Earth After The Fall
"The Fall, for Milton, was historical, but it was not inevitable"
- Karen Edwards
It started with the Fruit...
She gave him of that fair enticing Fruit
With liberal hand: he scrupl'd not to eat
Against his better knowledge, not deceav'd,
But fondly overcome with Femal charm.
Earth trembl'd from her entrails, as again
In pangs, and Nature gave a second groan,
Skie lowr'd, and muttering Thunder, som sad drops
Wept at compleating of the mortal Sin
Original; while Adam took no thought,
Eating his fill, nor Eve to iterate
Her former trespass fear'd, the more to soothe
Him with her lov'd societie, that now
As with new Wine intoxicated both
They swim in mirth, and fansie that they feel
Divinitie within them breeding wings
Wherewith to scorne the Earth: but that false Fruit
John Milton's "Paradis Lost" Book IX (996-1011)
From that moment when the fruit enters into Adam's body the Earth begins to change. First with the groans from deep inside the Earth, to the outpouring of tears from the sky, followed by the muttering thunder. Earth is sorrowful from the instant that sin enters Adam and Eve.
Satan Watching the Caresses of Adam and Eve by William Blake The Temptation and Fall of Eve by William Blake
Satan Tempting Eve by John Martin's
Open Eyes, Dark Minds...
Soon as the force of that fallacious Fruit,
That with exhilerating vapour bland
About thir spirits had plaid, and inmost powers
Made erre, was now exhal'd, and grosser sleep
Bred of unkindly fumes, with conscious dreams
Encumberd, now had left them, up they rose
As from unrest, and each the other viewing,
Soon found thir Eyes how op'nd, and thir minds
How dark'nd; innocence, that as a veile
Had shadow'd them from knowing ill, was gon,
Just confidence, and native righteousness
And honour from about them, naked left
To guiltie shame hee cover'd
John Milton's "Paradis Lost" Book IX( 1046 - 1058)
After eating the Fruit the only two people on the face of the planet were awakened to land of darkness. A lost world without innocence, without confidence and without honor. Adam and Eve were alone with their shame that would last eternity. The decision not only affected them but the location of the land in which they lived. Earth becomes a world clothed in darkness.
A Change in Winds...
They sate them down to weep, nor onely Teares
Raind at thir Eyes, but high Winds worse within
Began to rise, high Passions, Anger, Hate,
Mistrust, Suspicion, Discord, and shook sore
Thir inward State of Mind, calm Region once
And full of Peace, now tost and turbulent:
John Milton's "Paradise Lost" Book IX (1119 - 1126)
As sadness sunk into Adam and Eve their emotions triggered a flood of heavy rain and high winds. Their once inward peace not tossed and tuned which was visibly displayed in the weather around them. In the picture below, Cabanel captures the turmoil and remorse that Eve felt from such a fatal blow to their perceptions of reality.
Eve After the Fall by Alexandre Cabanel
Cursed is the ground You walk on...
I charg'd thee, saying: Thou shalt not eate thereof,
Curs'd is the ground for thy sake, thou in sorrow
Shalt eate thereof all the days of thy Life;
Thorns also and Thistles it shall bring thee forth
Unbid, and thou shalt eate th' Herb of th' Field,
In the sweat of thy Face shalt thou eat Bread,
Till thou return unto the ground, for thou
Out of the ground wast taken, know thy Birth,
For dust thou art, and shalt to dust returne.
John Milton's "Paradise Lost" Book X (200 - 208)
This is the first instance of a curse that affects the Earth as a solid mass. For the first time Adam and Eve are reprimanded for their sin by God. Now that they have felt the emotions described in book IX, they are going to feel the physical consequences of their sin. The sudden shift from Eden to Earth went from everything being handed to them to everything they need to survive they will now have to work for. Jesus did not end there, but added the thorns and thistles in for the work to not only be hard and strenuous, but possibly painful as well. From this exert it can be assumed that the once immortal beings Adam and Eve represented have become mortal. Both Adam and Eve, as well as their offspring, will be born on Earth and eventually return to Earth. From dust to dust as Milton calls it.
The world turned over...
The new created World, which fame in Heav'n
Long had foretold, a Fabrick wonderful
Of absolute perfection, therein Man
Plac't in a Paradise, by our exile
Made happie: Him by fraud I have seduc'd
From his Creator, and the more to increase
Your wonder, with an Apple; he thereat
Offended, worth your laughter, hath giv'n up
Both his beloved Man and all his World,
To Sin and Death a prey, and so to us
John Milton's "Paradise Lost" Book X (481 - 490)
In this section the creator clearly states that His intention was perfection and paradise, but because of “Your wonder, with an Apple” they lost it. From this stupidity there is no correction. Now the world is open to Sin and Death whose on purpose is to kill and destroy.
The entrance of all things evil...
