[Milton-L] New to list - Epic Simile question/Paradise Lost

[Nathan Gilmour]

I think the point was that "enormity" in a more civilized time had nothing
to do with an entity's being large.  It was a word for a moral outrage.
(That would apply to Satan's rebellion, incidentally, but not necessarily to
his being as large as a whale.)  Its similarity to "enormous" has eventually
given it the connotation that you're implying, but those English teachers
with a sense of the old ways grit our teeth when that sloppy bit of usage
gets closer and closer to becoming the standard.  (It's not unlike the
increasingly common use of "data" and "media" as singular nouns that way.)

NPG

On Sat, Sep 27, 2008 at 5:40 PM, jonnyangel <junkopardner at comcast.net>wrote:

> I'm aware of the various definitions of the word, and yes, I was using the
> word in reference to Satan's size in the first epic simile because this was
> as "big" as Satan was portrayed in size. It seems to me that Milton was
> playing with the size of Satan for more reasons than the obvious ones. I
> think that the use of the word "enormous" (as something that is great in
> size) applies to Satan's first appearance. I understand how Milton is using
> the word, but he is also playing with the concept of size here as something
> very large (though indefinable in the context of the simile).
>
> What I'm specifically interested are ideas about Satan's size that haven't
> been talked to death (ie. Relative, undefined etc).
>
> Thanks,
>
> J
>
>
>
>
> On 9/27/08 5:01 PM, "gilliaca at jmu.edu" <gilliaca at jmu.edu> wrote:
>
> > One thing you might want to know - in your original post you used the
> word
> > 'enormity' as if you thought it refered to size or volume. It does not.
> >
> > This is a common error made by careless journalists in print and on the
> air.
> >
> > It is similar to using the term 'notoriety' as if it meant fame, in a
> positive
> > sense, which, of course, it does not.
> >
> > C
> > Cynthia A. Gilliatt
> > English Department, JMU, ret.
> > JMU Safe Zones supporter
> > "You have made God in your own image when God hates the same people you
> hate."
> > Fr. John Weston
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-- 
Nathan P. Gilmour
http://ngilmour.myweb.uga.edu/index.html
http://hardlylastword.wordpress.com
ngilmour at gmail.com
Proverbs 26:4-5
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