Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
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for Milton
Mycontention,however,is thatplacewasproblematic
and was so for variousreasons.To begin with, as StephenFallon
has argued,Miltonwas seriouslyengagedwith the scientificand
fermentof his time.3Secondly,Miltondid not thinkof
philosophical
himselfas writingfictionin ParadiseLost and did not feel himself
licensedto lie in the carefullydelimitedsense that PhilipSidney's
Apologyfor Poetryhad madelegitimate.ThoughMiltonhad been
contentto employconventional
poeticfictionsin earlypoemssuchas
ELH 74 (2007) 27-57 2007 by The JohnsHopkinsUniversityPress
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and depth."'15
Qualitativefeatures-weight, texture,color, smell, and
so on-tell us nothingabouttheobjectstrictlyspeakingbutonlyabout
the perceivingsubject,betweenwhomandthe objectis an absolute
ontologicalhiatus,thatbetweenres extensaandres cogitans.Among
the qualitativefeatures stripped from the object and now vested in
Placialoperators-up,down,high,low,inside,
the subjectis "place."
outside-do not belongin the worldof extension.Indeedthatworld
is as spatialas it is material:
it withmind.Howeverinadvertently,
reconditeprojectof implicating
John Gillies
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in the followingdiscussion,whichprogressesfromspacethroughroom
to place, ending with a coda on body.
I. SPACE
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each other with reflected light from the sun? What if the moon and
starsbe inhabited?Whyshould"suchvast roomin nature"be "unpossessed" (8.153)? The questions lead to two conclusions,one explicit
and the other implicit.The explicitconclusionis whathas strucksome
critics as scientificallyreactionary:
Solicitnot thythoughtswithmattershid;
Leavethemto Godabove,himserveandfear;
joy thou
In whathe givesto thee,thisParadise[;]
heavenis forthee too high
Toknowwhatpassesthere;be lowlywise:
Thinkonlywhatconcernsthee andthybeing;
Dreamnot of otherworlds,whatcreaturesthere
Live,in whatstate,conditionor degree.
(8.167-68,170-76)
But the realpoint is surelythatwhat mattersto manconcernshis own
being, his own place, and, indeed, place ratherthan space. Raphael's
paradeof spatialconjectureis more than just a displayof rhetorical
irony leading up to a deflatingconclusion. His hospitalityto the notion of a pluralityof worldssuggeststhat space itself might be placial,
or full of inhabitedworlds. It is worth pausingover Milton'senthusiasm for this notion. The idea of a pluralityof inhabitedworldswas
notoriousnot just because its chief renaissanceproponent,Giordano
Bruno, had gone to the stake for it, but because it was potentially
heretical. Had the Fall happened on Mars,and, if so, did Christdie
on Marsto redeem the Martians?Milton'senthusiasmin the face of
this theologicaldifficulty,I wouldsuggest,is placial.Havingdone away
with the old cosmographicassumptionof an ontologicalsplitbetween
the sublunarand celestial spheres, Milton was fully preparedto entertain his own version of the Galileanalternative:the universewas
If place made sense on Earth,
ontologicallyconsistent throughout.34
then it must also make sense-or potential sense-throughout the
cosmos. The reasonman is enjoinedto "[d]reamnot of other worlds"
is not that they are not there, but simplythat in the absence of space
travel they are none of his immediate business;they are not-so to
speak-furnished as his unique room.Raphaelcouldwell be imagined
givingthe same adviceto Martians.Don't worryabout Earth,just get
on with life on spaceship Mars. Don't worryabout their theological
problems,just your own.
John Gillies
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The real question, then, is not so much the nature of space or the
cosmos (the hexaemeral literature erred in supposing that such a topic
was pertinent to revelation) but the role of man within the cosmos,
or his corner of it: Earth.35The dialogue on astronomy resoundingly
asserts the importance of place over space. Adam admits his need of
such advice by owning up to a taste for new philosophy. There is, he
suggests, an elective affinity between the human mind and "wandering thoughts, and notions vain," for "apt the mind or fancy is to rove /
Unchecked, and of her roving is no end" (8.187-89). This is as much
to say that there is an affinity between the mind and the nebulous
of space("wandering,"
exaltations
as we havenoted,is wordplayfor
has
the
Eve,too,
"planet").
spatialbug.The dreamthatSatanplants
in her mind seems a version of Scipio's:
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or cosmographically
explodedworld.Speakingof "the
geographically
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(7.187-91)
Thereareothertopographic
signsof thisplacialaffinitybesidesmere
neighborhood: the golden chain linking heaven and the cosmos. Again,
the allegorical figure of Chaos informs Satan that Earth is created "on
that side of Heaven whence your legions fell" (2.1006).
