[Milton-L] Milton and Marx

[James Rovira]

Who said anything about writing poetry not being an "inherently social
activity"?  Who aetherialized Milton?  The point is the existence of
his poetry as -capital-, or as meaningful labor to be exploited for
profit.  There are plenty of social activities that we engage in for
reasons other than profit, such as being polite to a wrong number
calling.  Marx emphasized that he wrote this immense epic then sold it
for 5 pounds.   Selling his labor as a commodity on the market was
obviously not one of the forces driving Milton's intentions for
writing PL in Marx's opinion.

Whether or not Marx's point is an accurate description of Milton's
practice is another matter.  But that seems to be Marx's point.

Jim R