Essay by Nicole Sobolewski
Art by Paula Mohar
Crafting a religious narrative while accurately capturing its complexity in regards to time and space can be a difficult endeavour. How does a writer articulate the depth of the Christian God in a manner that is understandable for humans and aligns with earthly understandings of temporality? In Book Five of Paradise Lost, John Milton intricately weaves time and space together, presenting them both as philosophical concepts and as integral elements of the poem’s narrative structure; these two dimensions operate simultaneously, intersecting through Milton’s use of parentheses. By examining these parenthetical moments, one can trace how Milton anchors the epic in the relationship between temporal and divine time, allowing the reader to navigate between earthly and celestial perspectives.
Milton additionally uses parentheses to bridge the gap between the Divine and Human realms, creating a suspension of time that allows both the readers and Milton to move temporal spaces. These temporal spaces refer to the distinct ways time is experienced in each realm: in the Divine realm, time is eternal and unbounded, while in the Human realm, time is linear, progressing through past, present, and future– a concept I refer to as temporal motion. The parentheses function as a mediating force, momentarily disrupting the forward movement of earthly time to offer glimpses into the timelessness of the celestial order. Visually, parentheses reflect the division between the two realms: outside the parentheses, the Divine realm may seem unclear or beyond human comprehension, but inside the parentheses, Milton recontextualizes these ideas by placing them in a framework that aligns with human understanding. Through this technique, Milton not only conveys the vast difference between temporal and eternal time but also allows the reader to momentarily inhabit both perspectives at once.
The first usage of parentheses in Book Five,“(Whose praise be ever sung)” (405), asserts God’s eternal and hierarchical divinity between the realms. In this parenthetical remark, Milton acknowledges the timelessness of divine glory. The praise mentioned here is not from a specific character within the narrative but refers to the eternal, universal praise given to God by all creation—both human and angelic—acknowledging God as the sustainer of life. Outside the parentheses, the verse focuses on the physical sustenance provided by God, such as food, and the fact that both humans and angels indulge in it. Within the parentheses the reader is momentarily made aware of the spiritual and eternal nature of God’s praise. This first instance of parentheses as a literary tool signals a shift from the tangible to the divine, allowing Milton to bridge human experience with a celestial understanding of God’s nature. The insight into God’s eternal praise comes not only from the biblical tradition but from Milton’s Christian perspective, which informs the entire epic. It is a truth rooted in divine theology, reflecting the unchanging glory of God that transcends human understanding.
In Book Five, Raphael seeks to help Adam comprehend the nature of time and motion within the universe:
(For Time, though in Eternitie, appli’d
To motion, measures all things durable
By present, past, and future). (580-582)
Here, Milton uses parentheses to signify a moment of contemplation on the basis of time, suggesting that even in eternity, time applies to all things that are in motion. Although angels reside in the eternal realm, they are still subject to temporal motion. The parenthesis emphasises the distinction between God’s timeless existence and the angels’ temporal experience of time, which serves to reaffirm God’s divine hierarchy over all beings, including the angels. By enclosing this clarification within parentheses, Milton momentarily shifts the reader’s perspective, suspending the flow of the primary narrative to offer a direct meditation on time itself. This moment does not fully immerse the reader in the divine realm but instead provides an interpretive space where temporal motion can be understood in relation to human experience. By isolating the temporal motion through the parentheses, Milton clarifies the contrast between God’s timelessness and the bounded nature of His creations, helping readers grasp the complexity of divine order that transcends human frameworks of chronology and hierarchy.
Further into Book Five, Milton continues to develop his reflections on the distinct differences between celestial and earthly experiences of time, particularly in how day and night are perceived. In the lines “(For wee have also our Evening and our Morn / Wee ours for change delectable, not need)” (628-629), and “(For Night comes not there / In darker veil)” (645-646), Milton distinguishes the cyclical nature of time on Earth from the divine experience. While humans experience day and night as necessary cycles for rest and labour, the angels experience this cycle for pleasure. The earthly conceptualization of this cycle is rooted in need, making it difficult—at least from a human perspective—to fathom time as something that can be experienced purely for pleasure. For humans, time often feels like a resource to be managed—something that brings about the necessity of labor, rest, and growth. This view makes it difficult to understand how time can be experienced as something pleasurable or unnecessary, as the divine realm experiences it. In contrast to the human experience, the divine experience of time allows for a freedom that makes time’s passage a source of enjoyment, rather than a marker of limitation. The parenthesis forces the reader to, again, step outside the primary narrative and reflect on the nature of time in both realms. A temporal suspension is created, allowing Milton to shift the reader’s focus from a limiting, earthly perception of day and night to divine experience, where such changes occur for pleasure.
As the poem continues, Milton states “(Such are the Courts of God)” (650), to depict that despite the chaotic nature of the universe, God’s judgement remains righteous. The parentheses offer a glimpse into the heavenly courts’ divine moral order, and a liminal space of communication and translation between the celestial and the human. Specifically, God’s courts operate within a divine framework of justice that contrasts with human systems of justice, which are often flawed, fallible, and subject to bias, corruption, and temporal limitations. Unlike human courts, which rely on evidence, interpretation, and changeable laws, divine justice is absolute, omniscient, and unerring, grounded in eternal wisdom rather than human reasoning. Facilitating this movement between temporal spaces allows readers to comprehend the divine realm’s eternality and moral superiority while still being grounded in the human experience of time and judicial understanding.
The final use of parentheses in Book Five, “(so call / That Structure in the Dialect of men / Interpreted)” (760-762), summarizes Milton’s ongoing mediation between divine and human understanding. This particular use of parentheses invites readers to contemplate the limitations of human knowledge in contrast to the vastness of divine wisdom. Outside the parentheses are depictions of celestial structures that human minds cannot fathom, for example, “The Palace of great Lucifer” (760), but by utilizing parentheses, Milton reminds the reader that the human conceptualization of time and space is but a translation of a far more complex and infinite realm. The structures of parentheses, in this context, frames the divine within human terms whilst also acknowledging the inadequacy of such interpretations.
In John Milton’s Paradise Lost, parentheses function as a means for navigating the complexities of temporal and celestial realms. Parentheses not only serve as a brief pause, but they force the reader to shift between human and divine perspectives, allowing a momentary transcendence from the human limitations of earthly understanding. Book Five’s usage of parentheses highlights the tension between human experiences of time and the timeless nature of the divine. Milton emphasizes the notion that time cannot solely be interpreted as a linear, human experience but can also function as something more complex and nuanced—an eternal and divine truth that governs all creation, even the creatures and divine courts of God. Parentheses ground the epic in human temporality while simultaneously offering glimpses into the celestial realm, articulating a more profound and wildly complex exploration of the relationship between the human and the divine that cannot solely be articulated in the primary narrative.
Works Cited
Milton, John. “Book V.” The Complete Poetry of John Milton, translated by John T Shawcross, Anchor Books Doubleday, 1971, pp. 342–364.