Manifesto Komunis

Marxisme – Manifesto Komunis
Dalam bukunya Marx mengungkapkan bahwa konflik antar kelas atas (kaum Borjuis) dan kelas bawah (kaum Proletar) akan memuncak dalam sebuah revolusi yang akan menjungkirbalikan seluruh tatanan lama dan meletakkan dasar tatanan baru yang akan berkembang menurut hukum yang sama. Oleh karena itu, Manifesto Komunis (1848) menyatak bahwa “sejarah semua masyarakat sampai sekarang adalah sejarah perjuangan kelas”. Tekanan kompetisi memaksa para Kapitalis untuk terus mempertsajam eksploitasi buruh-buruh mereka. Justru dengan demikian, Kapitalisme menggali kuburannya sendiri. Kelas buruh semakin miskin dan sekaligus makin bertambah bayak, sedangkan kaum Kapitalis akan makin kaya dan surplus akan barang produksi dan membuat kaum Kapitalis tidak dapat menjual barang hasil produksinya. Saat itulah kaum buruh akan bangkit dan mengambil alih sistem, dengan demikian menciptakan masyarakat yang tanpa kelas, tanpa explotation i’homme par i’homme dan tanpa penindasan masyarakat komunis.

Dari Ajaran Marx ke Marxisme
Pada akhir abad lalu, hampir semua partai buruh Eropa mendasarkan diri pada Marxisme. Dalam proses ini ajaran Marx disederhanakan dan dibakukan menjadi beberapa pokok saja: paham bahwa sejarah dunia tidak dikendalikan oleh kehendak manusia, melainkan oleh tingkat perkembangan tenaga-tenaga produktif, bahwa Kapitalisme akan tumbang, bahwa revolusi sosialis tinggal menunggu matang kondisi-kondisinya. Ajaran Marx telah berkembang dan direduksi pada kepercayaan ekonomi perkembangan masyarakat: ia telah menjadi suatu ideologi “Marxisme” yang disakralkan sebagai “ideologi kelas pekerja”. Ideologi yang dipercayai dan dianut oleh oleh mayoritas Eropa di masa itu. Mencakup segala aspek baik sosial, ekonomi dan budaya, dan dilaksanakan secara konstan dan berkomitmen sesuai denga unsur-unsur yang dimiliki suatu paham agar dapat disebut sebagai Ideologi. Segala keragu-raguan atau revisi dianggap sebagai hal yang tabu. Marxisme telah menjadi monopoli gerakan komunis internasional setelah terjadinya Revolusi Oktober, ditandai dengan partai-partai Sosialis non-Komunis yang menjuhkan diri dari paham Marxisme.

Dualisme Marx
Keprihatinan Marx terhadap pemulihan manusia sebagai makhluk sosial dan natural, emansipasinya dari kekuatan-kekuatan anonim yang menjadikannya sebuah komoditi, kritik terhadap segala ideologi-ideologi yang menyembunyikan sekaligus melegitimasikan struktur-struktur kekuasaan yang eksploitatif. Daripada seorang Determinis dan Ekonomis, Marx lebih muncul sebagai seorang Humanis. Akibat dari pemikiran Marx yang semakin menarik perhatian filsafat dan ilmu-ilmu sosial di Barat, bagi generasi intelektual muda dan mahasiswa tahun 60-an Marx menyediakan pemikiran kritis untuk mengartikularisasikan perasaan tidak suka mereka terhadap kebudayaan “Kapitalisme tua” yang nampak meterialistik dan tanpa makna. Pada tahun 70-an pesona Marx di Barat mulai memudar. Marxisme baru tidak pernah berhasil memasuki kalangan buruh, ia tetap terbatas pada lingkungan akademik saja. Kapitalisme Barat memaksa Marxisme baru itu untuk mengalihkan kritik Marx yang pada hakekatnya bersifat sosiologis dan ekonomis menjadi kritk budaya dan moral yang mengeluhkan kekurang-manusiaan masyarakat Kapitalis.