See with what heat these Dogs of Hell advance
To waste and havoc yonder World, which I
So fair and good created, and had still
Kept in that State, had not the folly of Man
Let in these wastful Furies, who impute
Folly to mee, so doth the Prince of Hell
And his Adherents, that with so much ease
I suffer them to enter and possess
John Milton's "Paradise Lost" Book X (616 - 623)
Until this point God had kept the world pure. It was free from al sin and impurities, but now the gates of Hell are open to wreck havoc on the world. God makes it clear that all this is a consciences of their action. Reminding them that He holds supreme power of what will and will not be on this planet.
Illustration to Book X of 'Paradise Lost' by Charles Grignon
The Earth tilts...
The Poles of Earth twice ten degrees and more
From the Suns Axle; they with labour push'd
Oblique the Centric Globe: Som say the Sun
Was bid turn Reines from th' Equinoctial Rode
Like distant breadth to Taurus with the Seav'n
Atlantick Sisters, and the Spartan Twins
Up to the Tropic Crab; thence down amaine
By Leo and the Virgin and the Scales,
As deep as Capricorne, to bring in change
Of Seasons to each Clime; else had the Spring
Perpetual smil'd on Earth with vernant Flours,
Equal in Days and Nights, except to those
Beyond the Polar Circles; to them Day
Had unbenighted shon, while the low Sun
To recompence his distance, in thir sight
Had rounded still th' Horizon, and not known
Or East or West, which had forbid the Snow
From cold Estotiland, and South as farr
Beneath Magellan. At that tasted Fruit
The Sun, as from Thyestean Banquet, turn'd
His course intended; else how had the World
Inhabited, though sinless, more then now,
Avoided pinching cold and scorching heate?
John Milton's "Paradise Lost" Book X (669 - 691)
This section is much debated by scholars to how exactly or scientifically did the axis tilt. Milton brings in the Greek mythology references to aid in the validity of the shift. Simply put the entrance of sin changed the axis of the earth which now allows seasons because the earth is not stuck in one position. No longer will Eden be a perfect paradise, but will have to endure seasonal harshness.
Paradise Lost...
Beast now with Beast gan war, and Fowle with Fowle,
And Fish with Fish; to graze the Herb all leaving,
Devourd each other; nor stood much in awe
Of Man, but fled him, or with count'nance grim
Glar'd on him passing: these were from without
The growing miseries, which Adam saw
Alreadie in part, though hid in gloomiest shade,
To sorrow abandond, but worse felt within,
And in a troubl'd Sea of passion tost,
Thus to disburd'n sought with sad complaint.
John Milton's "Paradise Lost" Book X (710 - 719)
The transition on the new planet Earth is the change in animal instincts. Every living thing will undergo a change, animals that once got along will now fight including amongst each other. War is waged that will last an eternity. By this point Adam is fully aware of all the consequences he will have to bear and is completely broken by the loss of paradise they once had.
A new life...
To resalute the World with sacred Light
Leucothea wak'd, and with fresh dews imbalmd
The Earth, when Adam and first Matron Eve
Had ended now thir Orisons, and found,
Strength added from above, new hope to spring
Out of despaire, joy, but with fear yet linkt;
John Milton "Paradise Lost" Book XI (134 - 139)
In their final state of emotions fear and joy are mixed. Their daily life will have to be different and they no longer have the comfort of God's grace. They must now live with hope that God will still favor them in all the things they now must do. For their lives are no longer guarded in the sense that provision is not lasting and now self sufficient. Even the light where they are going is different, everything must change and it begins with Adam and Eve.
1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?" 2 The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.' " 4 "You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. 5 "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
Genesis 3: 1-7
At first glance or more accurately, at first read, the Bible may seem very vague. A reader may get the impression that God was very interested on details but it is completely the opposite. The Bible is filled with correlations and prophesies that all integrate into one complete story. The underlying theme in the Bible is a relationship with God. Christians look at the Bible not just as a tool, but the living and breathing word of God, thus giving substance to a relationship with Him. The biggest difference between Milton and the Bible is that Milton focuses on the situation that changed when man ate the fruit while the Bible focuses on the relationship that changed when man ate the fruit.
16 To the woman he said,
"I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing;
with pain you will give birth to children.
Your desire will be for your husband,
and he will rule over you."
17 To Adam he said, "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I
commanded you, 'You must not eat of it,'
“Cursed is the ground because of you;
through painful toil you will eat of it
all the days of your life.
18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field.
19 By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
and to dust you will return."
