Columbus's Egg in Milton's Paradise Lost

In Milton's Paradise Lost, after the first day of the losing battle in heaven, Satan invented gunpowder and cannon in order to recover from the brink of defeat. Here it seems highly possible that Milton had in mind the now well-known episode of the egg, a little of one of whose ends having been...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Notes and queries 2007-03, Vol.54 (1), p.40-43
Main Author: Yoshinaka, Takashi
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Columbus, Christopher (1451-1506)
Eggs
Explorers
Literary criticism
Milton, John (1608-1674)
Writers
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:In Milton's Paradise Lost, after the first day of the losing battle in heaven, Satan invented gunpowder and cannon in order to recover from the brink of defeat. Here it seems highly possible that Milton had in mind the now well-known episode of the egg, a little of one of whose ends having been crushed, was successfully fixed on the table, which allegedly occurred to Columbus on returning to Spain after he had discovered America.
ISSN:0029-3970
1471-6941
DOI:10.1093/notesj/gjm015