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Article: 'Paradise Lost' and 'Aurora Leigh.' (poems)
- Article from:
- Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900
- Article date:
- September 22, 1997
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1997 Rice University. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Lord Illingworth. The Book of Life begins with a man and a woman in a garden.
Mrs. Allonby. It ends with Revelations.
The same is almost true of Aurora Leigh; although the crucial meeting between Aurora and her cousin Romney in the garden does not take place until book 2, the very last lines of the poem clearly allude to John's vision of the New Jerusalem:(1)
He stood a moment with erected brows In silence, as a creature might who gazed - Stood calm, and fed his blind, majestic eyes Upon the thought of perfect noon: and when I saw his soul saw - "Jasper first," I said, "And second, sapphire; third, chalcedony; The rest in order - last, an amethyst."(2) ...