"Celestial Light, Shine Inward"

A reading of the "illumination" passages in Milton's Paradise Lost will enable one to draw a sharp contrast between the images of light and darkness. Milton sets these images to "assert the Eternal Providence / And to justify the ways of God to men" (I, 25-6) after the fall of the first parents in Eden. Following the biblical "Fountain of Light" tradition, Milton invokes the celestial Light to shine inwardly as divine guidance to develop his justification of God (his concepts of theodicy). Whereas William Empson considers that Milton did not succeed to justify God and merely struggled to make God appear less wicked, one can resolve the Miltonic controversy over his justification through an investigation of Milton's use of language. The image of light represents God's sovereign power; however, the image of darkness symbolizes the rebellious angels' devilish guile. By extension, the celestial light and hellish darkness occur in postlapsarian Garden of Eden, but the sinful couple receives the illumination of "Eternal Providence" reaching an everlasting and promised divine companionship through the hope of a "paradise regained."