Ramalan yang meleset
Bila kita mau mengevaluasi pikiran Marx, sebaiknya kita mulai dari fakta yang mencolok: bahwa ramalan tentang runtuhnya Kapitalisme meleset total. Ternyata tidak satupun dari negara-negara industri maju mengalami revolusi. Revolusi Sosialis nyatanya semua terjadi dalam negara-negara yang masih agraris dan semi-feodal. Konsep komunisme yang tadinya digadang-gadangkan dapat memimpin revolusi kaum buruh nyatanya mulai ditinggalkan oleh negara yang menganut sistem tersebut. Melesetnya ramalan ini merujuk pada sebuah titik lemah dalam seluruh pemikiran Marx. Analisa sosiologis-ekonomis Marx mengenai sebuah gejala, misalnya Kapitalisme, sering tepat bahkan cemerlang. Akan tetapi sesudahnya ia condong menarik kesimpulan-kesimpulan yang mutlak dan karena itu ideologis. Dengan tepat Marx menganalisa konflik kepentingan antara pemilik modal dan buruh, tetapi ia tidak memperhatikan bahwa ada juga kepentingan bersama. Ternyata berbeda dengan ramalan Marx, kaum buruh berhasil memaksakan perubahan-perubahan mendalam pada suatu struktur kekuasaan perekonomian Kapitalis, dengan akibat mereka makin terintegrasi di dalamnya dan menjadi unsur yang penting.

Yang tertinggal dari Marx
Marx menawarkan sebuah kerangka sederhana, di dalamnya segala kompleksitas dunia sekarang direduksikan pada beberapa alternatif yang sederhana. Teteapi, Marx bukan untuk dipercayai sepenuhnya, melainkan untuk digeluti. Justru kerena ia dijadikan acuan, kemiringan-kemiringan fundamental dalam pemikirannya perlu diekspos lebih mendalam dicabik agar lebih terbuka. Marx membuka mata ilmu-ilmu sosial bagi pentingnya pendekatan struktural dan pentingnya analisa kelas. Berkat Marx kita menjadi sadar bahwa bidang perekonomuan memang sangat berpengaruh pada struktur kekuasaan politik dan bahkan pada cara pandang masyarakat dalam mengahayati nilai-nilainya. Kritik ideologi mendapat dorongan yang paling penting.

nah, demikian postingan dari gw. salam.
nyombek.


oia, ini pic dari oom Marx yang sempet bikin heboh dunia barat.

