Journal article
The Argument of "The Earthly Paradise"
Victorian poetry, Vol.23(1), pp.75-92
04/01/1985
Abstract
Traditionally misdescribed as escapist or defeatist, "The Earthly Paradise" celebrates shared labor and historical memory. Through the seasons of the year which organize the poem, three levels of narration progress from unresolved anxiety to historical contemplation and understanding. The "idle singer" of the outer frame first expresses loss of love, later growing alienation, and finally gratitude and hope of renewal. The twelve aged "Wanderers" of the middle frame first describe a failed lifelong search for "the earthly paradise" to twelve sympathetic Greek "Elders," who suggest that they exchange therapeutic tales from their respective cultures, one for each month of the year; as they progress through their cycle, both "Wanderers" and "Elders" become more reconciled to their failures and take growing comfort and pride in the continuity of their tales. The tales of the inner frame also evolve, from simplistic "exempla" of chastisement and reward to more complex, near-stoic accounts of self-sufficient altruism and love. At the end of the poem, protagonists, narrators, and singer concur that inexorable forms of natural loss may briefly be redeemed by heroic actions and lonely mutuality, whose contemplation has found a reflective equilibrium in the transmission of their tale(s).
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- The Argument of "The Earthly Paradise"
- Creators
- Florence S. Boos
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Victorian poetry, Vol.23(1), pp.75-92
- Publisher
- West Virginia University
- ISSN
- 0042-5206
- eISSN
- 1530-7190
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 04/01/1985
- Academic Unit
- International Programs; English
- Record Identifier
- 9984398836902771
Metrics
3 Record Views