St Stephens Academy - Academician Yearbook (Port Huron, MI)

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Paradise Lost While Milton was familiar with the Greek and Roman mythology, his ideas for Paradise Lost are drawn from the Bible account of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and the Anglo-Saxon poem of Beowulf. Satan, who sat “High on a throne of royal state” with “A mind not to be changed by place or time” and who thought it “Better to rule in hell than serve in Heaven” is the central personage of this poem. He is not a Biblical charac- ter. Milton got his idea from Anglo-Saxon sources and our ideas of Satan are from Milton, not from the Bible. Milton’s Eve is an interesting study revealing now and again what he would have had his own wife be. His immortal Paradise Lost was finished in 1665 and first printed in 1667. It long struggled hard with bad taste and political prejudices, be- fore it took a secure place among the few productions of the human mind that continually rise in estimation, and are unlimited by time or place. It is divided into twelve books or cantos ; it begins with the Council of Satan and the fallen Angels, the description of the erection of Pandemonium, and ends with the expulsion of our first parents from Paradise. The first book is as unsurpassed for magnificence of imagination as the fourth is for grace and luxuriance. A tide of gorgeous eloquence rolls on from beginning to end, like a river of molten gold, outblazing, we may surely say, everything of its kind in any other poetry. In Paradise Lost, we rarely meet with feeble lines. There are few in which the tone is not in some way distinguished from prose. The very artificial style of Milton sparing in English idiom, and his study of a rhythm not alw r ays the most grateful to our ears, but preserving his blank verse from atrivial flow, are the causes of elevation. As a study of character Paradise Lost would be a grievous failure. Adam the central character, is something of a prig; while Satan looms up a magnificent figure, entirely different from the devil of the Miracle Plays. Regarded as a drama, Paradise Lost could never have been a success, but as poetry with its sublime imagery, its harmonious verse, its titanic back- ground of Heaven, Hell and the illimitable void that lies between, it is un- surpassed in any literature. M. MEEHAN ’20. Little specks of sawdust, Some sand — about one grain — All when brought together Make up a Freshman’s brain.

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Class of ’20 MARY MINER MARION MALLON JOHN DEVEREAUX JOHN TYNAN PRESIDENT V1CE-PRESNDENT TREASURER SECRETARY Reading from left to right: First row, Margaret Meehan, Irene Trese, Kathrine Brogan, Mary Miner, Frances Walton, Marion Mallon, Madeline Wolfstyn. Standing — Emmett Devereaux, John Tynan, Frank Kronner, George Marx, John Devereaux. And now we have our Seniors elect, and we consider them entirely worthy to fill the vacancy or vacuum created by the departure of ’19. Take Emmett Devereaux for instance. He’s an honorary and trusted member of the L. O. T. M., and is just as wise as he looks. If it is true that while life there’s hope, it’s a cinch that Pat Wolfstyn has lots of hope. Catherine Brogan, too. She may talk quite a bit, but she says something every time. Jack Tynan you will find interesting, with a quick brain and a nimble tongue. Margaret Meehan is a quiet lass, but remember that still waters run deep. There are some budding authors in this class, too. Francis WaUon for instance, and John Devereaux, who is Irish through and through, in spite of his name. Frank Kronner, whose motto is “Fun for all, all for fun” practices what he preaches. Irene Trese believes in the same doctrine, but uses her school books, too. And then, George Marx, the one and only. Know him? Enough! As for scholars, what better could you ask than Mary Minor and Marion Mallon. They fairly radiate knowledge, as the picture shows. Now where could you find a better class? DO IT NOW Has your past been filled with failure? Vain it is that you regret it, Lose no time in idle grieving ; Just forget it. Build not in tomorrow’s dreamland, Castles of the musing brow ; The today demands attention — Do the next thing now !

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Class of ’21 EDWARD DOUGHERTY - - PRESIDENT GRACE MOORE - - - TREASURER JAMES LAMB .... SECETARY Reading from left to right: Seated — Verda Dougherty, Grace Moore, Madeline Gleason, Elizabeth French. Standing — George Walton, Edward Dougherty, Cecil Burke. This year’s Sophomore class is an unusually small one, only eight in number, but if we can take Jimmy Lamb’s word for it, what is lacking in quantity is made up in quality. Jimmy, by the way, was absent when the above picture was taken. Ed Dougherty was there, though. He and Cecil Bourke, you know, are the shining stars of our orchestra. Madge Gleason likes music, too, especially when there is a waxed floor to go with it. George Walton’s name is almost certain to adorn the staff of some future Academecian, while Verda Dougherty’s literary genius is demonstrated elsewhere in these pages. Grace Moore’s weakness is Cap, but we’re not sure about Elizabeth French’s unless it is conversation. Taken all in all, it’s a group hard to beat.