tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7985429043801017839.post6100204334463071456..comments2023-10-27T07:50:27.411+01:00Comments on Next Left: Let's celebrate Milton's birthdayTom Hampsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05917325958130851128noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7985429043801017839.post-89044571345375226572009-02-04T22:48:00.000+00:002009-02-04T22:48:00.000+00:00Dear Stuart White, I take your point. I like your ...Dear Stuart White, I take your point. I like your noble view of political debate. I would still want to point out the context of "sinewy", however, and what Milton is intimating. The "sinewy" suggests the fleshing out of a debate and it comes after a whole series of Hermetic images. Literally, Milton turns images of Hermes, the Word, into flesh. Against the image of Catholic Monarchy, he ranges images of the hermetic monarch: he is alluding to a specific kind of political view and mode of debating which might built a righteous republic. Yes, Milton would, I suspect, agree with your point-of-view, but it is interesting how 400 years after Milton's birth how so many wish to read into Milton modern interpretations that gloss over his actual view.A.H.https://www.blogger.com/profile/08716463684593767622noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7985429043801017839.post-36259847874509077862008-12-11T18:14:00.000+00:002008-12-11T18:14:00.000+00:00Dear Eshuneutics, I am not sure you're right. One ...Dear Eshuneutics, I am not sure you're right. One of reasons that Milton was concerned to protect a free press was that he valued the flow of ideas in public and the stimulation to thought this produces. Also note that 'common deliberation' and personal searching and questioning are not necessarily exclusive of each other: on a certain kind of republican, or religious, view, the two can go together. Each individual's personal questing produces ideas which feed into public discussion, which in turn feeds back into personal deliberation, which in turn feeds back....Stuart Whitehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05090728365798166746noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7985429043801017839.post-39897530135157344882008-12-10T22:36:00.000+00:002008-12-10T22:36:00.000+00:00I'm not certain that Milton's "sinewy to discourse...I'm not certain that Milton's "sinewy to discourse" means what you imply. His spiritual discoursing was not a common deliberation, more of a personal, spiritual questing, as exemplified by Adam and Raphael in "Paradise Lost".A.H.https://www.blogger.com/profile/08716463684593767622noreply@blogger.com