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Lines 97-100:
Above the antique mantel was displayed
As though a window gave upon the sylvan scene The change of Philomel, by the barbarous king So rudely forced; Eliot's Note:
98. Sylvan scene. V. Milton, Paradise Lost, IV, 140.
Additional info: Milton's epic poem Paradise Lost retells the story of the Fall. Eliot refers to the scene where Satan comes in view of Eden (Book IV, lines 131-142):
So on he fares, and to the border comes
Of Eden, where delicious Paradise, Now nearer, Crowns with her enclosure green, As with a rural mound the champain head Of a steep wilderness, whose hairie sides With thicket overgrown, grottesque and wilde, Access deni'd; and over head up grew Insuperable highth of loftiest shade, Cedar, and Pine, and Firr, and branching Palm A Silvan Scene, and as the ranks ascend Shade above shade, a woodie Theatre Of stateliest view. For the story of Philomel, see the note for Line 99. |