As might be expected, Milton makes frequent allusion to the Moon in ‘Paradise Lost,’ and does not fail to set forth the distinctive charms associated with the unrivalled queen of the firmament. The majority of poets would most likely regard a description of evening as incomplete without an allusion to the Moon. Milton has adhered to this sentiment, as may be perceived in the following lines:—
till the Moon,
Rising in clouded majesty, at length
Apparent queen, unveiled her peerless light,
And o’er the dark her silver mantle threw.—iv. 606-609.
now reigns
Full-orbed the Moon, and with more pleasing light,
Shadowy sets off the face of things.—v. 41-43.
The association of the Moon with the nocturnal revels and dances of elves and fairies is felicitously expressed in the following passage:—
or faëry elves,
Whose midnight revels, by a forest side
Or fountain, some belated peasant sees,
Or dreams he sees, while overhead the Moon
Sits arbitress, and nearer to the Earth
Wheels her pale course.—i. 781-86.
In contrast with this, we have Milton’s description of the Moon when affected by the demoniacal practices of the ‘night-hag’ who was believed to destroy infants for the sake of drinking their blood, and applying their mangled limbs to the purposes of incantation. The legend is of Scandinavian origin and the locality Lapland:—
Nor uglier follow the night-hag, when called
In secret, riding through the air she comes,
Lured with the smell of infant blood, to dance
With Lapland witches, while the labouring Moon
Eclipses at their charms.—ii. 662-66.
In his description of the massive shield carried by Satan, the poet compares it with the full moon:—