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

[alan horn]

 here in California, there are many people
> who might beg to differ about the pleasant and creative nature of working in
> the fields without respite, without end.

Labor in Eden is specifically not "without respite":

Yet not so strictly hath our Lord imposed	
Labour as to debar us when we need	
Refreshment, whether food, or talk between,	
Food of the mind, or this sweet intercourse	
Of looks and smiles; for smiles from reason flow	
To brute denied, and are of love the food—	
Love, not the lowest end of human life.	
For not to irksome toil, but to delight,	
He made us, and delight to reason joined.
(IX, 235-244)

Even in our fallen world, all work does not take place in non-union
sweatshops. There's nothing pro-worker about equating work with
punishment. Workers naturally seek better conditions, and when they
can they fight for them, but they also tend to understand the value
and dignity of labor.

Alan Horn