Today’s poetry news round-up takes a look at another story about John Milton. We also have a brief article about Cardinal Newman, and finally the posthumous manuscript for Quang Dung.

Hidden Message Found in Epic Poem

John Milton, the English poet, who penned the famous epic poem “Paradise Lost” in the 17^th century, wove several secret messages into his work.

In total, the poem, which was inspired by the story of Adam and Eve, contains over ten thousand lines of verse, and over the years many hidden messages have been discovered, with more being found all the time.

It was not uncommon for poems written at this time to contain literary patterns which were used by the poets to add new meanings to their work. It would now appear that Milton has placed a considerable number of these messages in “Paradise Lost”.

The most recent acronym, which has been found by a student from the Massachusetts-based Tufts University, has eluded scholars for around 350 years

According to the student, Miranda Phaal, the acrostic which alludes to Satan appears when Adam is having an argument with Eve in Book nine. There are a series of lines which when read from top to bottom spell FFAALL (the word fall twice) and there is also another occurrence of the word FALL that appears at the bottom of the same passage worked upwards.

Phaal believes that this secret message is a reference by Milton to the fall of humanity to Satan.

This is not the first time that a reference to the devil has been found hidden in the epic poem. In 1977 an acrostic, which is now famous, was found which spells SATAN.

Prince of Wales to Attend Canonisation of Cardinal Newman

A little while back we reported on the story of Blessed Cardinal John Henry Newman, the first English non-martyr saint since the Reformation.

Newman was not only a cardinal and Catholic priest during the 19^th century, but he was also a priest. His writings are considered by many to be amongst some of the most important of recent centuries to have originated from the church.

Newman was beatified in 2010 in Birmingham. The canonisation ceremony is scheduled to take place next month.

Manuscript by Late Poet Quang Dung Published

For the first time, the memoirs of the poet Quang Dong have been published. The posthumous manuscript, which is titled Doan binh Tay Tien, was written by the poet during his time in the Tay Tien regiment during the fight against French colonists in both Laos and Vietnam from 1947-48.

His most famous poem, Tay Tien, was inspired by his nostalgia for the poetic and unspoiled nature of his country. And it includes his thoughts towards his fellow regiment members, who are patriotic soldiers giving their lives for the Fatherland.

Tay Tien forms a part of the high school textbooks and has also been hailed as one of the revolutionary literary masterpieces of the country.

It has been nearly seven decades since it was written. Now, Quang Dung’s work forms an important historical reminder.