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| Adam and Eve by William Blake |
Please let our hostess know if you will be unable to attend so she can set out the correct number of seats, which will be unassigned. (I had to get in ONE classroom reference in!)
I donʼt have even a slightly entertaining anecdote to add in anticipation of this week's selection, but that will not stop me from continuing to share!
Throughout my years in school, I seemed to have been plagued by William Blake. Be it an English class, art history class, or even English history class, I seemed to always have had to deal with Blake. I never really cared for Blake, but it seemed to be Blake, Blake, all the time, and I probably would have even argued that Blake had WRITTEN Paradise Lost even though I have never read it! I think of his images when hearing the title of the poem.
Mainly there was that infernal:
Tyger Tyger, burning bright,
In the forests of the night;
What immortal hand or eye,
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
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| Cake provided by Christine |
The only joy I would get from that poem would be recalling that wonderful line from one of my favorite films, Educating Rita, when Julie Walters argues with Michael Caine that “assonance is getting the rhyme wrong.”
In light of this year's theme, I chose to revisit the Blake illustrations of Paradise Lost and I must admit, in my seasoned state, I find them to be rather astonishing, and I look forward to Christine's presentation immensely to further my newfound appreciation of his work. And how grateful I am to have been so enlightened so as not to have what would likely be a very embarrassing argument about who wrote Paradise Lost, if ever it should come up in conversation!
But I've really digressed here, so I'll stop sharing now! I SO look forward to seeing many of you on Wednesday for Christineʼs presentation on JOHN MILTON and Paradise Lost. For me, it has been much too long!
x Jacquie
Francesʼ Minutes Twelve members and 2 associates met at Joanna’s house for a Lit Club first: a potluck lunch. It’s a good alternative to brown bag lunches for emergencies. The scheduled hostess, Diana, had returned the night before from Mississippi. She was caring for her mother who had taken a bad fall. Joanna managed to carve out time between returning from Martha’s Vineyard and supervising two events happening later that evening. Special note must be made of a devil’s food cake supplied by Christine (see photo)
Joanna called the meeting to order at 1 PM. Lori gave the treasurer’s report: $113.12.
Recommendations Lori recommended On the Calculation of Volume
by Danish writer Solveg Valle. Three of the projected 7 volume work have been translated in English. Connie and Jacquie both recommended Liberation, Beth Wohl’s Broadway play about 1970’s feminists.
To Christine’s presentation on John Milton’s Paradise Lost
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| Christine as Satan |
Christine came dressed as a devil. She wore a beautiful pair of long red gloves plus a black cloak with a red lining & horns on her head. A thoughtful choice since Satan is naked in William Bloke’s illustrations, as well as the poem.
Christine was unprepared for how “profoundly” she “would be affected by the poem.” She carried the book everywhere she traveled. Her early Catholic education had taught her about Original Sin. In no way did it prepare her for the beauty and terror of Milton’s language.
In Paradise Lost, she found themes that include “more or less everything worth thinking about.” Despite decades of serious reading, this was her first encounter with Milton’s influential epic.
John Milton was born in 1609. He studied to become an Anglican priest, but was never ordained, he knew his vocation to be poetry. During the Civil War, beginning in 1639, he sided with Cromwell and the Parliamentarians, and was in favor of the execution of Charles I. With the Restoration of 1660, he feared imprisonment or execution. He was protected by powerful friends until a general pardon was declared. Milton spent the rest of his life in London. His major works, Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained and Samson Agonistes were written after he lost his sight. In a painting of imagination and homage, Eugene Delacroix had Milton dictating Paradise Lost to his three daughters. He composed his poems aloud, but his daughters weren’t his scribes. Milton died in 1674.
Christine sampled 10 different Audible recordings of Paradise Lost before she found the one she thought best. The poem was spoken before it was written; reading it aloud was for her the closest way to enter the poem’s spirit.
The poem begins with Satan contemplating another war against heaven. The fallen angels are dissatisfied, bitter about their defeat – they are in hell. Beelzebub shares information of God’s new intention: to create man. He will not be divine like angels; but man will have the power to choose obedience to God. Satan comprehends how to create discord between God and man. He will take the form of a serpent to corrupt the man and woman, to tempt them into disobeying their creator. Eve eats the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, an action specifically forbidden by God. She is now cursed to die like a mortal being. Adam, loving her, not wanting to be without her, wanting to perish with her, also tastes the fruit.
God had given Adam and Eve free will. Disobedience will be unforgiven. God declares, “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread / Till thou return unto the ground for thou / out of the ground was taken. Know thy birth / For dust thou art and shalt to dust return.”
Respectfully submitted,
Frances Greenberg
Recording Secretary
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