The creation of the cosmos is thus a way of "making room" in the
quite literal sense of filling the gap in the ontological fabric of heaven
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Thehauntof sealsandores,andsea-mews'clang.
Toteachthee thatGodattributes
to place
No sanctity,if nonebe thitherbrought
By menwhotherefrequent,or thereindwell.
(11.830-31, 833-38)
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/...
Place, then, is an epiphenomenonof room, less a permanentdatum of naturethan the face reflected by physicalnature in response
to human inhabitance.Adam literallyimagines paradiseas the face
of God, lamentingthat "departinghence, / As from his face I shallbe
hid, deprived/ His blessed countenance"(11.315-17). Again,in the
postlapsarianvisions of book 11, Adam "looked,and saw the face of
thingsquite changed"(11.712) as a scene of "luxuryand riot"succeeds
one of warfare(11.715).Thoughsuggestingtransitorinesshere, "face"
is a bodily and spiritualimage and thus not negativelyweighted in
general. One thinksof the "humanface divine"which the blind poet
longs to see amid the smilingface of naturein the inductionto book
3 (3.44). Place is, so to speak, the face that gazes back at mankind
from nature'smirror.
Placesevolve-they areborn,live, anddie-along withpeople. Had
mannever fallen,paradisewould have evolvedin the sense of expandJohn Gillies
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ing to fill the earth and becoming more like heaven. After the Fall,
paradise(like all other places) is obliteratedby the flood, and place is
no longer a primaryexpressionof human being-in-the-world.God's
covenant with man is non-placialand expressed in mobile symbols
reflectiveof the wanderingfate of Cain. A particularreason for the
"visionsof God"shown by Michaelin book 11 (we may imagine) is
to change Adam'splace-boundconcept of worship(11.376). Initially,
Adamis unable to comprehendworshipin the context of places that
mean nothingto him. Hence his wish to remainin paradise:
hereI couldfrequent,
Withworship,placeby placewherehe vouchsafed
Presencedivine,andto mysonsrelate;
Onthismounthe appeared;
underthistree
Stoodvisible,amongthesepineshisvoice
I heard,herewithhimat thisfountaintalked:
So manygratefulaltarsI wouldrear
Of grassyturf,andpile up everystone
Of lusterfromthe brook,in memory,
Ormonumentto ages,andthereon
Offersweetsmellinggumsandfruitsandflowers:
In yondernetherworldwhereshallI seek
or footsteptrace?
Hisbrightapprearances,
(11.317-29)
Reminiscent of the shrine-worshipand pilgrimagesof the old religion, Adam'sshrine-goingis backwardlookingand solipsistic:his own
private version of what Samuel Edgerton has called the "omphalos
syndrome"of early medievalworld maps centered on Jerusalemand
obsessed with the location of paradise.54What, in contrast,the "visions of god" reveal to Adam is a bewilderingvarietyof places and
behaviorsin which permanenthabitation-the idea of a "capitalseat"
pointlesssequenceofwandering,
(11.343)-giveswayto anapparently
sojourn,and removal.
The devaluationof place afterthe Fall begs variousquestions.Why
does placeneverthelessexertsucha gripon Milton'simagination?Why,
particularlyin view of Milton'sliteracyin the place-scorning"newphilosophy"of scientistssuch as WilliamGilbert,does he not followin the
poetic steps of Donne? Why-given that postlapsarianplace is less a
factof naturethana factorof subjectivity-is Miltonnot a Cartesian?55
A large part of the answerlies in Milton'sdepictionof hell.
A. J. A. Waldockfound Milton'shell imaginativelyhybrid to the
point of contradiction:
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hastoserveadoubleduty:itisaplaceofperpetual
Hell... asalocality
andunceasing
in theory;andit is also,in the practice
punishment,
of the poem,an assembly
area,a baseforfuture
ground,a military
do
not
well
The
two
conceptions
very agree.
operations.
