This is a simile that Stanley Fish brilliantly describes ; as central to a certain temporal procedure common in Milton's verse; Fish is interested in the temporal process of reading in general.

这被斯坦利费什独具匠心地形容为,弥尔顿诗中极为常见的时间步骤的核心;,费什对总体上这首诗的时间顺序非常感兴趣。

耶鲁公开课 - 弥尔顿课程节选