Don Quixote de La Mancha

Tadinya gue mau review buku “THE CRITIQUE OF PURE REASON” karyanya Immanuel Kant, tapi karena bukunya tebal dan bahasa Inggrisnya lumayan susah jadi gue belom bisa kasih review. Nah karena itu gue ganti aja jadi review buku “DON QUIXOTE DE LA MANCHA” karya Miguel de Cervantes, menarik karena buku ini menjadi bacaan wajib bagi para masiswa sastra dan bagi para komunitas sastra Eropa. Salah satu karya yang mempengaruhi perubahan dunia dan masuk dalam jajaran 100 buku terbaik yang pernah diterbitkan, 100 buku terbaik itu termasuk juga “THE WHEALT OF NATIONS” karya Adam Smith, “CAPITAL” karya Karl Marx “THE GREAT GATSBY” karya F. Scott Fitzgerald dan “THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES, BY MEANS OF NATURAL SELECTION, OR THE PRESERVETION OF FAVOURED RACES IN HTE STRUGGLE FOR LIFE” karya Charles Darwin.
Miguel de Cervantes lahir pada 9 Oktober 1547, merupakan putra dari ahli fisika dan apoteker. Keluarganya mengalami masalah ekonomi yang cukup pelik, namun berangsur membaik setelah pindah ke Madrid pada 1566. Pertama menulis pada umur 21 tahun, menulis beberapa ayat tentang kematian Isabel de Valois, istri dari Philip II, karya yang cukup diperhatikan pada masa itu. “Don Quixote de La Manca” pertama terbit pada 1605, mendapatkan sukses luar biaa dan para kritikus buku mengatakan bahwa buku ini melebihi batas luar biasa. Pada 23 April 1616, Miguel de Carvantes meninggal. Kesedihan yang mendalam bagi dunia sastra pada ssat itu.
Cervantes sendiri adalah seorang petualang buku, berbagai buku telah dilahap habis. Ia menguasai bacaan latin klasik, mendalami bacaan sejarah berbagai bangsa, buku filsafat dan retorika dikuasainya dan tidak ketinggalan buku-buku teologi, geografi dan astrologi.
Pengetahuan yang dimiliki Cervantes keluar begitu saja ketika ia menghidupkan tokoh Don Quixote, itulah sebabnya Don Quixote bisa bicara panjang lebar tentang Amadis de Gaul yang merupakan kisah kepahlawanan favorit Don Quixote sebagai teladan bagi para ksatria pada zaman itu.
Tokoh utama dalam kisah ini adalah Don Quixote, seorang yang amat sangat gila baca, bagi dirinya realitas terjadi saat imajinasinya bermain dalam dunia buku. Hanya realitas yang bisa melawan dan menggugurkan pikiran. Tapi dalam “Don Quixote de La Mancha” yang terjadi justru sebaliknya, realitaslah yang harus tunduk pada bacaannya. Karikatur kegilaan seorang pembaca, menurut realitas ia kehilangan akal, tapi mneurut bacaan dan karena bacaan ia justru mempeoleh akal, bahkan kepercayaan. Kesukaannya dalam membaca kisah-kisah Amadis de Gaul membuat dia mengkonsepkan dirinya (dalam pikirannya) adalah seorang ksatri abad pertengahan, pikiran ini yang kemudian menjadi realita bagi dirinya membuat ia mengubah namany menjadi lebih “bangsawan” namanya yang hanya Don Quixote (ada beberapa opini yang mengatakan Cervantes mengambil nama “Quixote” dari “Quixada atau Quesada”) kemudian ditambahkan menjadi Don Quixote de La Mancha dapat diartikan sebagai “Tuan Quixote, sang penguasa La Mancha” cukup terdengar gentleman bagi seorang warga biasa.
Nama sudah didapatkan dan peralatan perang sudah (jubah, perisai, tombak dan kuda milik keluarga yang dicuri) maka yang dibutuhkan sebagai seorang ksatria adalah seorang lady. Masalahnya kebiasaan Don Quixote larut dalam dunia baca membuatnya jarang bergaul dan tidak punya teman maka dibuatlah seorang lady dalam alam pikirannya, seorang lady yang tercantik, penjelmaan bidadari sendiri, Lady Dulcinia de Toboso. Ditambah lagi kehadiran seorang budak yang setia menemani Don Quixote yang bernama Sancho Panza. Mulailah petualangan penuh keberanian, konyol dan satir namun menyentuh nurani para pembacanya, petualangan Don Quixote de La Mancha.
Salah satu adegan yang menarik adalah saat Sancho Panza mengatakan pada Don Quixote yang salah mengira bahwa kincir angin adalah raksasa jahat “maaf beribu maaf tuan, namun yang anda hadapi sebagai raksasa itu hanyalah kincir angin tua milik seorang petani lokal tuan”. Namun perkataan yang penuh dengan realitas itu tidak digubris oleh Don Quixote dan dia tetap menyerang kincir angin itu. Adegan lain adalah saat ia memaksa para pedagang pasar untuk percaya bahwa kekasihnya Dulcinia de Toboso itu maha cantik luar biasa, meski para pedagang tersebut belum pernah dan tidak akan bertemu dengan wanita itu. Don Quixote memaksa mereka untuk mempercayai, mengakui bahkan bersumpah mengenai hal itu.
Itulah cara berpikir dari orang yang telah membentuk realitas dari bacaannya, tiap gagal ia tidak mencari realitas yang berlaku pada dunia ini tetapi ia mencari jawaban dan berlari ke buku. Konyol memang, tetapi dapat dilihat betapa dahsyatnya daya suatu bacaan. Memang, jika ingin mengubah dunia upaya itu harus kita mulai dengan mengubah pikiran sendiri. Bagaimana kita mengubah pikiran kita dengan membaca. Itulah pesan dari kisah Don Quixote, karikatur seorang yang gila baca dan memiliki dunia dengan bacaannya.

kalo ini gambarnya Miguel de Cervantes



Mungkin posting berikutnya masih belom bisa posting “The Critique of Pure Reason” tapi bakalan buku “The Dialogues of Plato”.
Cheers.

lost in translation (review)

