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

Mon Jun 22 10:39:26 EDT 2009

I would strongly agree with Jeffery Hodges that Alexandra Dimakos is
making too big a leap in associating the garden walls with Raphael's
warning Adam off from astronomical knowledge. There are many boundaries
in this epic, and they are not all equivalent. As Hodges correctly
notes, Adam and Eve would have populated the entire earth, not just
Eden. Thus prohibition of knowledge of the rest of the earth does not
seem a compelling argument here. I also think of Richard Strier's
argument that Eden is better than heaven as a nice reminder that staying
in Eden is no punishment--it is world and pleasure enough.

I do think that it helps to think of boundaries not only as markers of
control or power (though they often serve that function); rather, they
also have a means of focusing one's attention. If we remember that Adam
and Eve are charged to till and keep nature, it is a more feasible
occupation if the two of them do not have to take on the entire planet
right away. The walls allow for a kind of focus that does not really
keep out knowledge or keep Adam and Eve ignorant. Instead, the walls
focus their attention so that they are a) near the interdicted tree (as
Jeffery nicely argues), and b) come to a richer knowledge of creation
itself as they engage in their horticultural tasks.

Stella's advice to look at John Evelyn is also a very good idea. I'd
recommend Douglas Chambers' *The Planters of the English Landscape
Garden: Botony, Trees, and the Georgics.* Yale UP, 1993. Also look at
Chambers' essay,  “‘Wild Pastorall Encounter’: John Evelyn, John
Beale and the Renegotiation of Pastoral in the Mid-Seventeenth
Century.” In Culture and Cultivation in Early Modern England:
Writing and the Land, edited by Michael Leslie and Timothy Raylor,
173-94. Beale and Evelyn engaged in an interesting discussion of adding
wildness/wilderness to English gardens. Beale is a bit more radical in
his reform ideas than is Evelyn.

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>>> Horace Jeffery Hodges <jefferyhodges at yahoo.com> 6/19/2009 6:07 PM
>>>
Alexandra Dimakos suggests that "the walls are meant to keep a curious
Adam from exploring the outside world," and she cites Raphael's words to
Adam in Book VIII:

Dream not of other Worlds, what Creatures there 
Live, in what state, condition or degree, 
Contented that thus far hath been reveal'd 
Not of Earth only but of highest Heav'n. (8:175-78)

>From the context, however, Adam and Raphael would seem to be speaking
of astronomy and worlds beyond the earth. I don't yet see strong
evidence that this also includes the "outside world" beyond the Garden's
walls.

I do agree that Adam and Eve are expected to remain within the Garden,
for they have work to do there. Eventually, however, they would be able
to leave, for with their offspring borne to populate the earth, the
Garden would one day grow too restricted. Presumably, their work in the
Garden would have prepared them for making a garden of the entire earth
. . . though they would ultimately (perhaps) have sublimated their
grossly corporeal bodies into subtler spirit (or some such wording).

The walls also serve to keep the two within range of the provoking
object, that interdicted, testing tree.

On keeping Satan out . . . well, the walls of Hell were intended to
keep Satan in but give him an out if he should choose to defy God's
limits anyway. By leaving Satan free to escape Hell and break into
Paradise, God leaves open Satan's path toward greater damnation -- a
puzzling economy of damnation that seems less than economical, but it
appears to be part of Milton's great argument.

Jeffery Hodges

--- On Fri, 6/19/09, Alexandra Dimakos <adimakos at gmail.com> wrote:

From: Alexandra Dimakos <adimakos at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Milton-L] Milton and Gardens: queries on JM's aesthetics
To: "John Milton Discussion List" <milton-l at lists.richmond.edu>
Date: Friday, June 19, 2009, 4:01 PM

Hi Susan,

Your statement "I am not certain of the roots but "Paradise" might come
from 'walled garden.' " sparked my curiosity as I have been recently
researching and writing about this idea. 

I've found that in Michael Lieb's article "'Holy Place': A Reading of
Paradise Lost" that "the Renaissance understanding of the 'paradise'
itself -- pairidaeza formed on pairi ('around') and diz ('to mould,'
''to form') -- not only as a 'park' or 'pleasure ground' but also,
significantly, as an 'enclosure' or a 'place walled in''" (135).

I also wanted to address Michael's idea or question: "As to why the
whole Garden needs to be fenced off from the rest of the world."

Although there are many theories, it seems to me that Eden is fenced
off because it is meant from keeping Adam and Eve from leaving. I
understand that many will say that the wall is meant to keep Satan out
of the garden. But, does it work? Satan doesn't  have much trouble
"jumping the fence" and entering into Eden. If the walls are there to
protect Adam and Eve, they do not serve them well.

In contrast, the walls are meant to keep a curious Adam from exploring
the outside world. Raphael tells Adam in Book IIX:

Dream not of other Worlds, what Creatures there 
Live, in what state, condition or degree, 
Contented that thus far hath been reveal’d Not of Earth only but of
highest Heav’n. (8:166-78)

The walls may also serve this purpose: to keep Adam from exploring the
"other Worlds" that lay beyond Eden. Also there is only one Gate that
leads in and out of Eden, but Adam and Eve are only allowed to cross
that threshold when they are expelled from their home. They are never
told they can freely enter and exit Eden at their leisure. There is a
great sense of control that stems from these walls and this one gate.

On Fri, Jun 19, 2009 at 12:39 PM, Susan Allison <jbase484 at gmail.com>
wrote:

I am not certain of the roots but "Paradise" might come from "walled
garden." Of course that is not the only reason but "Paradise" may have
retained that meaning.
Susan

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

Michael

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