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

[Jeffrey Theis]

The walled/enclosed garden derives from many sources be they literary
(esp. biblical and classical) or horticultural. For the walled garden,
one might look at Stanley Stewart's still engaging *The Enclosed Garden:
The Tradition and the Image in Seventeen-Century Poetry*. Hannibal is
right that Milton is engaging the Song of Songs here.

I think Jeffery makes a good point about the walled garden serving as a
marker or boundary for Satan. The epic is deeply engaged with the
concept of boundaries--which ones not to transgress and which ones to
transgress. Paradise as a walled garden not only presents the topic of
boundaries in a "natural" form for Satan, it also forces Adam and Eve to
consider their place in creation. Is the garden special and set apart,
is it merely a condensed version of the rest of the earth? Etc. Just by
setting boundaries up in the natural world, Milton is asking the reader
(as well as Satan, Adam, and Eve) to think about how the natural world
is organized, how one makes or finds a place within it, who constructed
it, how one ascribes value to it, as well as other related issues.

I also believe that Milton's garden is clearly engaging more
contemporary Italianate approaches that try to integrate wildness and
wilderness into constructed gardens.

While not delving deeply into garden history, two of my recent essays
do look closely at boundaries, the bower, and nature itself in the
garden. "Milton's Principles of Architecture" in ELR 35:1 (Winter 2005),
and "'The purlieus of heaven': Milton's Eden as a Pastoral Forest," in
*Renaissance Ecology*, ed. Ken Hiltner. The latter piece shows up in my
forthcoming book on forests in early mod lit later this year. Ok, enough
of plugging my own work.

Regards,

Jeff

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jeffrey S. Theis
Assistant Professor; Department of English
233 Meier Hall
Mailing Address:
   Salem State College
   352 Lafayette Street
   Salem, MA 01970-5353
Phone:(978) 542-6845
E-Mail: jtheis at salemstate.edu 
SSC Web Profile: https://www.salemstate.edu/profile/jtheis/
Home Page: http://www.salemstate.edu/~jtheis/ 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


>>> Horace Jeffery Hodges <jefferyhodges at yahoo.com> 6/19/2009 4:12 PM
>>>
Michael Gillum asks:
 
"As to why the whole Garden needs to be fenced off from the rest of the
world, that’s an interesting question."

Jeffery Hodges remarks:
 
Yes, it is interesting. I'd never thought about it before and may be
forgiven some brainstorming.
 
There is a rabbinical principle known as "fencing the Torah," i.e.,
(roughly) setting up additional regulations around the Torah to
safeguard its laws from being broken. There is a law in the Garden: "Do
not eat of the tree in the midst of the Garden, etc." Neither Adam nor
Eve would think of breaking this commandment, but Satan would, so the
fence is a reminder to Satan to stay away --  fencing the commandment,
so to speak. But I think this brainstorming point to have resulted in a
somewhat weak analogy.
 
But it has focused my thoughts on one central point. The wall is
intended to remind Satan that he is overstepping a boundary -- as he did
in breaking out of Hell. The passage in PL 4.172ff shows Satan in his
contempt for limits and describes his actions in terms reminiscent of
John 10:1ff, for in both passages, the one breaking in is described as a
thief who breaks into the fold rather than coming in by the right
entrance. The point is, partly, that gradations of sacred space should
be marked with boundaries (even if these can be easily bounded over).
This might be a motivation behind Milton's erection of a wall.
 
But -- to brainstorm a bit further -- I think that one would need to
investigate the possibility that a fenced-in Paradise might have been a
convention going back to the Medieval period, or even further. Milton
may have sources for this. I've not looked, but somebody on this list
might know.
 
Okay, I've taken too much of people's time already without offering
much of substance, so I'll now take my leave instead.
 
Jeffery Hodges