I meant conservative poetics rather than politics, Uche, and in a
contemporary context: my point was simply that it's a partial reading
of a tame Milton, in defence of contemporary agendas. I agree, the
right/left binary is more and more useless, and in mainstream politics
is just code for right and more right anyway, democratic government
being basically the public arm of the corporate state.
All artists are supposed to be "leftists", according to many so-called
political commentators, by virtue of being artists. And apparently
they all march in lock step, which frankly is not my experience of
dealing with artists en masse, which really bears out the adage about
herding cats. And some of the most conservative (aesthetically
speaking) artists are the avowed Leftists. So yes, it's all a bit
complex.
xA
On Wed, Apr 14, 2010 at 9:37 AM, Uche Ogbuji <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> On Tue, Apr 13, 2010 at 5:23 PM, Mark Weiss <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>> Perhaps I misread you. You seemed to be attacking her statement as if
>> historical context made no difference, and conflating then and now. Form did
>> in fact have a political meaning at the time, perhaps uniquely, and Milton's
>> espousal of blank verse was a radical move. If you want to plot changes in
>> the political climate you could do worse than to check out the fall and rise
>> of the use of blank verse between 1660 and 1700. I don't think anyone would
>> say the same for the present.
>>
>
> Yes, I think you're misreading me. I'm not attacking her statement at all.
> I'm agreeing, and amplifying the statement.
>
> But it's possible I misunderstood Alison, as well.
>
> I'm aware that in his day Milton attacked cavalier poets, and tried to
> discredit their poetics. However, when Alison said conservative, I thought
> she meant modern politics. In other words, I thought she was meaning that
> modern conservatives were extrapolating excessively from the poetic battles
> of that time. If so I agree, and my point was that she is giving a lot of
> sophistication to an attitude (the modern blending of poetics and politics)
> that I find just outright stupid.
>
> If I was wrong in that understanding, then I'll say it's the "conservative"
> bit that confused me. I tend to think of "liberal" versus "conservative" as
> a later distinction. Considering roundheads such as Milton were iconoclasts
> of royalty, that gives them a liberal flavor. Considering they tend to be
> puritans that gives them a conservative flavor.
>
> Then again, even in the modern day I find the words "liberal" and
> "conservative" confusing and over-simplistic.
>
> Please, all, excuse me if I were unclear in my haste to rant about a purely
> modern phenomenon.
>
>
> --
> Uche Ogbuji http://uche.ogbuji.net
> Founding Partner, Zepheira http://zepheira.com
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>
--
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