First Climb

The chapter explores the distinction between pseudo and real knowledge. Several episodes in which knowledge is being conveyed in Paradise Lost are discussed (Adam’s exchange with Raphael, Eve’s temptation by Satan, and Adam’s instruction by Michael). Milton’s challenge is not only to distinguish benign from malign forms of knowledge-seeking, but to convincingly communicate what prefallen knowledge involves, and to achieve this as a fallen mind writing for other fallen minds. The notion of hosting is introduced: in (some) real knowledge, one hosts a higher element. One’s knowledge-seeking ought not to devolve into mere curiosity, but should be driven by a hope to bond further with God. A distinction between Adam and Eve’s folly is proposed. Finally, the poem’s view of postlapsarian wisdom is presented.