[Milton-L] Heaven

[JD Fleming]

one word: play

JD Fleming

----- Original Message -----
From: "ROY FLANNAGAN" <ROY at uscb.edu>
To: "John Milton Discussion List" <milton-l at lists.richmond.edu>
Sent: Monday, May 18, 2009 8:32:59 AM GMT -08:00 US/Canada Pacific
Subject: [Milton-L] Heaven

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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-- 
James Dougal Fleming
Associate Professor
Department of English
Simon Fraser University

"das Fragwuerdige zu sehen"