UnPoetia:Paradise Abridged/Book VII
The Argument
Raphael, distracted by small talk yet, explains, at Adam’s request, the creation of the world by God.
The Verse
Descend from Heav’n Urania,[1] by that name [1]
If rightly thou art call’d, whose voice divine
Following, above th’ Olympian Hill I soar,
Above the flight of Pegasean wing,
And aid me now, for I need thou now most. [5]
Half yet remains unsung, and this paper
Complete with novel thesis is soon due;
Aid me, then, O Muse, especially now,
For Sparknotes is not nearly good enough.
Say Goddess, what subject did Raphael [10]
Next digress his conversation onto
Instead of warning Adam of the Tree?
What of the Stars, or of the Earth, said he?
Was it the Earth’s creation by God’s hand?
Did Raphael explain how this orb was [15]
By th’ Almighty bounded before all else?
How it was done to replace fall’n Satan
And his fallen crew? How the creation
Was done after Satan’s fall? And Milton’s
Description mirrors quite closely Genesis? [20]
And how on the seventh day God rests, the
Race of mankind created on the sixth?
What’s that, Muse? You say those were the subjects?
And that that’s all that happens in this Book?
O, thank you Muse! Thank you so very much! [25]
You have saved me six hundred lines to read,
Now I have only several thousand more.
Clicketh Here for Book VIII
The Annotations
- ↑ The poet begins this book, too, with an evocation of a Muse, this time in the form of Urania. The fact that this book contains little but this evocation is generally taken as evidence of the author’s ever-increasing laziness, as is this one and only footnote.