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Re: Zesty and the like
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In a message dated 07/12/2006 03:18:29 GMT Standard Time,
NABOKV-L@HOLYCROSS.EDU writes:
"With nectar pure his oozy locks he laves..."
Ugh, indeed! Matthew is right! I shouldn't have mentioned Milton in my
earlier post.
Someone, I think it is Graves, has a right old bash at Milton's Lycidas, and
damns the whole thing from beginning to end; the main point being that its
emotions are false through and through, and all Milton is really interested in
his own fame.
It's intensely memorable and absolutely stuffed with quotes, however.
Empson also has a terrific go at Paradise Lost, devoting an entire book to
Milton's appalling God. As a schoolboy I once wrote an essay unequivocally
asserting that Paradise Lost was a tedious old bore. The master said he
respected the honesty of my sentiments, but disagreed with my conclusion, and said
that the poem wasn't boring in the slightest. Later on I changed my mind, quite
considerably, but I'm still not able to take the thing in one gulp. It
eventually forces one's admiration, but rather in the manner of a multi-tiered
wedding-cake. One or two small slices suffice.
Charles
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