Justin Chandler L318: Milton Paper 2 04/09/2010

Death and Authority in Milton

A characteristic of John Miltons works which separates it from more modern or contemporary concerns is his consistentalmost indulgentfocus on the subject of Death. Granted, it may be unfair to characterize Milton as indulgent, since Death is naturally attached to the work he has completed. Both in Paradise Lostwhich deals with the fall of humanity and the bringing of Sin and Death into the worldand Lycidaswhich sees Milton coming to terms with the death of a friendnaturally lead Milton to entertain the concept of death, and what it means. This consistent struggle to develop an understanding of Death gives us a large amount of material to work with, and in dealing with the information it becomes evident that there are actually different streams of understanding Death, different ways in which Miltonand perhaps his contrived personasrelate to and ultimately come to terms with Death. It is my contention that there are four stages to Miltons conception of Death. While there is not a clearly defined progression from one to the other that is readily available in the text, by examining the somewhat disparate threads it is possible to come to an understanding of Miltons conception of Death, both from a spiritual and intellectual perspective. For Milton, Death is first a troubling physical and spiritual issue that is resolved through redemption. However, Death then becomes a more abstract force, a problem of human irrelevance in light of Gods self-sufficiency. Miltons answer to this is the position of the author, a figure of authority who is capable of mimicking Gods creative ability, and in so doing

2 immortalizing his or her self and reclaiming personal integrity and relevance. While Milton is not a modern writer, I will conclude by examining another conception of Death, presented by Walt Whitman, a writer much indebted to Milton, and show how Miltons own complexyet ultimately unifiedconception of Death goes beyond the typical religious understandings of Death and can be seen, in many ways, as anticipating a more modern poetic conception of Death. The first stage in Miltons approach to Death is evident most especially in the text of Paradise Lost. Here, Milton struggles with the first death, the spiritual death of humanity as well as the arrival of physical death and decay. Most important here is how Milton characterizes death. It is obvious to us that Death is not a good thing, but Milton heightens the evil power of Death through his descriptions. Everything about Death is monstrous, so much so that when Satan meets Death in hell, near the end of Book II, Death lacks even any distinguishable sense of embodiment. Death, then, is an embodiment without a body, a physical paradox. Death is called, a monster; horrid; a Goblin; full of wrath; a grieslie terror; dreadful; and deform[ed]. What is clear from these descriptions is just how anti-God Death truly is. It is not merely evilit is an abomination. It becomes even more apparent, however, after Eve eats the fruit. In Book X, Death becomes not a terrifying opponent, but a devouring beasta beast whose prey is quite obviously humanity. Death comments that even Earths plenteous supply of life appears to offer too little/ / To stuff this Maw, this vast unhide-bound Corps. In other words, no matter how full Death becomes, he is never satisfied; he never gets his fill. While not as poetically conceited, the conception of Death in Lycidas is initially equally bleak. It is referred to as a heavy change, a remorseless deep, and the blind Fury with thabhorred shears. It is also compared to the death of Orpheus, both in terms of the savage

3 nature of death (for Orpheus in particular, but also for humanity in general) as well as the sense of pointlessness and despair when confronted with the reality of death, a force that will kill even someone like King, a young man and contemporary of Milton whose life was cut short. Of course for Milton, as well as most of the religiously-minded of his time, humanity ultimately has the upper hand on Death in light of the redemption. Salvation through Jesus Christ saves humanity from its fate, and the promise is evident throughout Paradise Lost and Lycidas. When Jesus accepts Gods call to save humanity, his words echo the Bible. I shall rise Victorious, and subdue / My Vanquisher / Death his deaths wound shall then receive, Jesus says, which parallels 1 Corinthians 15:26: The last enemy that shall be destroyed is Death. Perhaps the best foreshadowing in terms of artistic ingenuity, is the section that closes the poem. Som natural tears they dropd, Miltons narrator tells us, reflecting the loss, but wipd them soon. The concluding phrase foreshadows the coming redemption, and parallels Revelation 21:4, And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying... Similarly, in Lycidas Milton ends on a hopeful note. The speaker commands the shepherds weep no more, because King is not dead. In his sinking low (i.e. drowning) Miltons Lycidas has risen high (i.e. ascended to Heaven), and is free from the clutches of Death, free from the toils of earthly life, and is now in the Kingdom of Heaven, where joy and love abound, and where the Saints entertain him. Death, then, is defeated, and is no longer a figure to be feared, no matter how ravenous Milton has described it. This sort of progression is typical of religious writing, and is certainly an expected and satisfying end to Miltons conception. Yet, there are a two inter-related questions

