Milton, Homer, and Hyacinthus: Classical iconography and literary allusion inparadise lost 4.300-303

Abstract

Milton’s initial description of Adam atParadise Lost 4.288-303 exhibits three separate but concurrent tendencies: a commitment to depict Adam’s physical constitution as distinct from, but representative of, the divine image in which he has been made; a tendency to model Adam’s physical appearance upon Milton’s own; and a fondness for mythological references that place Adam’s appearance in a tradition of heroic beauty exemplified by his “Hyacinthin locks” (4.301). In concert, these tendencies associate Milton himself with the iconography of classical myth, while endowing the poet’s presentation of Adam with homoerotic overtones.