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

[Michael Gillum]

If the Genesis account does in fact derive from earlier myths where humans
are put to labor for the benefit of the gods, that tells us nothing about
the nature of labor in Milton's  Paradise. A&E tend the garden for their own
benefit, to keep the paths open (9.244-46) so they may gather food, enjoy
beauty, and be amused by the animals, and to enhance the production of
fruits and flowers. The labor is not onerous, but contributes pleasant
variety to their days. Perhaps the most detailed description of labor
actually in progress is here:

. . .Eve separate he spies,
Veiled in a cloud of fragrance, where she stood,           9. 425
Half-spied, so thick the roses bushing round
About her glowed, oft stooping to support
Each flower of tender stalk, whose head, though gay
Carnation, purple, azure, or specked with gold,
Hung drooping unsustained. Them she upstays            430
Gently with myrtle band, mindless the while
Herself, though fairest unsupported flower,
>From her best prop so far, and storm so nigh.
Nearer he drew, and many a walk traversed
Of stateliest covert, cedar, pine, or palm;            435
Then voluble and bold, now hid, now seen
Among thick-woven arborets, and flowers
Imbordered on each bank, the hand of Eve:
Spot more delicious than those gardens feigned
Or of revived Adonis, or renowned                    440
Alcinoüs, host of old Laertes¹ son,
Or that, not mystic, where the sapient king
Held dalliance with his fair Egyptian spouse.

Obviously, as Jeff Theis says, the text presents this work as easy,
pleasant, and creative-- Eve can already enjoy the results of her work in
the "flowers / Imbordered on each bank, the hand of Eve."

Michael G. 



On 6/23/09 10:26 AM, "Jeffrey Theis" <jtheis at salemstate.edu> wrote:


> 
> As for horticultural labor being an onerous task and your sarcastic
> dismissal of my argument that such labor can focus one's mind in a way
> that leads to knowledge (and pleasure), I think that you are
> fundamentally overlooking Milton's goal of stating that labor was not a
> punishment for sin. Labor was present before human sin, and it was good.
> Members of the list who are interested in a larger discussion of the
> merits of gardening labor might wish to read the first several chapters
> of Robert Pogue Harrison's *Gardens: An Essay on the Human Condition*
> (Chicago UP, 2008).
> 
> Michael, you may believe that Milton fails in this attempt to render
> labor as a positive act, or you may not like his argument but those are
> different things. My sense is that you have a better argument against
> labor if you just focus on Raphael's account of his being sent to guard
> Hell in Book 8 (229-40). That is a good place to apply a Marxist
> critique of labor.
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Jeff
>