, . .
JOHN MILTON : POEMS IN ENGLISH. " With illus- trations by ' William Blake.' (Noiriesuch Press: 2 vols. £2 7s: MI. net.)—The minds cif" Blake and Milton' do not fit easily together. There are resemblances in the two. Dr. Sabra has woiked'theni 'but "iir great detail. IIn-has prov.ed that they drew many ideas and symbolisms from common sources. Yet they repair' an incompatible pair. Blake was an enthusiast i he gave rein to his imagination and went wherever it took him. He never tried to stabilize hig fancies. In Milton there was a typical firmness. He always took Pail* to fashion his poems to a structural perfection. Iii idestruggre, for lieauty he was alnricist stolidly perifistent. Surely he would never have seen Joseph, in the room at Bethlehem, as Val'e Bees him--T-lenning sideways over the crib in a feminine and graceful curve. But, on the whole, Blake's figures never seem to have bonework under the flesh ; the most we can allow them is cartilage. It follows that we must judge the illustrations and the text of the Nonesuch Press Milton separately ; they 'do not throw cross-lights upon each other. The text of the ;poems is Canon Beeching's. Mr.. Geoffrey Keynes has chosen the illustratiOns. The volumes are printed on an excellent rag paper in beautiful type.
Previous page
