Poem:
The Garden of Eden, He slowly crept upon
Casting his eyes upon the two living in innocent bliss.
His insides churned at the fact that he would be defined only by “demon,”
While those in front of him did not know sins here in this
Garden of Eden, He began to reminisce
Of his past life, Of the purity he once held, only to leave it all for the endless abyss
Of Hell, He could seek no escape, continuously unable to dismiss
The regret, the longing, the depression he attempted to resist
His newfound emotions began to conflict
With the Evil façade he held, for his followers, even for him
In one fell swoop it came crumbling down, unveiling bits
Of his humanity, of the emotions he holds, until it all splits
Back on was his mask, his feelings shrugged aside,
For his humanity, Satan must always hide.
Analytical Component:
Within the fourth book of Milton’s epic, Satan faces an intriguing inner turmoil upon seeing Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. His emotions of longing as well as regret leaves him to question his current situation, deemed for either “Infinite wrauth, and infinite despaire” (Milton, IV). He seems to see no escape from his place within Hell, for “Which way [he] flie is Hell; [he] [him] self am Hell” (Milton, IV). This poem dives further into this inner quarrel Satan experiences, from the perspective of a third person narrator, one that knows Satan’s inner battle thoroughly and attempts to illustrate his inner thoughts during this scene.
Through this poem, a new insight into one interpretation of Satan’s emotions and inner thoughts is introduced. It offers a clearer and more in-depth monologue of Satan’s turmoil within this scene, making some sense of the depression that he spirals into. I found that writing the poem, especially from a third-person point of view, helped to delve deeper into Satan’s character and understand more of the battle he faces. The perspective provides a way to form an interpretation of Satan’s thoughts and character, an interpretation he would not be self-aware enough to make for himself, as shown through his spiral. While the poem provides some clarity into Satan’s emotions within this scene, the perspective that it is written in dissolves some of the emotion and vulnerability Satan had in the original scene, something that drew me even more into his character. This personal connection to the reader is lost within the third-party narration, so while providing a deeper insight into his character within this specific scene, it still loses some of the original emotion Satan holds.