Tommy Tainant
Diamond Member
Florida schools remove books by John Milton and restrict Shakespeare
Over 100 have been removed from school shelves, teacher says
www.independent.co.uk
Over 150 books have been removed from a large, Orlando-area Florida school district, including classics like The Scarlet Letter, Paradise Lost, and The Invisible Man, as school officials review materials for sexual content under the state’s restrictive book ban laws.
I am very rarely lost for words but this act of vandalism takes my breath away. I doubt that Ron Meatball has read it. I doubt that whoever complained about it has read it, much less understood it.
Parts of it are difficult, parts of it require a classical education to understand it. Its not something that you read on the beach or is likely to be made into a film.
For those unfamiliar with the work it is about the fate of Satan after he was cast out of heaven. It runs to 10 books of blank verse and was written by arguably the greatest poet in the English Language. Certainly the greatest Puritan poet.
He wrote it whilst he was blind and under fear of arrest by the restored Charles !!. More than just a poem it is a triumph of christian spirit.
Banning it is a perverse action. Denying people the right to read it is an act of a barbarian. In a better life there is no way the world of John Milton should collide with that of Desantis.
I also believe that it is an act that runs contrary to the American constitution. Paradise Lost is a signiificant christian work of art. If it isnt protected by America then America has no meaning.
The same little weasel has also banned Midummer Nights Dream and earlier this year a principal was fired for showing pix of David to an art class. How long before these people start burning witches ?
