Juni 11, 2006
Devil Country
What a dubious place I live in! Did you know that John Milton associated Norway with Satan in Paradise Lost? When Satan is lying upon the Burning Lake, Milton compares him to a whale deceiving men into thinking it is an island:
"...that Sea-beast
Leviathan which God of all his works
Created hugest that swim th'Ocean stream:
Him haply slumbering on the Norway foam"
(Book I lines 200-203)
Milton here is only hinting at the shadiness, the very fishiness, of Norway. He gets much more explicit later on.
He compares Satan's spear to a ship's mast made from
"...the tallest pine,
Hewn on Norwegian hills..."
(Book I lines 292-3)
In case there's any doubt that Norway here is just a simile or a metaphor for evil doings, Milton was sure to inform us that in the first revolt in Heaven, Satan drew his legions to "the Quarters of the North" (Book V line 689).
Milton's apparent prejudice has its source in Biblical writ. In Isaiah 14:12-13, Lucifer says in his heart, “I will take my seat on the Mount of Assembly, in the recesses of the North.â€
And we know where the Mount of Assembly is, don't we? Not very far from where I'm sitting now!
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Posted by barry at Juni 11, 2006 12:12 FM
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