Yo, jameo. If I remember correctly the edition we used had no introduction. I looked it up in the library here at school and this book appears to have introduction either. Hmmm. . . which edition are you using?
As for the muse though -- in my literary criticism class that seems to be the hot topic: whether the muse does the writing, the LSD does the writing, or the writer does the writing.
What does Milton say? I would suppose that he, like Chaucer, attributes any good working of "the muse" to the Holy Spirit, but I may be surprised.
sorry for the confusion...by introduction i just meant like the first 26 lines of chapter one. yes, the muse is the Holy Spirit...but that is what i was thinking may be a little presumptuous. he says this:
Sing Heav'nly Muse, that on the secret top / Of Oreb, or of Sinai, didst inspire / That shepherd, who first taught the chosen seed, / In the beginning how the heav'ns and earth / Rose out of Chaos: or if Sion hill / Delight thee more, and Siloa's brook that flowed / Fast by the oracle of God; I thence / Invoke thy aid to my advent'rous song, That with no middle flight intends to soar Above th' Aonian mount, while it pursues Things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme.
now that i have thought about it more, i don't think he is being that presumptuous in praying that the HS would speak through him...at first i was thinking that the muse inspires...which would mean one could say that paradise lost is inspired by the HS--which sounds strange because scripture is inspired by the HS. but i don't actually think it is that weird...cause like i pray for inspiration from the HS, and that he would speak through me.
3 comments:
what did you think about milton's introduction to paradise lost...specifically his invocation of the muse.
it's kind of cool...but kind of weird too. maybe presumptuous???
Yo, jameo. If I remember correctly the edition we used had no introduction. I looked it up in the library here at school and this book appears to have introduction either. Hmmm. . . which edition are you using?
As for the muse though -- in my literary criticism class that seems to be the hot topic: whether the muse does the writing, the LSD does the writing, or the writer does the writing.
What does Milton say? I would suppose that he, like Chaucer, attributes any good working of "the muse" to the Holy Spirit, but I may be surprised.
sorry for the confusion...by introduction i just meant like the first 26 lines of chapter one. yes, the muse is the Holy Spirit...but that is what i was thinking may be a little presumptuous. he says this:
Sing Heav'nly Muse, that on the secret top / Of Oreb, or of Sinai, didst inspire / That shepherd, who first taught the chosen seed, / In the beginning how the heav'ns and earth / Rose out of Chaos: or if Sion hill / Delight thee more, and Siloa's brook that flowed / Fast by the oracle of God; I thence / Invoke thy aid to my advent'rous song, That with no middle flight intends to soar Above th' Aonian mount, while it pursues Things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme.
now that i have thought about it more, i don't think he is being that presumptuous in praying that the HS would speak through him...at first i was thinking that the muse inspires...which would mean one could say that paradise lost is inspired by the HS--which sounds strange because scripture is inspired by the HS. but i don't actually think it is that weird...cause like i pray for inspiration from the HS, and that he would speak through me.
thanks.
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