[Milton-L] Milton's Heaven in 25 words
or less
Michael Bryson
michael.bryson at csun.edu
Mon May 18 14:59:50 EDT 2009
Yes, I think he does. I think the passage from
10.1010-46 is an excellent example of Milton's
humor. Adam's great theological inspiration, the one
in which he anticipates the "Christian" re-reading
of the Serpent and the threat Yahweh makes against
it in Genesis 3:15, is brought on--at least in
part--as a reaction to Eve's suggestion that they
either 1) go without sex for the rest of their lives
(930 years in the case of the Biblical Adam...rather
a long time, methinks...), or 2) kill themselves. It
has long struck me as both a serious and a funny
moment. Adam's ingenuity appears to stem from a
desire not to be celibate for 900+ years (and not to
commit suicide...though this is the less comic of
the two motivations). I suspect Milton is having a
bit of a wry joke here about the rather basic
motivations that underlie some (much?) "higher"
achievement and innovation.
Michael Bryson
(avoiding grading finals like his life depended on
the avoidance...)
---- Original message ----
Date: Mon, 18 May 2009 13:31:45 -0500
From: "Dr. Larry Gorman" <larry at eastwest.edu>
Subject: RE: [Milton-L] Milton's Heaven in 25
words or less
To: "John Milton Discussion List"
<milton-l at lists.richmond.edu>
You think he means to be?
----------------------------------------------------
From:
milton-l-bounces at lists.richmond.edu
[mailto:milton-l-bounces at lists.richmond.edu] On
Behalf Of Michael Bryson
Sent: Monday, May 18, 2009 1:20 PM
To: John Milton Discussion List
Subject: RE: [Milton-L] Milton's Heaven in 25
words or less
The reference to Mel Brooks was deliberate...can't
help myself...the
1968 "Springtime for Hitler" remains the single
funniest thing I have
ever seen.
And of course, the cringing is Satan and Gabriel
accusing each other of
toadying ("You were!" "No, you were!") at the end
of book
4. That has always struck me as a comic
moment...thus, back to Mel Brooks...and
what I often see as a faintly (to be grossly
anachronistic) Busby Berkeley
quality to some of the heaven scenes in PL and PR.
Milton is sometimes very
funny...
Michael
---- Original message ----
Date: Mon, 18 May
2009 14:11:30 -0400
From: "FLANNAGAN, ROY"
<ROY at uscb.edu>
Subject: RE: [Milton-L] Milton's Heaven in 25
words or less
To: "John Milton Discussion
List" <milton-l at lists.richmond.edu>
>Michael: Wonderful to try the sonnet, but the
image of dancing to the beat
might be too close to Mel Brooks ("Springtime for
Hitler" in The Producers,
or "Puttin' on the Ritz" in Young Frankenstein) or
Woody Allen
(Mighty Aphrodite, choral scenes). I wonder what
kind of dance Milton might have liked to dance in
Heaven.
The musical arrangement rings true: God must be a
good composer, with musical
children.
>
>I assume that it is the almost-bad angels who are
doing the cringing?
>
>This could set off a wave of sonnets. Should we
emend to "fourteen
lines, unless you have a tail"?
>
>Roy Flannagan
>
>________________________________
>
>From: milton-l-bounces at lists.richmond.edu on
behalf of Michael Bryson
>Sent: Mon 5/18/2009 1:53 PM
>To: John Milton Discussion List
>Subject: Re: [Milton-L] Milton's
Heaven in 25 words or less
>
>
>"Milton's
Heaven"? Where? In Paradise Lost? In DDC?
In a constructed (by the critic) version of the
one that presumably resided in Milton's
imagination?
>
>Here's a version of the one this critic sees (and
therefore, in some sense
constructs) in Paradise Lost, though in sonnet
form (thus, of necessity, more than 25 words). The
borrowings from Milton should be all too
obvious, but otherwise the quality (or lack
thereof) should be entirely blamed
on me:
>
>Milton's
Heaven
>We dance and sing, in ecstasy before
>The throne, with distances to cringe, not fight,
>Or fawn and cringe and servilely adore
>Our Heaven's awful king. What but His might
>
>Arranges every harmony and note,
>With choreography controlling motion
>Of angels' dances, learning steps by rote,
>Turn, turn, kick, turn, in chorus lines' devotion
>
>To mastery of the dance the Master calls?
>What though free will may yet illusion prove,
>Or no, but solid show as Heaven's walls?
>What matters is the dance in which we move.
>
>A tyranny or liberty in show,
>The image is ourselves, and all we'll know.
>
>
>Michael Bryson
>
>---- Original message ----
>
>
> Date: Mon, 18 May 2009 13:17:54 -0400
> From: Gregory Machacek
<Gregory.Machacek at marist.edu>
> Subject: [Milton-L] Milton's
Heaven in 25 words or less
> To: John Milton Discussion List
<milton-l at lists.richmond.edu>
> >The bliss of gratefully resigning one's will to
that of a Creator who
> >lovingly wills better things than you could
imagine to will for
yourself.
> >
> >Greg Machacek
> >Professor of English
> >Marist College
> >
> >It's the 25 word limit that makes the exercise
fun (and challenging
for
> >academics!)
> >
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