Agak geli juga pas mau nge-post ini. Kemaren temen gw si moi dapet tugas mata kuliah seni film, tugasnya itu bikin review film Le Grand Voyage produksi 2004. Kalo gag salah ditulis dan disutradarai sama Ismael Ferroukhi, kalo gag salah lagi nih film tentang hubungan ayah dan putranya gitu deh, mereka melakukan perjalanan menuju Mekkah, pake mobil! Gag selebai itu sih, pokoknya dari selatan Prancis ke Mekkah tadi. Pertama kali meluncur ke publik pas Toronto Film Festival 2004 sama di Venice International Film Festivals. Pokoknya nih film udah nongol di metro tv sekitar 2-3 kali dah. Lupa gw.
Nah yang bikin geli tuh gini, si moi dapet tugas review tuh film harus sepuluh halaman. Padahal pas gw baca buku The Great Movies karyanya si Roger Ebert yang katanya kritikus film paling berpengaruh dan paling kondang(an), yang katanya kalo film dikasih rating lumayan ama si doi berarti tuh film bakal ngeraup oscar, mmmm minimal jadi nominator sih. Intinya dia paling tau deh film berkualitas. Ya pokoknya dia nge-review film gag ada tuh yang ampe sepuluh halaman, lebay aja tuh si dosen moi.
Okeh, kemaren gw baru nonton Lost In Translation, nih film ide ceritanya di tulis sama Sofia Coppola dan doi juga yang nyutradarain. Siapa yang gag kenal nama Coppola dalam industri film Hollywood? Si Sofia-sofia ini usut punya usut adalah anak wedhok dari Francis Ford Coppola, ho ho ho sang sutradara dari film-film super berkualitas macem kayak Godfather, The Conversation, & Apocalypse Now. Pokoknya yahud dah!!!!
Jadi film Lost In Translation ini produksi tahun 2003 dan merupakan film drama komedi, bersetting di negeri sakura Kepang eh Jepang. Yang diekspos di film ini tuh kyknya tentang kesepian, keterasingan, dan kultur syok yang terjadi sama si Bob Harris (Bill Murray). Ceritanya si Om Bob ini adalah bintang film paruh baya yang pergi ke Jepang buat syuting iklan wiski merknya Suntory (apa bae dah nih merk) dan si om Bob inisedang mengalami krisis dalam perkawinannya (maklum ceritanya udah menikah selama 25 taun). dan ada juga si cantik Charlotte (diperankan sama..... tarik nafas..... tahaaaan.... SCARLETT JOHANSSON!! Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaw-pingsan) si cantik ini ceritanya jadi istri seorang fotografer yang namanya John (standar yee namanya....cuih!), dan si Charlotte ini gag yakin sama si suami karena sering ditinggal-tinggal gitu deh (dasar John lelaki bodoh!). nah teruuuuuuuuus,, ketemu dah tuh si Bob ama si cantik Charlotte di bar hotel, kedua mengalami kebosanan yang amat sangat nih ceritanya. Karena berasa senasib sepenanggungan dan mereka juga kesasar di negeri yang bahasanya juga gag mereka ngerti (mungki dari sini judul lost in translationnya) dan mulai lah itu petualangan keduanya menjelajah Jepang (banyak kejadian unik disini).
Mungkin semakin sering bersama keduanya semakin cinta kali (cailah), pada suatu malam si Bob sedang duduk di bar dan digodain sama penyanyi bar dan scene berikutnya itu si Bob udah bangun di kamarnya! Telanjang! Dan bersama si penyanyi bar tadi!!!! Waaaaaaaaaaw. Dan tanpa disengaja Charlotte ini mampir ke kamar Bob dan tak disangka tak dinyana dia melihat si Bob lagi ama si penyanyi rambut merah kayak Megaloman itu, terus merasa kecewa dah tuh si Charlotte (KEPARAT KAU BOB!!!!!). si Charlotte ngambek, seharian gag mau ngomong ama si Bob bau itu eh pas malemnya baekan lagi deh. Ckckckckckc.
Yaaah, namanya pertemuan pasti ada perpisahan. Jadi si Bob udah harus pergi dari Jepang dan si Charlotte masih 2 hari lagi (kalo gag salah). Bob say goodbye gitu ke Charlotte di hotel sebelum check out lucu deh perpisahannya “kau simpan saja jaket saya....” gitu kata si Bob lewat telpon. Dan gag disangka, si Charlotte ternyata dateng ke lobby hotel cuma buat balikin jaket so Bob. Udah gitu langsung kabur lagi dah ke kamarnya.
Pas di jalan di dalem mobil mau ke bandara si Bob ngeliat Charlotte di jalanan rame gitu (enggak. ga ngegembel kok, pokoknya dia lagi jalan dan gw kekurangan kosakata buat ngegambarinnya) dan dia turun dari mobil, menuju ke Charlotte dan dia si Bob ini membisikan sesuatu ke Charlotte (gag kedengeran, namanya juga dibisikin dan ini gag ketauan sampe film abis. Bikin penasaran dah) setelah itu dia menangis bahagia dan mereka pun berciuman (Bob you lucky bastard!). itu dah endingnya. Simple namun kompleks. Lho?
FYI: nih film dinominasikan buat Academy awards, best picture, best actor buat si Bill Murray, dan best director buat Sofia Coppola. Dan Sofia mendapatkan Best Original Screenplay salut buat si doi. Yak, sekian aja dah. Capek ngetiknya. Siapa bilang film bertemakan cinta itu ngebosenin. Kalo dikemas dengan baik juga pasti keren kok. Kalo mau contoh silakan nonton(500) Days of Summer. Hohoho....