Notwithstandingthe heat, Waldockwaspishlyobserves, "organized
The contradiction,then, is between a Danfield sportsare possible."56
tean prison-houseand a kindof miscellaneousactivitiescenter,with a
readinggroupto the right,athleticsto the left, excursionsat the door.
Waldock'sdissatisfaction,I suggest, can be taken as a way into the
supreme originalityof Milton'shell. Milton begins with the Dantean
model of a place that absolutelydominatesthe body, trappingit in
space, condemningit to repetitionin time, and overwhelmingit with
pain. Such a place would bespeak the fundamentallogic of Milton's
heaven (and to a lesser extent his paradise)in the sense of being designed with one purpose in mind:that of hosting its occupantsin an
intimatelyoverdeterminedway.But (as the argumentto book 1 makes
clear) a Dantean hell as such-"in the centre"of the earth-is ruled
out, "forheaven and earth maybe supposedas not yet made"(1.arg).
More interestingly,a hell on the Dantean model is merely a point of
departurefor Miltoninto somethingmore modernand more relative,
where devils escape their absolutefixity(chainedto the burninglake)
in orderto regroup,dispute,engagein buildingprojects,and generally
come to terms with where they are. Milton'shell, then, while proving extremelyunpleasantfor its new occupants,does permit them an
importantlevel of counter-agency.Accordingly,they seek to mediate
the effects of place, to disempower,relativize,nullify,and escape it.
Though the devils appearto have some success in this, the place will
eventuallyclaimthem ("know"them) in subtlerways.The topographic
ambiguityof hell-part prison, part sea, part plain, part frozen and
parttorrid,part"continent,"and partconcave-provides a setting for
a debate about the body'srelationshipto place.
It is worth inquiringmore closely into the various strategies for
mitigatingor denyingthe claimsof place. Musicprovesto be of some
help, with its power
to mitigateandswage,
Withsolemntouches,troubledthoughts,andchase
Anguishanddoubtandfearandsorrowandpain
Frommortalandimmortalminds....
(1.556-59)
John Gillies
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andspatiality
in Eve'sdream
tionbetweenthinking,ungroundedness,
and
andAdam'spredilectionfor"wandering
thoughts, notionsvain."
in
sceneof book2 when
the
council
Wefinda similarassociation
early
would
lose
/
full
of
Belialasks,"[W]ho
Though
pain,thisintellectual
being,/ These thoughtsthatwanderthrougheternity?"(2.146-48).
Belialenjoysthe sameluxuryin hell thatAdamenjoys
Interestingly,
in paradise:
thatof unfetteredspeculation.
Againwe areremindedof
the amenities(the civilizedquality)of Milton'shell.The starknessof
the contrastbetweenmentalfreedomandthe moretraditional
idea
of bodilytortureis shortlypickedup by a seriesof Danteanalternativesthatwouldmakefree thoughtimpossible:enchainmenton the
the sportandprey/ Of
burninglakeor "eachon his rocktransfix'd,
/
for
ever
sunk
Under
or
yonboilingocean,wrapt
rackingwhirlwinds;
in chains"(2.181-83).It is extremebondageof this sort-the kind
thatmanaclesthe mind-that the devilsriskincurringby the frontal
assaultthatMolochcallsfor.Belialgoeson to advisethatif the devils
refrainfromprovokingGodfurther,his angermayabateand"these
theirangelicbodragingfires/ Willslacken"(2.213-14).Meanwhile,
ies may,"tothe placeconformed
/ In temperandin nature,"adapt
so as to "receive/ Familiarthe fierceheat"(2.217-19).The argument
is furtherdevelopedby Mammonwho-rather anticipating
Samuel
Smiles'sself-helpcredo-suggests the devils"seek/ Ourown good
fromourselves"
(2.252-53),andso "inwhatplaceso e'er/ Thriveunderevil,andworkease out of pain/ Throughlabourandendurance"
(2.260-62). Given a will to work and the right materials to work with,
hell can be transformed into a Las Vegas theme-park version of heaven
of space").
(theultimategoalof Mammon's
"production
is Stoic,oddlyappropriating
the
part("[a]mindnot to be changed")
Stoic Platonismof Comus:
John Cillies
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Virtuecouldsee to do whatVirtuewould
By herownradiantlight,thoughsunandmoon
Werein the flatsea sunk....
