John Milton At 400

Newsweek ^ | 12/08/09 | Marc Bain

[Borges]

William Wordsworth had a habit of comparing himself to—and even being in competition with—John Milton. Once Wordsworth asked a friend what he thought was the greatest elegy of the English language. The friend said that Milton's "Lycidas" was the greatest, to which Wordsworth replied, "It may, I think, be affirmed that Milton's 'Lycidas' and my 'Laodamia' are twin immortals." His fixation also turns up at one point in Ralph Waldo Emerson's "English Traits." Wordsworth met a man in London who showed him a watch that had belonged to Milton. Taking the watch and holding it out in front of him, Wordsworth then held out his own watch to compare the two side-by-side.

Dec. 9 is Milton's 400th birthday, which is as good a time as any to note that John Milton has been, more than anyone but Shakespeare, an inspiration and a rival to later poets. Although he's best known for his epic, "Paradise Lost" and its dramatic vision of Satan, his great elegy "Lycidas" has also been among the most persistently influential works in the language. The poem, which gave subsequent generations a framework for dramatizing themselves and their times, remains unmatched for the sheer force and music of its rhetoric, and for the provocation it has presented to his literary heirs.

[ConorMacNessa]

Poetry ping to Amy's Place.

Lamh Foistenach Abu!

[Verginius Rufus]

One of the greatest English poets, even if his wife thought he was boring. (I learned that from a movie.)

Meanwhile, the bicentennial of Andrew Johnson's birthday is coming up (Dec. 29) but doesn't seem to be attracting much fanfare.

[ClearCase_guy]

I was thinking just the other day that not many people read Milton anymore. In many cases, not even English majors, I would guess.

I don't propose that a culture should remain frozen in time -- new voices ought to arise and have their own impact on society. But it wasn't too long ago that educated people just naturally read the Bible, Shakespeare, Milton, Bunyan, and any number of slightly more recent poets.

Well, nowadays we have Toni Morrison and Stephen King, and maybe they're just as good as the classics.

[Borges]

I don’t think King is read in college English courses. At least not in any I encountered. I did read Milton in college though.

[ClearCase_guy]

I read “The Shining” in a Modern Literature course. But that was 20 years ago. Maybe schools have raised their standards since then.

[Borges]

Yikes. That’s a book that was improved by a film version. Any teacher who puts King on the syllabus is pandering.

[SunkenCiv]

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