[Milton-L] Heaven

[Tony Demarest]

A poet "sees" the invisible through metaphor- perhaps all the specifics of Milton's heaven and hell are metaphors. As an undergraduate, I had the privilege of having a Jesuit, who had a papal ban on him, for a theology course that focused on the "final option" theory of death- the notion that we are never more aware of ourselves as at the moment of death, and that it is then that we must choose between ourselves (hell), or heaven (community). And this idea is consonant with Milton's Satan. I am not suggesting revisionism, merely an example of how the "idea" of a heaven or a hell plays out in metaphor.
Tony

Date: Mon, 18 May 2009 11:32:59 -0400
From: ROY at uscb.edu
To: milton-l at lists.richmond.edu
Subject: [Milton-L] Heaven




Re: [Milton-L] Fetishizing Greatness, was Re: Is Paradise Lost(EXPLICIT)




Milton seems to have a pretty clear notion of what Heaven is supposed to be like, before and after the Fall.  Angels live there, and they eat real food, and they have sex.  But what will happen after death in the fallen world: will Milton meet a perfected Mary Powell Milton?  Will his daughters talk to him?
 
These aren't merely frivolous questions, though the humor calls attention to some of the inconsistencies in any depiction of Heaven, which is usually static, harmonious, and well, a little dull, at least in visual art.  Even Michelangelo still has more fun with damned souls, putting his own effigy in a flayed skin.
 
How do the list-members conceive of Milton's Heaven, in 25 words or less, as compared with any "evolved" modern perspective of Heaven?  Is the general attitude, "Well, I don't know what it is, but it must feel good, and I am sure I'm going there"?
 
Roy Flannagan   
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