[Milton-L] L'Allegro and Il Penseroso

[Hannibal Hamlin]

I understand the point that we needn't necessarily decide, and the fact that
the poems always appear in tandem (and, when set by Handel, with Il Moderato
as well) supports this. At the same time, the point of any debate, surely,
is in fact to decide a question. Debating exercises, like this one, or at
least the college practice these poems may be based on, do require students
to take both sides. But this is not because the questions are unanswerable,
rather because in order to answer them one must be able to pursue arguments
on both sides as fully as possible. We could debate this of course -- :)
-- but doesn't the presentation of these two poems side by side demand of
the reader a comparison of the arguments and at least some assessment of
their relative merits?

Hannibal



On 3/25/09, Tony Demarest <tonydemarest at hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> I agree that we see two sides of Milton the poet and man struggling for
> poetic identity; and I think we see both sides reconciled in Lycidas- but I
> teach Milton every other year and this is my off-year. I tend to forget much
> in the interval.
>
> Tony
>
> > From: lschwart at richmond.edu
> > To: milton-l at lists.richmond.edu
> > Date: Wed, 25 Mar 2009 12:04:57 -0400
> > Subject: RE: [Milton-L] L'Allegro and Il Penseroso
> >
> > An even more important question, from my perspective, would be why you
> assume he'd take sides at all. What, if anything, in the poems suggests that
> the debate is in any sense clearly decidable?
> >
> > Louis
> >
> > ===========================
> > Louis Schwartz
> > Associate Professor of English
> > University of Richmond
> > Richmond, VA 23173
> > (804) 289-8315
> > lschwart at richmond.edu
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: milton-l-bounces at lists.richmond.edu [mailto:
> milton-l-bounces at lists.richmond.edu] On Behalf Of James Rovira
> > Sent: Wednesday, March 25, 2009 10:26 AM
> > To: John Milton Discussion List
> > Subject: Re: [Milton-L] L'Allegro and Il Penseroso
> >
> > More important than the answer is how you come to it. Why do you
> > think Milton would be on the side of Il Penseroso? Can you list the
> > reasons?
> >
> > Jim R
> >
> > 2009/3/24 <gamefreak727 at gmail.com>:
> >> Hey, i am just a high school student writing about John Milton's poem's
> >> "L'Allegro" and "Il Penseroso." My prompt i made for my senior project
> was,
> >> If the two poems above were considered a debate, an argument, or two
> sides
> >> of an issue or debate, or two people, which side or person would Milton
> most
> >> prefer or like? My answer was "Il Penseroso." Would any of you agree
> with
> >> me?
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-- 
Hannibal Hamlin
Associate Professor of English
The Ohio State University
Burkhardt Fellow,
The Folger Shakespeare Library
201 East Capitol Street SE
Washington, DC 20003
hamlin.22 at osu.edu/
hamlin.hannibal at gmail.com
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