[Milton-L] Fw: "Milton Regained . . ." by Charles McGrath

[John Leonard]

I agree with Feisal Mohamed.

John Leonard
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Feisal Mohamed 
  To: John Milton Discussion List 
  Sent: Friday, September 26, 2008 4:08 PM
  Subject: Re: [Milton-L] Fw: "Milton Regained . . ." by Charles McGrath


  Not to dispute the authority of Professor Barton or Disney's Thumper, but the McGrath article is not 'defamatory' in the least.  It has its imprecisions and it is simplistic in its interpretation of the term 'Puritan poet,' but it also has some glowing (if equally simplistic) passages on _Paradise Lost_: 'But of course that's what makes great poems great: they're open to multiple interpretations. At this show there is even a painting in which Satan announces: "Getting knocked out of heaven was just a stepping stone. Now I have a better job and my life is full of opportunities." As Johnson wrote: "Milton's delight was to sport in the wide regions of possibility; reality was a scene too narrow for his mind. He sent his faculties out upon discovery, into worlds where only imagination can travel."'  
  As for the sculpture, the artist has labeled it 'Milton' and what has been taken to be a 'pointy beard' is in fact an extended tongue.  I'm not persuaded that 'any expert on the seventeenth century' would know this to be a representation of Charles I.
  One would hope that Miltonists are not so narrowly partisan that they cannot endure a few newspaper sentences over-emphasizing for attention-grabbing effect aspects of the poet's life that we know to be true--the work he set for his daughters was certainly drudge-ish, after all.
  I appreciated the link.  I also appreciated the detailed attention that this exhibit received in the Times.


  Feisal Mohamed




  On Fri, Sep 26, 2008 at 11:47 AM, Richard Durocher <durocher at stolaf.edu> wrote:

    Dear Carol,

       Well said, and well done.

      Best wishes,

      Rich DuRocher



    On Fri, Sep 26, 2008 at 10:22 AM, Carol Barton <cbartonphd1 at verizon.net> wrote:

      For those who can't see it lower in this message--the e-mail address for Letters to the Editor at the _Times_ is letters at nytimes.com.

      My note to the editor is below.


      ----- Original Message ----- 
      From: Carol Barton 
      To: letters at nytimes.com 
      Sent: Friday, September 26, 2008 11:16 AM
      Subject: "Milton Regained . . ." by Charles McGrath


      Letters to the Editor
      The New York Times
      620 Eighth Avenue
      New York, NY 10018 

      Subject: "Milton Regained: A Helluva Party" (Charles McGrath, 25 Sept 2008, Book Section)

      Sir:

      I read with disgust Charles McGrath's flippant and irreverent mis-characterization of John Milton, which is as inaccurate and irresponsible as it is derogatory. 

      To begin with: any expert on the seventeenth century ought to know at a glance that the "sculpture of John Milton by Arthur Kimiss" shown below is in fact a sculpture of the head of Charles I--or does Mr. McGrath think Milton wore a crown, in addition to taking "a dim view of dancing," harboring his "Turkish contempt of females," using his wives--much less his daughters--as "drudges and amanuenses"--and the other claptrap he ignorantly reports?

      It doesn't sound to me as if any of this--his article or the exhibit it describes--was "put together lovingly." I'd suggest that Mr. McGrath take the good advice of a character who is apparently closer to his reading level: Disney's Thumper. "If ya can't say nuthin' nice--don't say nuthin' at all."

      Respectfully,

      Carol Barton


      CAROL BARTON, PH.D.

      "If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people together to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea." Antoine de Saint-Exupéry


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