Paradise Lost

[weinhold]

I am currently writing a paper on Milton's Paradise Lost. I am treating the work as a representation of the epic genre and tracing the image of the garden throughout it and other epic works such as Homer's Iliad/Odyssey, Virgil's Aeneid, and Melville's Moby-Dick.

Below is my tentative thesis for your perusal:

"The garden is an image of what must be sacrificed, violated, or abandoned in order for the epic struggle toward a new order to begin. Such an action in an epic work is never easy, nor is it pleasant, for the garden represents an idyllic good, an isolated order of love, consummation, wholeness, and innocence. And yet if the heroic goal of forming a civilization is to be accomplished, the natural state of the garden must be undone."

Keep in mind that the above thesis refers to literature, and not philosophy or theology. I welcome your insights and seek your refutations.

PW

 

[turmeric]

Have you read Surprised by Sin;The Reader in Paradise Lost by Stanley Eugene Fish? It's not about gardens in epic per se, but it's an interesting take on Milton and what he was trying to do in his epic. I think it's actually a doctoral thesis. It was done in the 60's, you may have read it.

 

[weinhold]

Meg,

Fish's book is on my list, but I haven't read it yet. My understanding is Fish argues that Milton intentionally causes the reader to sympathize with Satan, so that he or she will be participating in the sins of the poem. Is this an accurate paraphrase?

 

[turmeric]

Well, yes, he's trying to show that we do sympathize with him unless we are instructed otherwise. Fish thinks that because scholars didn't realize this technique he was using, they misinterpreted the poem.

 

[caddy]

not related to Milton, but thought this was interesting on Fish:

http://www.leaderu.com/ftissues/ft9602/articles/fish2.html