“Holy Name”: A Reading of Paradise Lost

Abstract

In its celebration of the Name of God, the Zohar offers a significant way of coming to terms with the apostrophe to Light that opens Book III of Paradise Lost. The Ineffable Name, states the Zohar, “is the source and beginning of supreme mysteries indeed; it is the sphere whence emanate all the burning lights, and where the whole mystery of Faith is centred; this Name dominates all.” Similarly, Milton celebrates “holy Light,” but his “Hail” is immediately qualified by his unwillingness to penetrate too far into the mystery. Whether that “Light” is the “ofspring of Heav'n first-born,/ Or of th' Eternal Coeternal beam” (III, 1–2), Milton will not say. However his words suggest the nature of godhead in its association with the Muse, Milton's stance is clear enough. He intends to “keep off with a sacred reverence” the naming of that which might incur blame. Thus, the first two lines of the apostrophe culminate with the all-important question: “May I express thee unblam'd?” (III, 3). Representing a fitting tribute to one who dwells “in unapproached light” (III, 4), this question strikes at the heart of Milton's attitude toward the Name of God. As Milton states in Christian Doctrine (I. 2), if the Divine Name is to be pronounced at all, it had better be “with due reverence” (“modo reverenter”) (Works, XIV, 38, 39).