John Milton
Satan’s Speech

`Is this the region, this the soil, the clime,’
Said then the lost archangel, `this the seat
That we must change for heav’n, this mournful gloom
For that celestial light? Be it so, since he
Who now is sovran can dispose and bid
What shall be right: furthest from him is best
Whom reason hath equalled, force hath made supreme
Above his equals. Farewell happy fields
Where joy for ever dwells: hail horrors, hail
Infernal world, and thou profoundest hell
Receive thy new possessor: one who brings
A mind not to be changed by place or time.
The mind is its own place, and in itself
Can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven.
What matter where, if I be still the same,
And what I should be, all but less than he
Whom thunder bath made greater? Here at least
We shall be free; the almighty hath not built
Here for his envy, will not drive us hence:
Here we may reign secure, and in my choice
To reign is worth ambition though in hell:
Better to reign in hell, than serve in heaven.

Analysis
John Milton was an English poet of the Puritan Age. In 1667, he wrote Paradise Lost. In the first book, you can find Satan’s speech. Milton abandoned the conventions of the Renaissance and invented a new epic where he attempted combine the classical and the humanistic tradition with the Christian thought of the reformation.
These line are taken from Book I. Satan is surveying his new home, hell, trying to become aware of the new situation after his downfall from the space. He feels lost because everything is different from his old home: “this the region, this the soil, the clime”; the “celestial light” of Heaven is substituted by a sad darkness. Of course, he is not happy to be there but he is respectful of the decision made by the king. He feels sick of the "happy fields where joy for ever dwells” and he greets the infernal world of which he is the king. The new possessor’s mind can’t be changed by place or time, but he can make of heaven the hell. According to Satan’s words, heaven and hell are not real places but only states of mind since mind can transform the world. Satan doesn’t care if his kingdom is dark and horrible. “Better to reign in hell, than serve in heaven.” From Satan’s words, the reader can understand the values the poet thinks are important: pride, courage, rhetorical power and self confidence. Indeed Satan is a very powerful figure, who shows to be able to rule his kingdom, to speak to his people and he is not afraid of the persone who expelled him from his home.
As the poem was written in a century where Christian thought was very strong, the reader can understand the centre of the poem is the conflict between God and Satan, heaven and hell. Satan is not as powerful as God. He refers to him as “he who now is sovran” and he is also aware of God’s power: he is the person who “can dispose and bid what shall be right”.