Milton's Manuring: Paradise Lost, Husbandry, and the Possibilities of Waste

Abstract

abstract:Reading with a rich knowledge of agricultural praxis and the ways in which early modern readers understood the highly specific and uniquely Miltonic forms of labor that Adam and Eve perform in Paradise Lost, I argue that prelapsarian agrarian tasks, previously read as acts of diminution or (spiritual) discipline, are instead acts of material and spiritual increase. Adam and Eve knowingly and willingly set themselves an infinite, if pleasurable, task in their efforts to steward Eden through their lopping, pruning, and manuring. A closer examination of the material substance and the extent of Adam and Eve's efforts reveals new depth to their faith, a new form of georgic, and most importantly, a new vision of Milton's paradise as a place with the possibility, and the means, of expansion, change, and improvement. This more dynamic vision of prelapsarian life adds new poignancy to the Fall, and situates Milton's Eden within a constellation of experiments in rightful occupation without ownership, including those of Gerrard Winstanley, and countless writers of practical handbooks on agriculture.