[lbo-talk] A Diversion

Carrol Cox cbcox at ilstu.edu
Sun Dec 6 16:46:25 PST 2009


I hadn't read this when I responded to Doug. But I agree. A couple people off list over the last year have expressed curiosity as to why my love of Milton. Really, it took a whole epic to give these lines the punch they have!!! There are not many writers who can page after page make the _next_ word come in so inexorably. Keats wanted to pack each line, by itself, with ore. And he often did. But Milton makes each successive line carry (pack in) all the weight that has built up before it.

Carrol

Michael Smith wrote:
>
> On Sat, 05 Dec 2009 22:46:42 -0600
> Carrol Cox <cbcox at ilstu.edu> wrote:
>
> > Other candidates for beginnings and endings.
>
> .... For now, too nigh
> The Arch-Angel stood; and, from the other hill
> To their fixed station, all in bright array
> The Cherubim descended; on the ground
> Gliding meteorous, as evening-mist
> Risen from a river o’er the marish glides,
> And gathers ground fast at the labourer’s heel
> Homeward returning. High in front advanced,
> The brandished sword of God before them blazed,
> Fierce as a comet; which with torrid heat,
> And vapour as the Libyan air adust,
> Began to parch that temperate clime; whereat
> In either hand the hastening Angel caught
> Our lingering parents, and to the eastern gate
> Led them direct, and down the cliff as fast
> To the subjected plain; then disappeared.
> They, looking back, all th'eastern side beheld
> Of Paradise, so late their happy seat,
> Waved over by that flaming brand; the gate
> With dreadful faces thronged, and fiery arms:
> Some natural tears they dropt, but wiped them soon;
> The world was all before them, where to choose
> Their place of rest, and Providence their guide:
> They, hand in hand, with wandering steps and slow,
> Through Eden took their solitary way.
>
> --
>
> Michael Smith
> mjs at smithbowen.net
> http://stopmebeforeivoteagain.org
> http://fakesprogress.blogspot.com
>
> ___________________________________
> http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk



More information about the lbo-talk mailing list