4 which, once addressed, will complicate Miltons idea of Death as well as enlighten us about another one of his primary concerns. The first question is, why write a pastoral elegy lamenting someones death when Milton knows, ultimately, that there is nothing to lament? Edward King is in heaven, is in a place of infinite bliss and, in having lost his life in the world, has gained eternal life with God. The most obvious answer (and certainly an acceptable one) is that Milton was simply working in the tradition of the pastoral elegy, which he certainly was, and that he followed the form. I think, however, that in light of my second issue, this first answer does not quite solve the problem. My second question actually stems from another one of Miltons works, his sonnet on his blindness. In contemplating his blindness, Milton is responded to by Patience, who states that God doth not need / Either mans work or his own gifts. However, we know that Milton continued to create even after he became totally blind. This suggests that even in face of the reality of Gods self-sufficiency, and the unnecessary nature of human creativity, Milton was compelled to continue his poetic endeavors, even if they were pointless. Considering both of these questions together, one possibility is that Miltons lament for Edward King has very little to do with his actual physical death, but rather with his failure to become. By this I mean Kings inability to become an artist, or to transcend the physical through production of art. This can best be seen when we consider that what Milton writes about King, in some sense, is also about Milton. Indeed, line 25 of the poem begins with Together both, which suggests some similarity, some way in which the poem could be about both of them. Edward Wagenknechts article Milton in Lycidas, covers this issue well, and he points out a variety of interesting aspects of the poem. According to Wagenknecht, the poem contains no line to indicate that the dead man ever meant anything to his elegist as an individual, and that

5 the poets first lines concern not King but Milton, and expresses Miltons hope that what he is currently doing for King will someday be done for him by another poet. That is, that he too will be immortalized. What Wagenknecht ultimately concludes is that Lycidas is not so much about Edward King as it is about the figure that King has come to represent for Milton, a person who never has the chance to become what Milton aspired to be (and arguably ultimately became): a great artist. Indeed, a possible reading offered by Lauren Shohet offers a gloss on the destind Urn that suggests Milton is referring to his own: In the same way that I am elegizing this occasion, may some gentle muse eventually favor my own urn. Regardless of how we interpret the poem, what is undeniably clear is that Milton sees a lot of himself in Edward King. What we see here, then, is Milton still concerned with Death. Granted, the face of Death has changed dramatically, but there is still an end, a consuming that occurs, and one with which Milton is struggling to come to terms. Death is now a force that defeats not the life of man, but any sort of purpose man would try to develop or assume. No matter how great a work someone does, that work is overshadowed by the self-sufficiency of God, who needs nothing from man whatsoever. Death once had authority over humanity, and devoured them with no possibility of being stopped. Now, Death has been conquered by God, but humanity is at risk of being equally devoured by irrelevance in light of God, who needs and asks for nothing, and who ultimately consumes any sort of authority a person would claim through His own brilliance. Miltons answer to this, which I have already suggested, is art. Milton struggles with Death in Lycidas because Edward King has failed to become an artist, has failed to come to the point of actualization. Granted, King is in heaven, a better place, but the point of the elegy is to show that King has still lost something. For Milton, the act of creation becomes another redemptive process, a new way for humanity to regain relevance as well as authority. Through

6 creating, the individual mirrors the work of God, and exacts not only creative power but also authority and structure onto the created object. In the face of the pointlessness of humanity, Milton offers the chance to become something greater, to transcend the boundaries of the physical by embracing the position of the author, the creator. The picture of Death that Milton offers us is quite complex. There is the issue of physical and spiritual death as it is raised in Paradise Lost, and while that issue is ultimately resolved through Miltons Christian eschatology, it is replaced with another Death-like concern, the destruction of human importance. Milton offers us redemption from this too, however, through the process of artistic creativity. Miltons writing of Lycidas is evidence of this: in the wake of his friends death, Milton turns to the only way of overcoming the problemhe creates an immortal work of art that will carry his friendas well as Miltoninto eternity. While it does not tie in directly to what has been stated, I believe it is important to consider just how modern Miltons concerns regarding death truly are. In his poem, Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking, Walt Whitman offers us his own concept of Death. Here, Death is frightening and saddening for all the same reasons that it is in Milton. What Death brings Whitman, however, is a revelation. Death awakens the speaker to his own poetic force, to his own position in the universe. In Whitman, Death prompts the poet to self-actualization, and is the impetus for the poet to transcend the physical and become immortal through art. Miltons own conception of Death anticipates this idea. In Milton, Death leads the individual to an awakening in which s/he reclaims relevance and purpose through artistic endeavors, and becomes immortalized through the creation of art. This shows not only how complex an understanding of Death Milton has offered us in his work, but also how relevant it is to our own understandings of Death, God, and Art.

7 Works Cited

Milton, John. Paradise Lost. Oxford: Blackwell. 2007. Milton, John. Complete Shorter Poems. Oxford: Blackwell. 2009. King James Bible. Hendrickson Publishers. 2004. Shohet, Lauren. Subjects and Objects in Lycidas. Texas Studies in Literature and Language, Vol. 47, No. 2. 2005: 101-119 Wagenknecht, Edward. Milton in Lycidas. College English. 1946: 393-397.