ini si cantik charlotte

PARADISE LOST

If JOHN MILTON had died in, say. 1640, on the eve of the great Civil War between King and parliament, he might have been remembered as the author of some exquisite lyrics. If he had died twenty years later, at the time of the Restoration, he might have found a place in the histories of the time as Cromwell’s Latin Secretary and as one of the most virulent of the apologist for those formidable characters who overthrown the monarchy, slaughtered the King in public view, and set up a military dictatorship. But in fact he did not die until 1674, and this gave him time to produce Paradise Lost, by common consent the greatest and grandest epic poem in the English language, and perhaps in any other – not to mention the not so very much less remarkable Paradise Regained and Samson Agonistes.

Everyone knows the story that he made the groundwork of his epic: it is one of the oldest stories in the world, and in the first chapters of the Book of Genesis it is preserved in language of immortal grandeur and beauty. “Of Man’s first disobedience,” he begins:

Of man’s first disobedience, and the fruit of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste brought death into the world, and all our woe, with loss of Eden....

But it is soon apparent that he has no intention of merely rewriting the Bible story in blank verse; which is just as well, for not even Milton could have improved on the majestic simplicity of the original. No, he has more something in mind. His motive in writing is that –

I may assert Eternal Providence, and justify the ways of God to Men.

What a presumptuous idea! But we may be quite sure that Milton did not think it so. He had an intensely legalistic mind, and he could not help feeling that Adam and Eve been hardly done by. What after all had they done? On the face of it nothing more than picking a fruit from the forbidden tree, eating it and finding it good! And for this trivial fault they had been condemned to toil and sorrow and eventual death! But was the fault so trivial? Surely there must have been more to it than this, and Milton at length satisfies his sense of right and wrong with a magnification of the apparently trivial misdemeanor into a most heinous sin. So far from having been trivial, the action that the Serpent had instigated was part of a carefully planned and skilfully executed revolt against the authority of ht Most High God.

The villain of the piece was the Serpent, whom Milton identifies with “Satan, the Arch-Enemy”. Some readers may be supried to be told that there is no mention of Satan in the Genesis account: it was Milton who put him in the story, and it is a tribute to his influence that the Serpent (who in the Authorized Version is not accorded even the capital letter) is so generally identified with Satan or the Devil.

Until recently (we given to understand) Satan had held an honorable post in the courts of heaven, perhaps even as the second in-command to the Most High. But when God indicated His preference for “His Only Son”, Satan had “raised impious war in heaven”, with the result that he and all the angels who had supported him and had “durst defy the Omnipotent to arms” were:

Hurl’d headlong flaming from the ethereal sky, with hideous ruin combustion, down to bottomless perdotion....

