Lines 97-99
Above the antique mantel was displayed
As though a window gave upon the sylvan scene
The change of Philomel, by the barbarous king
Eliot's Note
98. Sylvan scene. V. Milton, Paradise Lost, IV, 140.
Context
Milton's 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.
References