Genesis 3: 16-19
The physical nature of Earth was not what mattered to God and therefore barely mentioned compared to the extent it is in “Paradise Lost”. The definite similarity between the two is that Adam and Eve will be cursed. The same curse in both, but to different extents. In “Paradise Lost” the reader will get to the end of Book XII and have a complete picture of Adam and Eve's life, but the Bible extends the curse for generations all the way to present day. The sin that was committed in the Bible can be summed up by Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Bible which explains that “ [Adam] His sin was, in one word, disobedience, Ro 5:19; disobedience to a plain, easy, and express command. He had no corrupt nature within, to betray him; but had a freedom of will, in full strength, not weakened or impaired. He turned aside quickly.” Just like in “Paradise Lost” the decision to disobey God was a split second decision that would have infinite ramifications.
The Fall in "Paradise Lost" is limited in that it does not give a complete view into what happens after Adam and Eve are exiled. In the Bible the story continues per-say. The fall of Adam and Eve was just the beginning. All of mankind was created from them starting with their sons, Cain and Abel. Sin had a foot in with these brothers just like their parents, in an act of jealousy Cain killed Abel (Genesis 4). Then further into Genesis God commands Noah to build an Ark that will cleanse the world, for “The Lord saw how great mans' wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time” (Genesis 6:5). A little later in chapter 11 of Genesis the people were creating a tower to reach to God as a symbol of their equal authority to God. In an instant God changed language from one to many causing confusion and allowing the tower building to continue. These instances continue for generations and despite the constant falls of mankind, God picks humanity up, brushes us off and sets us on out feet again, over and over.
You Will Be A Blessing by David Hetland
Animals -
The change from pets to beast was a significant change in “Paradise Lost”. Adam was scared and probably feared for his life because all the animals turned to cannibals. During the time of publication the turning of the animals parallel “a growing mid-century resistance to parading the strangeness of animals for purposes of profit, prestige, or moralizing” (Edwards 115). During Milton's time animals were being used and traded as hot commodities, so the “Edenic creatures is part of a trend away from regarding animals as strange spectacles” (Edwards 116). This influenced how Milton described them and used them in the text.
Nature (Physical & Metaphysical) -
After the Fall of man all things in nature both the physical and metaphysical changed. The physical things like plants, weather and animals changed but so did the metaphysical things like Adam and Eve's emotions and thoughts. Scott Elledge concludes that the only thing left after the fall “was all the glories of the natural world and of humanity as we know them- that is, the glories that help us understand the perfection of the paradise we lost.” (465). In other words the fall would not have been so bad until the fact of the matter that because man took the fruit their eyes were opened to knowledge, a knowledge that now opened their eyes to how good they really had it.
Another thing to note was the correlation of Mother Earth and God. Mother Earth was an underground popular figure for Milton's time in the seventeenth century. The similarity present in “Paradise Lost” was that “the force in Mother Nature is identical with the force of God the Father” (465). Both were seen as benevolent, loving and protective of their possession.
Earth Mother by Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones
Big Yellow Taxi (orginally by Joni Mitchelle, later made popular by Counting Crows)
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
With a pink hotel, a boutique
And a swinging hot spot
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
Till it's gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
They took all the trees
Put 'em in a tree museum
And they charged the people
A dollar and a half just to see 'em
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
Till it's gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
Hey farmer farmer
Put away that DDT now
Give me spots on my apples
But leave me the birds and the bees
Please!
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
Till it's gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
Late last night
I heard the screen door slam
And a big yellow taxi
Took away my old man
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
Till it's gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
Michelle originally wrote this song after a trip to Hawaii and later told a journalist:
| “ |
Living in Los Angelos, smog-choked L.A. is bad enough but the last straw came when I visited Hawaii for the first time. It was night time when we got there, so I didn't get my first view of the scenery until I got up the next morning. The hotel room was quite high up so in the distance I could see the blue Pacific Ocean. I walked over to the balcony and there was the picture book scenery, palm tree swaying in the breeze and all. Then I looked down and there was this ugly concrete car park in the hotel grounds. I thought "They paved paradise and put up a parking lot" and that's how the song "Big Yellow Taxi" was born. |
” |
This song echoes Milton and his perceptions of Earth after the Fall. The lyric "Don't it always seem to go, That you don't know what you've got, Till it's gone" resembles how Adam and Eve were not fully aware of their mistake until Paradise was taken away from them. The song continuously repeats that "They paved paradise, And put up a parking lot", meaning everything is different, everything has been paved over and all has been replaced by something that blocks the original beauty. Just like Milton's perception, when man fell from paradise they lost sight of the original beauty of the world they lived in.
This song carries through to present day in view of the new Green living bandwagon that everyone has jumped on. Much like the animals in Milton's time, the planet Earth is a hot commodity. Everyone wants a piece of Earth to protect and save.
Links to environmental sites:
The Green Guide
GreenPeace
Green Living
Food News
Captain Planet:
Captain Planet and the Planeteers were an early nineties cartoon geared toward teaching children about their environment through superheroes and villains.
Number of visitors: 
Earth After the Fall Editor: Brittani Newland
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