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

Fri Jun 19 14:13:37 EDT 2009

Carl,

I make a few observations about the bower in a short article about roses in
PL (ANQ, Winter 2007).

The obvious pertinence of ³wrought mosaic² is that the design of flowers
covers the interior wall of the bower just as a fresco or mosaic would
decorate a man-made structure. Similarly, the floor is a ³rich inlay² of
flowers (4.701). However, I¹d think the overtones of fussy artifice that you
correctly detect are somewhat ironic. Like the design of the whole garden
and God¹s art in general, the mosaic and inlay would have been ³not nice,²
but rich, abundant, and informal in structure.

The bower is emphatically an enclosure within the larger enclosure of the
Garden. The roof is ³of thickest covert,² shrubs ³fenced up the verdant
wall,² it is ³sacred and sequestered,² ³in close recess² (4. 690-710). The
language obviously echoes the description of Satan¹s approach to the Garden
(4. 130-145). The bower guards the secret/sacred quality of A&E¹s sexual
relation while enhancing that relation aesthetically with falling rose
petals, etc. As a focal structure within the larger focal structure of the
Garden¹s enclosure, perhaps it suggests that the sexual relation is somehow
central to the whole project.

As to why the whole Garden needs to be fenced off from the rest of the
world, that¹s an interesting question.

Michael

On 6/18/09 2:49 PM, "Carl Bellinger" <bcarlb at comcast.net> wrote:

> [[ 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 haven¹t 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
>> 
>> (804) 289-8315
>> 
>> lschwart at richmond.edu
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
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>> 
>> 
>> Joshua Scodel
>> Chair, Department of Comparative Literature
>> Helen A. Regenstein Professor in Comparative Literature, English, and the
>> College
>> Resident Master, Burton-Judson Courts
>> University of Chicago
>> office: Classics 402
>> phone: 773-702-5101
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
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>> 
>> 
>> -- 
>> Hannibal Hamlin
>> Associate Professor of English
>> The Ohio State University
>> 164 West 17th Ave., 421 Denney Hall
>> Columbus, OH 43210-1340
>> hamlin.22 at osu.edu/
>> hamlin.hannibal at gmail.com
>> 
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>> -- 
>> James Dougal Fleming
>> Associate Professor
>> Department of English
>> Simon Fraser University
>> 
>> "das Fragwuerdige zu sehen"
>> 
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