“….. what though the field be lost?…Extort from me.” (Lines 105-111)

“….. what though the field be lost?
All is not lost: the unconquerable will,
And study of revenge, immortal hate,
And courage never to submit or yield:
And what is else not to be overcome?
That glory never shall his wrath or might
Extort from me.”
(Lines 105-111)

Answer: This extract occurs in ‘Paradise Lost” Book I, the greatest English epic, composed by John Milton, the most renowned poet in English literature. In these lines, the poet gives a wonderful description of Satan’s indomitable will to do evil, vindictive motive, implacable hatred of God and heroic courage never to yield to the Divine Power, even in his distress.

Satan tells Beelzebub that physical defeat in war is an insignificant thing. It is true that he and his crew have lost their battle against God but their will remains unconquered. They are still capable of pursuing their revenge and immortal hate. They possess the courage which can save them from surrendering themselves before God. Their victor is powerful but He cannot force them to submit themselves like slaves before Him. Satan heroically confirms, the glory of defeating the enemy completely-head, heart and hand- will never belong to God as far as Satan and his followers are concerned.

Helen Gardner, a famous critic, finds that the height of poetic sublimity in Satan’s first speech from which the lines under reference have been extracted. She considers it perhaps the greatest expression in the English literature of virtue that must always command awe and admiration. Matthew Arnold, the famous poet and critic of the Victorian Era quoted the lines “And courage never to submit or yield; /And what is else not to be overcome?” in his essay “The Study of Poetry’ and marked them as heroic lines to be used as an example of a ‘touch-stone’ by virtue of their ‘high truth’ and ‘high seriousness’.