Techno-Prosthetic Romantic Futurism"That was a Good Hack"Those were the words of Josh Miller, an undergraduate, after a particularly frisky discussion of J. G. Ballard's Crash. [1] He said he'd never look at Jesus the same way again. And he put me to thinking: that's what Blake was up to when he wrote that Milton was "a poet of the devil's party without knowing it." [2] Blake was hacking Milton! Blake's poetry makes sure you never look at Milton the same way again. It's a really good hack. If only someone would do the same for Wordsworth. I know: he was a poet of Pitt's party without knowing it. Except that he probably knew it. Witness the sonnets to capital punishment. Notes1. J. G. Ballard, Crash (New York: Vintage, 1975). 2. William Blake, "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell," The Complete Poetry and Prose of William Blake, ed. David V. Erdman, newly rev. ed. (Berkeley: U of California P, 1988). Navigation |