- Current Reader position
- 58
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed
Source 2
Paradise Lost: Illustrated by Gustave Doré
His famine should be filledOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Milton, Paradise Lost, active reader leaf 67
Exact passage checked against active scan text and original-leaf mapping; scan line breaks normalised.
- Edition
- IMJ-0115-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0115-E001-P0067
- Original scan leaf
- 68
- Recorded leaf number
- 68
- Current Reader position
- 63
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed
Illustrations
Continue exploring
Sin in Paradise Lost
The half-human, half-serpentine gatekeeper who recognises Satan as her originator.
Same subject and traditionChaos in Paradise Lost
The ruler of the unformed abyss who welcomes ruin as a recovery of lost territory.
Same subject and traditionNight in Paradise Lost
The ancient consort of Chaos, seated in the court of the unformed deep.