But with all these faults, it has a charm of its own, entirely different
from that of Paradise Lost. Satan has degenerated during his years of
"roaming up and down the earth;" he is no longer the fallen angel of
Paradise Lost, who struggled with himself before making evil his good. He
is openly given over to evil practices, and makes little effort to play
the hypocrite. His temptations are worked up from that of hunger to that
of the vision of the kingdoms of the earth with a wonderful power of
description which makes up for the lack of action and the few actors. The
pathless, rockbound desert, the old man, poorly clad, who accosts the
Christ, the mountain-top from which all the earth was visible, the night
of horror in the desert, and the sublime figure of the Savior, are all
enduring pictures which compensate for any rigidity of treatment. If
figurative language is omitted it is because the theme does not need it,
and does not show that the poem is less carefully finished than Paradise
Lost. Its lack of action and similarity of subject to the longer poem
sufficiently account for its not meeting with popular favor. Johnson was
correct when he said, "had this poem been written not by Milton, but by
some imitator, it would have claimed and received universal praise."
BIBLIOGRAPHY AND CRITICISM, PARADISE REGAINED.
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