For nine days and nights “he with his horrid crew Lay vanquish’d, rolling in the fiery gulf”, but still he retained his “obdurate pride and steadfast hate”. Then he succeeds in raising himself from the fiery deluge and, looking round on the companions of his fall, “with bold words” breaks “ the horrid silence”.

Already, when we have no turned half a dozen pages, the figure of Satan dominates the stage, as indeed he does almost throughout. The Miltonic conception of the Arc-Fiend has been called the grandest character in the whole world of poetry, and beyond any doubt Satan is the hero of Paradise Lost-great in his power to arouse the devotion of his followers and to retain it even when he has led them into what must appear to be irretrievable ruin, mighty in battle and dauntless in defeat, even when he was learn t through bitter pain and loss that their opponent is indeed the Omniponent. There is never a suggestion of the faint heart or craven in his demeanor.

What though the field be lost? All is not lost; the unconquerable will, and study of revenge, immortal hate, and courage never to submit or yield, and, what is else, not to be overcome.....

When Beelzebub urges him to reconcile himself to defeat or worse may befall, Satan rejoins,

Fallen Cherub! To be weak is miseable,

And he overcomes his lieutenant’s remaining objections with the assertion that:

To reign is worth ambition, though in Hell: better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven!

Now “on the beach of that inflamed sea” he “call’d so loud, that all the hollow deep of Hell resounded”:

Princes, potentates, warriors, the flower of Heaven! Once yours, now lost, if such astonishment as his can seize Eternal Spirits! Or have ye chosen this place after he toil of battle to repose, you wearied virtue, for the ease you find. To slumber here as in the vales of Heaven? Or in this abject posture have ye sworn to adore the Conqueror?..... Awake, arise, or be for ever fallen!

Whereupon, “they heard, and were abash’d, and up they sprung”. Led and directed by their great Chief, they set about the raising of a palace - Pandemonium by name - where they proceed to hold counsel. Even before their ­­expulsion from heaven they had heard rumors that the “Monarch in Heaven” had planned to create a new world somewhere out in space and “plant it with a generation whom his choice regard should favor equal to the sons of Heaven”, and now Beelzebub remind them of his proposal. “Though Heaven be shut,” he says, “this place may lie expos’d”. It having sounded good to the assembled peers of hell, Satan with characteristic courage and boldness takes upon himself the dangerous mission to “go in search of his new world” and “confound the race of mankind”. After many a strange adventure and encounter he arrives at length on the newborn earth, leaps the wall of Paradise, and from a perch in the boughs of the Tree of Life has his first glimpse of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden that God had planted.

Two of far nobler shape, erect and tall, Godlike erect, with native honour clad. In naked majesty seem’d lords of all......... His fair large font, and eye sublime, declar’d absolute rule; and hyacinthine locks, round from his parted forelock manly hung clustering, but not beneath his shoulders broad. She as a veil, down to the slender waist, Her unadorned golden tresses wore dishevell’d, but in wanton ringlets wav’d as the vine curls her tendrils, wich implied subjection, but requreid with gentle sway, and by her yielded, by him best receiv’d, yielded with coy submission, modest pride, and sweet, reluctant, amoruos delay...... So pass’d they naked on, nor shunn’d they sight of God or Angel; for they though no ill: So hand in hand they pass’d, the loveliest pair, that ever since in love’s embraces met.......

In this ecstatic description of the first human lovers in their heavenly bowers was Milton thinking of his own wedding-night in the bedroom in Aldersgate street? Eve was very unlike the first Mrs. Milton, who was so far from being submissive that she ran away home to her parents after only a few week of marriage, and could not be prevailed upon to return for several years. Out of his experience Milton had written a tract in advocacy of divorce (by the husband) that had earned him an unpleasant notoriety. After his first wife’s death, he had married a second time, and again a third, this time a young woman thirty years his junior, and with them all his experiences seem to have been not altogether satisfactory. Perhaps it is true what Dr. Johnson alleged, that Miltonv”had something like a Turkish contempt of females, as subordinate and inferior beings..... He thought women made only for obedience, and men only for rebellion.” The sort of wife he wanted was Eve, and he married Mary Powell..... But we must return to the drama that is now about to be played out in the Garden, where Adam and Eve are exposed, in all their inexperienced virtue, to the viles of Arch-Tempter. Disguised now as a serpent, Satan first ravishes the girl’s ear with his flatters if her matchless loveliness, and hen he induces her to partake of “this fruit divine, fair to the eye, inviting to the taste, of virtue to make wise”. And Adam likewise,

She gave him of that fair encinting fruit with liberal hand; he scrupled not to eat, against his better knowledge; not deceiv’d, but fondly overcome with female charm.

