{"title":"\"Meanwhile\": Paradisian Infinity in Milton's Paradise Lost","authors":"Ayelet C. Langer","doi":"10.1353/pan.2021.0000","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:This essay argues that the temporal adverb \"meanwhile\" marks a series of key moments in Paradise Lost, in which an endless succession is built into the present moment. Hitherto overlooked by the critics, this duration is represented in the poem as a concrete, coherent, and intelligible form, which opens the possibility of transformation implicit in the monistic scale of \"one first matter all.\" Milton models this structure on Aristotle's theory of the infinite presented in Physics III, yet he goes beyond Aristotle in representing the infinite as the distinctive feature of moral life. In the poem's representation of hell or the postlapsarian condition, \"meanwhile\" serves as a mere indexical adverb, the function of which is to designate temporal or spatial shifts. The possibility of transformation, which \"meanwhile\" opens in the present moment, is reserved in Milton's poem to the prelapsarian or repentant mind.","PeriodicalId":42435,"journal":{"name":"Partial Answers-Journal of Literature and the History of Ideas","volume":"16 1","pages":"1 - 17"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4000,"publicationDate":"2021-01-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"1","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Partial Answers-Journal of Literature and the History of Ideas","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1353/pan.2021.0000","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"LITERARY THEORY & CRITICISM","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 1
Abstract
Abstract:This essay argues that the temporal adverb "meanwhile" marks a series of key moments in Paradise Lost, in which an endless succession is built into the present moment. Hitherto overlooked by the critics, this duration is represented in the poem as a concrete, coherent, and intelligible form, which opens the possibility of transformation implicit in the monistic scale of "one first matter all." Milton models this structure on Aristotle's theory of the infinite presented in Physics III, yet he goes beyond Aristotle in representing the infinite as the distinctive feature of moral life. In the poem's representation of hell or the postlapsarian condition, "meanwhile" serves as a mere indexical adverb, the function of which is to designate temporal or spatial shifts. The possibility of transformation, which "meanwhile" opens in the present moment, is reserved in Milton's poem to the prelapsarian or repentant mind.
期刊介绍：
Partial Answers is an international, peer reviewed, interdisciplinary journal that focuses on the study of literature and the history of ideas. This interdisciplinary component is responsible for combining analysis of literary works with discussions of historical and theoretical issues. The journal publishes articles on various national literatures including Anglophone, Hebrew, Yiddish, German, Russian, and, predominately, English literature. Partial Answers would appeal to literature scholars, teachers, and students in addition to scholars in philosophy, cultural studies, and intellectual history.
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