He thathasclearlightwithinhis ownclearbreast
Maysit i'thecentre,andenjoybrightday,
Buthe thathidesa darksoul,andfoulthoughts
Benightedwalksunderthe middaysun;
Himselfis his owndungeon."58
The sentiment is of course misappropriatedif for no other reason
than that Platoniccosmologyis effectivelydisempoweredin Paradise
Lost (in Comus,virtue'sself-sufficientlight comes from the primum
mobile ratherthan "the middaysun").Ironically,Satandoes not discover the hollowness of his boast until he is physicallyout of hell.
Thus approachingthe new world,he finds that "withinhim hell / He
brings... nor from hell / One step no more than from himself can
fly/ By change of place" (4.20-23). In this subjectivesense, indeed
hell suddenlyseems spatiallyinfinite:"Whichway I fly is Hell; myself
am Hell;/ And in the lowest deep, a lower deep / Still threateningto
devour me opens wide" (4.75-77). Spatiality-the ungroundedness
of thought-takes on a nightmarishquality.Yet hell is nowhere more
hellish for Satanthan when confrontedby the wedded bliss of Adam
and Eve in paradise:
thusthesetwo,
Sighthateful,sighttormenting!
in one another's
arms,
Imparadised
ThehappierEden,shallenjoytheirfill
Of blisson bliss,whileI to Hellamthrust
(4.505-8)
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51
to lightatthestartof book
passageon hisblindnessintotheinvocation
In
of
view
the
sheer
emotional
and
3.
power
beautyof thispassage,
the reader may well not feel the need for an excuse. Yet we must ask:
to what extent is the intense emotional investment of this passage
extraneous or part of the design? Initially, the theme of blindness
is so deftly embedded within epic convention as not to seem out of
place. Like Dante, Milton emerges in the company of his muse from
a figurative sojourn in the underworld and greets the light:
Thee I revisitnow with bolder wing,
Escaped the Stygianpool....
Taughtby the heavenlyMuse to venture down
The darkdescent, and up to reascend,
Though hardand rare:Thee I revisitsafe,
And feel thy sovereignvital lamp....
(3.13-14,19-22)
Milton feels the light but cannot see it. However decorously inscribed
into the structure of the poem, the shock of the following description
is profound: "but thou / Revisitst not these eyes, that roll in vain / To
find thy piercing ray, and find no dawn; / So thick a drop serene hath
quenched their orbs, / Or dim suffusion veiled" (3.22-26). The image
of orbs rolling "in vain" and in darkness is irresistibly cosmic, like dark
stars or dead moons ("serene") spinning homelessly in the void. There
follow two powerfully placial passages: the ghostly evocation of nightly
visits to the haunt of the muses-"Clear spring, or shady grove, or sunny
hill" (3.28)-and the rending evocation of the mundane world:
Thus with the year
Seasonsreturn,but not to me returns
Day, or the sweet approachof even or morn,
Or sight of vernalbloom, or summer'srose,
Or flocks,or herds, or humanface divine;
But cloud instead,and ever-duringdark
Surroundsme, from the cheerfulways of men
Cut off, and for the book of knowledgefair
Presentedwith a universalblank
Of nature'sworksto me expungedand razed,
And wisdom at one entrancequite shut out.
(3.40-50)
So deep is the despair that Milton momentarily forgets that the light
which is denied him is physical light ("bright effluence") not the essential light ("bright essence increate") with which he identifies God
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of CaliforniaPress, 1997).
2
Samuel Johnson, Lives of the Poets: John Milton, in Johnson: Prose and Poetry, ed.
3 See Stephen M. Fallon, Milton among the Philosophers: Poetry and Materialism in
Seventeenth-Century
England(Ithaca:Cornell Univ.Press, 1991). Fallon arguesthat
Milton'smaterialismshould be contextualizedin terms of contemporaryphilosophical debates ratherthan in the chaotic list of sources and analoguesmore commonly
proposed.
4On this, see Fallon, 160-65.
5John Donne, An Anatomy of the World. The First Anniversary, in The Poems of
John Donne, ed. Herbert J. Grierson,2 vols. (London:Oxford Univ. Press, 1966),
lines 295-301.
'Donne, The First Anniversary, line 205.
John Gillies
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John Gillies
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John Gillies
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