...intends to soar Abore the Aonian mount, while it pursues Things unattempted yet in pro?c or rhyme. And chiefly thou, O Spirit, that dost prefer Before...brooding on the vast abyss , And mad'st it pregnant : whit in me is dark couvas l'immense abîme et tu le rendis fécond. Illumine en moi ce qui est obscur^...

...mount, u bile ft pursues Things n D attempted yet ш prose or rhyme. And chiefly Thou, О Spirit 1 that dost prefer Before all temples the upright heart,...present, and with mighty wings outspread Dove-like sat'&t brooding on the vast abyse, Aud madest it pregnant ; What in me is dark, Illumine ; what is...

...Instruet me, for thou knowst : thou from the first Wast present, and, with mighty wings outspread, 20 Dove-like satst brooding on the vast abyss, And mad'st...Illumine : what is low, raise and support ; That to the height of this great argument I may assert eternal Providenee, 25 And justify the ways of God to men....

...poem, where he prays for inspiration from the same creative power that performed the original Creation: Thou from the first Wast present, and with mighty...me is dark Illumine, what is low raise and support . . . [1.19-23] For the poet himself is about to embark upon his own heroic work of building. Furthermore,...

...unattempted yet in prose or rhyme. And chiefly thou, O Spirit, that dost prefer Before all temples th' upright heart and pure, Instruct me, for thou know'st;...brooding on the vast abyss, And mad'st it pregnant: What is in me dark, Illumine; what is low, raise and support; That, to the height of this great argument,...

...audience for that first question "What cause?" now emerges, for Milton had asked the Muse of Creation. Instruct me, for Thou know'st; Thou from the first...brooding on the vast Abyss And mad'st it pregnant: (I. 19-22) Only one who made the abyss pregnant, who thereby redeemed chaos, can instruct Milton on...

...Paradise Lost, where after a long preamble Milton finally beseeches a divine informer of conscience: . . . chiefly thou, O Spirit, that dost prefer Before all...outspread Dove-like sat'st brooding on the vast abyss And made it pregnant: what in me is dark Illumine, what is low raise and support; That to the highth of...

...predating his own existence. And again Urania bears witness to that bond. That is one of her functions: Thou from the first Wast present, and with mighty...And mad'st it pregnant: what in me is dark Illumine. . . The "heavenly muse" who first inspired "that shepherd," that is to say Moses, to write a scripture...

...touching them'.51 We may recall John Milton's apostrophe of the Spirit at the beginning of Paradise Lost: Thou from the first Wast present, and with mighty...brooding on the vast Abyss And mad'st it pregnant. 1 133 'And I did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize in water - it was he who said to me, "The...

...More appropriate still might be Milton's invocation of the Holy Spirit in book 1 of Paradise Lost: "Thou from the first / Wast present, and with mighty...brooding on the vast Abyss / And mad'st it pregnant." The image of the dove and her action of grace, effected on Christmas Eve and producing in Densher what...