Wednesday, November 14, 2012

I'm creating a system for denoting the leisurely from the un-leisurely. It applies to nouns and verbs. For example, a capital "L" is the stamp of leisure- while a capital "U" represents the opposite. Plus signs can indicate degrees. Hot-tubbing is obvious: L++. Someone like Satan, that dastardly tempter of humans into action, is a clear U++.

Milton (L+) again: leisure virtue lies in resisting actiontemptation. I should explain why I think Milton, despite his seeming indefatigable industry, fully qualifies as a man of leisure. Sure he's famous for a few things, namely "Paradise Lost", but he can't hide his true nature behind a few thousand lines of poetry. Get this: after he graduated from Cambridge (L+) he spent 6 years of total unemployment reading (L++) at his father's house in London (U), and then embarked on a 2 year tour of the European continent (L++). He dashed of a few poems here and there during this time, I assume to appease his benefactors, but mainly lay about pondering the imponderables (L). I bet if he had had a hot tub (L++) he would never have written Paradise Lost. A sobering thought.

No comments: