How a passage from John Milton’s Paradise Regained inspired the lyrics to “Unshaken.”
All articles on this site feature detailed discussion of literary allusions in Red Dead Redemption 2, and as such contain unmarked major and minor spoilers for the game, and occasionally the eventual fates of some characters in Red Dead Redemption. Read at your own risk.
Paradise Lost is one of the most celebrated literary works of all time. Paradise Regained, John Milton’s followup to the epic, is less so. The second poem tells the story of the Son (Christ) wandering in the desert, where, after 40 days and 40 nights, Satan accosts him and tries to tempt him to break his obedience to God. It is, quite frankly, not very interesting: there’s no suspense at all. Satan losing is foregone conclusion. The Son is totally unbothered.
As one might expect, Red Dead Redemption 2 doesn’t use Paradise Regained a great deal. Somewhat paradoxically, it does use it prominently, in both the form of the OST “Unshaken” and the main story’s final images. As identified by Ilana Kalish, the song’s chorus is based on a proverb by Paramahansa Yogananda: “You must stand unshaken amidst the crash of breaking worlds.”
However, RDR2 found the inspiration for the idea of being “unshaken,” and much of the imagery in the song, in Paradise Regained. The first clue is in the context: in this part of the poem, Satan, frustrated with his failures to tempt the Son, creates a terrific storm in the hopes it will weaken his resolve. The song plays after the Guarma episode, which is based on William Shakespeare’s The Tempest — which RDR2 alludes to frequently because Milton does, in both Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained. The Guarma storyline, too, begins with a storm.
The song and poem treat similar themes: both describe the archetypal dark night of the soul. Their moods, however, diverge.
Paradise Regained
Our Saviour meek and with untroubled mind
After his airy jaunt, though hurried sore,
Hungry and cold betook him to his rest,
Wherever, under some concourse of shades
Whose branching arms thick intertwined might shield
From dews and damps of night his sheltered head,
But sheltered slept in vain, for at his head
The tempter watched, and soon with ugly dreams
Disturbed his sleep; and either tropic now
’Gan thunder, and both ends of heaven, the clouds
From many a horrid rift abortive poured
Fierce rain with lightning mixed, water with fire
In ruin reconciled: nor slept the winds
Within their stony caves, but rushed abroad
From the four hinges of the world, and fell
On the vexed wilderness, whose tallest pines,
Though rooted deep as high, and sturdiest oaks
Bowed their stiff necks, loaden with stormy blasts,
Or torn up sheer: ill wast thou shrouded then,
O patient Son of God, yet only stood’st
Unshaken; nor yet staid the terror there,
Infernal ghosts, and hellish furies, round
Environed thee, some howled, some yelled, some shrieked,
Some bent at thee their fiery darts, while thou
Sat’st unappalled in calm and sinless peace.
Thus passed the night so foul, till morning fair
Came forth with pilgrim steps in amice grey;
Who with her radiant finger stilled the roar
Of thunder, chased the clouds, and laid the winds,
And grisly spectres, which the fiend had raised
To tempt the Son of God with terrors dire.
IV.401-431
“Unshaken”
[CHORUS:]
May I stand unshaken
Amid, amidst the crash of worlds
Did I hear a thunder?
Did I hear you break?
I can’t quite remember
Just what guided me this way, oh
[CHORUS]
The pines, they often whisper
They whisper what no tongue can tell
He who drinks from the deep water
May he know the depths of the well
Well
[CHORUS x2]
Mmm, oh, traveler
What have you seen?
Were there crossroads
Where you been, where you been?
I once was standing tall
Now I feel my back’s against the wall
[CHORUS x2]
The morning light
When it comes to me
It was there but I could not see
Am I to wander
As a wayward son?
Will the hunter be hunted
By the smoking gun?
[CHORUS x3]
A key to the color-coded highlights: Paradise Regained‘s general context, thunder imagery, water imagery, the image of standing unshaken, the image of the pines, the image of the dawn.
In both song and poem, we see a Christ figure (Arthur in the one, literally Christ in the other) facing circumstances designed to spiritually challenge him. The difference between them is how certain and stable that figure is. Milton says that the Son “Sat’st unappalled in calm and sinless peace.” On the other hand, Arthur — who may or may not be the speaker of the song, but who certainly shares its perspective — is praying (so to speak) for the strength to follow his beliefs amid the clashes surrounding him.
Much of the imagery in the song reflects the context of the poem, but recast so that the outcome is uncertain: like the Son, Arthur is wandering, but he’s not sure how he got into his position or where he’ll end up. The lines “I can’t quite remember/Just what guided me this way” and the song’s many questions, such as “Were there crossroads/Where you been?,” demonstrate this precariousness. The key to answering these questions, though, is found in the water imagery, which symbolizes the unconscious mind. The plea to “know the depth of the well” is a desire to know oneself deeply. Doing so will guide Arthur through the storm in which he finds himself.
In Paradise Regained, the Son is wandering, but not wayward; Satan is both. In a sense, Arthur is meant to wander as a wayward son, because the path he’s meant to take is leaving Dutch. Being wayward, in his case, is a good thing, which squares with the way the game’s themes diverge from the poem’s. Although the lines are intentionally vague to avoid spoilers, we can gloss them as follows: “the smoking gun” is a sign of guilt and refers both to Micah and to Arthur’s discovery of his guilt. That makes Arthur “the hunter,” which seems appropriate enough. And he is hunted by Micah in the end, although (somewhat illogically, given Micah’s character) he’ll only be killed by Micah if his honor is low.
Taken in all, the lyrics are a signpost towards the game’s true ending: Arthur, his values unshaken, facing the dawn.
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Bibliography
Expand to view sources.
- D’Angelo. “Unshaken.” The Music of Red Dead Redemption 2 (Original Soundtrack), Lakeshore Records, 2019. Tidal, https://tidal.com/browse/track/110316402?u.
- Houser, Dan, et al. “Red Dead Redemption II.” Rockstar Games, 2018.
- Kalish, Ilana. “D’Angelo’s ‘Unshaken’ is the Guarded Knock on a Hidden Door.” Atwood Magazine, Jan. 24, 2019. https://atwoodmagazine.com/unshaken-dangelo-song-review/.
- Milton, John. The Major Works. Edited by Stephen Orgel and Jonathan Goldberg, Oxford University Press, 2008.
