Equality in Eden?

It seems that the majority of what I've been reading over the last couple of weeks has centred around perfect copulation. No self-help guide or women's lifestyle magazine in sight, the first man and woman's marital relations has been constantly at the forefront of my reading, and presently at the forefront of my mind.

Having been educated sans males for a decade, a certain feminist attitude has become engraved in a part of my thought, despite my attempts to put them off and retreat back to my pinny and baking ingredients. The feminist twinge comes out when I read such lines as PL IV.297-9:

For contemplation he and valour formed,
For softness she and sweet attractive grace,
He for God only, she for God in him:

Looking back to an older copy of PL, my first impression, jotted in the margin, questions why only woman would need a mediator, whereas it would seem that Adam, the man, has direct access to God, his head. I don't dismiss that a call to grace and a certain 'softness' are appealing and positive attributes for any woman, and are honourable qualities. However, argues that corner of my brain, surely a woman can call on the 'one mediator between God and men' (1 Tim 2.5)?

Of course, I'm becoming up in arms without considering the natural or beautiful nature of the prelapsarian couple's relationship. It is essentially one of halves and completion - Adam's first call to Eve, after all, beckons her -

Part of my soul I seek thee, and thee claim
My other half (IV.487-8)

Equally, Eve is unreluctant to enter the nuptual bower with her new husband:

though divinely brought,
Yet innocence and virgin modesty,
Her virtue and the conscience of her worth,
That would be wooed, and not unsought be won (VIII.500-3)

To this latter passage, Helen Gardner comments that 'Love between man and woman is thus an image of the love between God and his creatures, freely given and accepted as a gift' (A Reading of Paradise Lost. Oxford, 1965. 84). Just as God is separate and uniquely different to man (and by this I include woman too, of course) so is man separate and different to woman. And, before I entrap myself in an argument that infers the vast superiority of man to woman, just as God chose to become man in Christ, and be in relationship with man (human), so man can enjoy relationship with woman, his 'other'.

It seems I've attempted a brief explanation of sexual politics, whereas what I really wanted to do was share another beautiful piece of criticism on sexuality in Eden. Again, Gardner writes:

Milton will have nothing to do with the horrible patristic conception of the virtuousness of cold copulation. Other feelings than shame make the heart beat faster and bring the blood to the cheeks. (85)

Sexuality for the first married couple was not a chore, and was of more worth than just a means to 'bear/Multitudes' (IV.473-4), but a heart-palpitating union, and a physical symbol of the differing but complimentary natures of the genders.

Wait - that was something I said!

I'm sure for many people, having their name dropped in journals or magazines because of articles they've written is a regular, and therefore pretty normal, occurrence. This is not so for me. The most I've ever had printed was a couple of poems: one in a 6th form 'magazine', and one in a University creative writing journal. Apparently, however, a review I wrote for Electric Stitch last December has found its way into the CCANW Spring/Summer programme brochure. Now, I'm sure it doesn't take a genius to rummage about their brain and come up with the words "A veritable 'you had to be there' event", but I did, and there it is. Printed for all to see. Well, anyone who's vaguely interested in this woody, arty hideaway in Devon.

And I have to say, I will stick by my paltry addition to the brochure - Joy Collective is an absolutely brilliant night, both for those interested in contemporary or performance art and bassy music with an electronic vibe. There is a brilliant feeling that every sense has been catered for, right down to the hairs on the back of your neck prickling at Mila Oshin's sensual vocals, and the inclusion of a poignant brass melody in 'lullaby'. If I was certain I'd be around in Devon in September, I would most certainly attend again, and can only highly recommend everyone else does the same.

A Short Missive on Paradise

I feel that, as I've taken Milton as inspiration (that is quite a buzz word for me at the moment) for this blog's name, I may as well begin with something a bit Miltonic. I've kept a, now slightly messy, notebook for the last few years - a place to out pour ideas, plans, random drawings and other miscellaneous gibberish. Reading around an essay on Milton (of course) I found the following quote, and naturally had to copy it into the 'Secret Book of Mysteries':

A naked man and woman arise in the morning, intermix the duties of the day with flirtacious venery, then consummate thier love at night with a real capture, a real yielding, and go to sleep. This is paradise.

(Kerrigan, W. and Braden G. ‘Milton’s Coy Eve: Paradise Lost and Renaissance Love Poetry’. ELH. Vol. 53. No. 1 (Spring, 1986). John Hopkins University Press. 42.)

I can't help but find something delicious about the organic nature (excuse the tautology) of this description of paradise. It is not paradisal for its beautiful scenery, its pleasing weather or its natural abundance, but for a sheer shamelessness in the first man and the first woman's nakedness; an utter peace in their joint work that, instead of causing annoyance at each other's continual presence, distracts from their daily growing desire for each other. I can't help finding a certain beauty in the innocence of Miltonic prelapsarian sexual activity. See IV. 739-747:

Handed they went; and eased the putting off
These troublesome disguises which we wear,
Straight side to side were laid, nor turned I ween
Adam from his fair spouse, nor Eve the rites
Mysterious of connubial love refused:
Whatever hypocrites austerely talk
Of purity and place and innocence,
Defaming as impure what God declares
Pure, and commands to some, leaves free to all.

For the postlapsarian reader, as with Milton's postlapsarian Adam and Eve, the purity of this original sexuality is tainted by lustful, rather than pure desires: even Paul's instruction against celibacy for all in 1 Corinthians 7 needfully warns against "fornication" (7.2), and encourages sexual activity between married partners to avoid Satan's temptation (7.5). In paradise, however, desires are not stifled or preached against, but rather freely encouraged for their perfection.

Perhaps I am wrapped up in ideas of innocence and beauty, and haven't taken into account arguments against what could be described as limited views of sexuality presented in Paradise Lost, as well as in the Bible. I am not going to argue about Christian, or 17th Century ideas of sex and sexuality (at least not here). However, I will say that, without disputing what should or should not be counted "pure" regarding sexuality, a paradise of perfect relationship with a spouse, and of work which only excites passion and love (with guaranteed consummation) sounds pretty thrilling to me.