The style of battle does not resemble the warfare of
Milton’s day, but rather the feudal warfare of earlier epics. Milton
presents the warring factions each lining up with their spears and
shields across a battlefield. The battlefield discussions between
the two sides before battle are reminiscent of scenes in Homer’s Iliad and
Virgil’s Aeneid. Then, amid classical style warfare,
the rebel angels employ what was in Milton’s time a relatively new
and dangerous weapon of war: a gunpowder cannon. Milton introduces
this discrepancy in modes of warfare to allude to his society’s
advancements over those of the classical age. Satan’s invention
of the cannon is an unexpected development, signaling Milton’s belief
that gunpowder is a demonic invention and that so-called advancements
in war are futile and worthless.
