[Milton-L] Milton and Gardens: queries on JM's aesthetics

Thu Jun 18 16:24:59 EDT 2009

Does "wrought Mosaic" pun on the name "Moses"?

Jeffery Hodges

--- On Thu, 6/18/09, Carl Bellinger <bcarlb at comcast.net> wrote:

From: Carl Bellinger <bcarlb at comcast.net>
Subject: Re: [Milton-L] Milton and Gardens: queries on JM's aesthetics
To: "John Milton Discussion List" <milton-l at lists.richmond.edu>
Date: Thursday, June 18, 2009, 1:49 PM

[[ sorry for previous empty email. ]]

1) In PL the gardens designed and planted by God the "sovran Planter" are "sacred & sequestered," "enclosed," "covert," "walled," fenced," and so forth. Is this an identifiably Hebrew ideal --beyond the obvious fact that Adam&Eve were thrown out of a place which at that point, necessarily, became a place sequestered from them-- or simply a Classical one?

2) At PL 4.700 God's patterned design (alternating patches of Iris & Roses & Gessimin) has "wrought Mosaic."

       What's the skinny on "mosaic?" As an aesthetic ideal of artificial design is it associated essentially with Classical, or Roman (& ?? Renaissance) culture, or could Milton have located its origins in Hebrew scriptures? In asking this I have in mind how crucial it seems to Milton that he assert that the sources of song aesthetics and rhetorical eloquence are in the Hebrew tradition and are merely  "ill imitated" in Classical culture.

3)   Do Puritan lights of Milton's period sport an identifiable aesthetic of some ilk? If so, did they acknowledge it?

Carl

----- Original Message ----- From: "JD Fleming" <jfleming at sfu.ca>
To: "John Milton Discussion List" <milton-l at lists.richmond.edu>
Sent: Thursday, June 18, 2009 11:09 AM
Subject: Re: [Milton-L] Milton and Gardens

> Louis, my article "Meanwhile, Medusa" (in ELH some years ago) has a bunch of stuff on gardens and garden theory in it, including references. (I guess this offers yet another pun on "plug.") yrs, JD Fleming
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Hannibal Hamlin" <hamlin.hannibal at gmail.com>
> To: "John Milton Discussion List" <milton-l at lists.richmond.edu>
> Sent: Thursday, June 18, 2009 7:59:09 AM GMT -08:00 US/Canada Pacific
> Subject: Re: [Milton-L] Milton and Gardens
> 
> 
> 
> You might also want to think about this topic by way of Genesis 1-3, which was of course a preoccupation of Milton's, but which also greatly influenced thinking on gardens and horticulture. There is an armful (at least) of books on Milton and Genesis. On gardens in particular, which I happen to have been reading about recently, see Terry Comito's The Idea of the Garden in the Renaissance , and Rebecca Bushnell's Green Desire: Imagining Early Modern English Gardens . These are about earlier gardens, of course, but would be useful on where Milton is coming from (rather than where others are taking him). James Turner's The Politics of Landscape is also important.
> 
> Hannibal
> 
> 
> On Thu, Jun 18, 2009 at 10:44 AM, Joshua Scodel < jscodel at uchicago.edu > wrote:
> 
> 
> 
> Dear Louis,
> 
> 
> I think John Dixon Hunt is your man: lots of books and articles on the 18th-century landscape gardening, including one in Milton Studies specifically on Milton's influence.
> 
> 
> Best,
> 
> 
> Josh
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On Jun 18, 2009, at 9:32 AM, Schwartz, Louis wrote:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> To the list:
> 
> 
> 
> I have a colleague over in the Philosophy Dept. who is doing some work on the aesthetics of the landscape, and as you can imagine has been coming across many references to Milton, especially in respect to the 18 th Century. Since I haven’t done much thinking or work on the subject, I was hoping the list might offer some suggestions about what to read on Milton and the development of landscape painting and gardening or landscaping in the 18 th Century and after.
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks in advance!
> 
> 
> 
> Louis
> 
> 
> 
> ===========================
> 
> Louis Schwartz
> 
> Associate Professor of English
> 
> University of Richmond
> 
> Richmond, VA 23173
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> (804) 289-8315
> 
> lschwart at richmond.edu
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> 
> 
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> Joshua Scodel
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> -- Hannibal Hamlin
> Associate Professor of English
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