[Milton-L] interpreting poems

[Watt, James]

Reply to Enna Martina (or Ernst Oor?):

Yes, and thank you for your reminding us of this invocation
(not the only one in the poem); it's also worth noting that
it's the Song that intends, not the singer.

Jim Watt
________________________________________
From: milton-l-bounces at lists.richmond.edu [milton-l-bounces at lists.richmond.edu] On Behalf Of Ernst Oor [eoor at planet.nl]
Sent: Thursday, November 20, 2008 6:14 AM
To: John Milton Discussion List
Subject: [Milton-L] interpreting poems

jonnyangel wrote:

...Good poetry is an art, and good poets are artists. The best poets will tell you that they are somewhat in the dark as to the "various" meanings of their poems. That is because the best poems (and art) doesn't come "from"  you, rather "through" you...


and

...when the muse is working, it's working - and it does the work...

I agree with the above: no one but Milton himself knew what is needed first of all in the process of creation of a great work of art:
Paradise Lost begins with:

Of man's first disobedience, and the fruit
Of that forbidden tree etc...
Sing, Heavenly Muse, that on the secret top
Of Oreb, or of Sinai, didst inspire
That shepherd who first taught the chosen seed etc...
                                          : or, if Sion hill
Delight thee more, and Siloa's brook that flowed
Fast by the oracle of God, I thence
Invoke thy aid to my adventurous song,
That with no middle flight intends to soar
Above th' Aonian mount, while it pursues
Things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme.
                                                                       (PL ll. 1-16)
This shows that Milton was aware that intellect alone is not sufficient to create a work of art.

sincerely,

Enna Martina.