Poetry & Pop Culture

"Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heav'n."

London, England -- Any recovering English major will recognize Satan's naughty rejection of servitude from John Milton’s 17th-century epic poem Paradise Lost. Everyone else – like my late father when he audited my freshman English class at Yale some 42 years ago – is probably getting sleepy. Grab a coffee and hear me out.

 

To practical people like my dad and my husband Joe, it is obvious that my youthful pursuit of an advanced degree in English Literature was a colossal waste of time. Joe recently implied as much while I was still waking up for one of our 6:00 am coffee talks, a time when we check in with each other and consider matters large and small. 

Around this same time, pop princess Lizzo continued her domination of American popular culture. Her hits topped the charts and her outsize fashions made waves. A New York Times Spelling Bee puzzle rejected the adjective “Miltonic.” 

The universe seemed to be turning on Milton. Was Lizzo the new Milton? Was Paradise Lost a lost cause? 

 

It was for me when, in 1986, panicked over paper-writing, I dropped out of the hell that was my Harvard Ph.D. program in English. What had inspired me as an undergraduate was starting to look grim when faced with the prospect of lifelong academic servitude. 

Lizzo teaches us that "the truth hurts," and the truth is, I got ants in my pants sitting around studying Milton when I had so much life to live. Milton may have justified the ways of God to man, but I could no longer justify Milton's ways to me. Better to reign in Hell...

 

I hightailed it from Cambridge libraries to New York nightclubs faster than you can say Beelzebub. There, in modern Gomorrah, I tasted forbidden fruit that would have made Milton blush. I spent eleven years reinventing myself from a mediocre academic to a party animal par excellence.

 

Still, I cling to the belief that all is not lost in studying Paradise Lost. 

Me with Milton's bust at
St. Giles, Cripplegate, 
where he is buried. 
October 5, 2022

400 years ago, Milton was a badass, creating the Marvel Universe of his day. As an affable London priest reminded me during my visit to the well-hidden church where the poet is buried yesterday, Milton was completely radical, championing free speech and the right to divorce. People today – again quoting Lizzo – mostly “don’t give a f*#@.” Lizzo’s lyrics are their idea of poetry: “It’s bad bitch o’clock, yea, it’s thick thirty.” 

It is a false choice to regard the life of the party and the life of the mind as mutually exclusive. Lizzo may not be Milton’s coequal, but she does amuse. Each in moderation.

 

Inspired by yesterday's pilgrimage to Milton's grave, I aim to revisit Paradise Lost in my ample free time. I will also keep adding new tunes by Lizzo to my playlists. I’ll let you know if ever the twain shall meet.