Whereupon, “earth trembled from her entrails”, and “ nature gave a second groan”. While as for Adam and Eve, now that their pristine innocence is gone, “in lust their burn... to dalliance move,” until with the morning their eyes are opened and they make themselves afrons of fig-leaves, “to hide their guilt and dreaded shame”.

Meanwhile, “the heinous and despiteful act of Satan done in Paradise” has become known in heaven, and the decree of banishment from Eden is pronounced. The Arch-Angel Michael is dispatches to enforce the sentence, and so the mighty poem reaches it sombre end:

They, looking back, all teh eastern side beheld of Paradise, so late their happy seat, wav’d over by that flaming barnd; the gate with dreadful face throng’d, and fiery arms. Some natural tears they dropt, but wip’d them soon; the world was all before them, where to choose their place of rest, and providence their guide. They, hand in hand, with wandering steps and slow, through Eden took their solitary way.

Paradise Lost was published in 1667. Milton received £5 down, and a further £5 when the first impression of 1.300 copies was disposed of; his widow subsequently parted with all further claims for the sum of £8. These figures have been quoted as an indication of the low esteem in which the poem was held at first. But, as Dr. Johnson maintained, “the sale of 1.300 copies in two years, in opposition to so much recent enmity, and to a style of versification new to all and disgusting to many, was an uncommon example of the prevalence of genius”. And from the first the best judges, such as Dryden and later Addison, were most lavish in their praises. Every generation since has agreed that, to quote Milton’s own description of a good book, Paradise Lost is “the precious life blood of a master spirit”.

What Love means to a 4-8 year old .. . .

Slow down for three minutes to read this. It is so worth it. Touching words from the mouth of babes.A group of professional people posed this question to a group of 4 to 8 year-olds, 'What does love mean?'
The answers they got were broader and deeper than anyone could have imagined. See what you think:

'When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn't bend over and paint her toenails anymore.
So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That's love.'
Rebecca- age 8

'When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different.
You just know that your name is safe in their mouth.'
Billy - age 4

'Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell each other.'
Karl - age 5

'Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without making them give you any of theirs.'
Chrissy - age 6

'Love is what makes you smile when you're tired.'
Terri - age 4

'Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK.'
Danny - age 7

'Love is when you kiss all the time. Then when you get tired of kissing, you still want to be together and you talk more.
My Mommy and Daddy are like that. They look gross when they kiss'
Emily - age 8

'Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen.'
Bobby - age 7 (Wow!)

'If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who you hate,'
Nikka - age 6
(we need a few million more Nikka's on this planet)

'Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it everyday.'
Noelle - age 7

'Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends even after they know each other so well.'
Tommy - age 6

'During my piano recital, I was on a stage and I was scared. I looked at all the people watching me and saw my daddy waving and smiling.
He was the only one doing that. I wasn't scared anymore.'
Cindy - age 8

'My mommy loves me more than anybody
You don't see anyone else kissing me to sleep at night.'
Clare - age 6

'Love is when Mommy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken.'
Elaine-age 5

'Love is when Mommy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsomer than Richard Gere.'
Chris - age 7
'Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day.'
Mary Ann - age 4

'I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old clothes and has to go out and buy new ones.'
Lauren - age 6

'When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of you.' (what an image) Karen - age 7

'Love is when Mommy sees Daddy on the toilet and she doesn't think it's gross.'
Mark - age 6

'You really shouldn't say 'I love you' unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget.'
Jessica - age 8

And the final one -- Author and lecturer Leo Buscaglia once talked about a contest he was asked to judge.
The purpose of the contest was to find the most caring child.
The winner was a four year old child whose next door neighbor was an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife.
Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old gentleman's yard, climbed onto his lap, and just sat there.
When his Mother asked what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy said,
'Nothing, I just helped him cry'
When there is nothing left but God, that is when you find out that God is all you need.