Thursday, 10 January 2019

Hell

Hell from beneath is moved to meet thee at thy coming.
-Isaiah, xiv, 9

Then I saw there was a way to Hell, even from the gates of Heaven.
-Bunyan

These quotations are respectively at the beginnings of Chapters Six and Fourteen of Poul Anderson's After Doomsday.

References to Hell are appropriate after Doomsday. I take the quotations to mean that there is danger of disaster in these chapters. (It is about time that I started to reread the text but there have been other things to post about.)

Alan Moore also refers to Bunyan in Mansoul. See The Holy War.
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4 comments:

  1. David Birr10 January 2019 at 10:29

    Paul:
    One of Kipling's poems is titled "The Holy War," and portrays Bunyan's poem as something like a prophecy — Kipling does call it prophecy — of World War I. The last four lines (the italicization is from the Definitive Edition) declare:
    "Eight blinded generations
    Ere Armageddon came,
    He showed us how to meet it,
    And Bunyan was his name!    "

    For my part, I'm especially fond of the last quatrain of the penultimate stanza:
    "One watchword through our Armies,
    One answer from our Lands:—
    'No dealings with Diabolus
    As long as Mansoul stands!'"

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  2. Sean M. Brooks10 January 2019 at 14:42

    Kaor, Paul and DAVID!

    I did read John Bunyan's THE PILGRIM'S PROGRESS, but did not like it. I found it far too heavily ponderous and allegorical for my taste. I far prefer the works of Kipling, since David here quoted one of his poems.

    Sean

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  3. David Birr10 January 2019 at 15:09

    Incidentally, I slipped up and referred to Bunyan's "The Holy War" as a poem. I meant to call it a "story" or "book," but mentioning Kipling's poem about Bunyan's work threw me off.

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  4. Sean M. Brooks10 January 2019 at 15:20

    Kaor, DAVID!

    I've made far too many slip ups of my own in the comboxes! (Smiles)

    Sean

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