9th International Milton Symposium: July 7-11, 2008

Pope Gregory XIII

Bane of chronologers everywhere...

(Image from Wikipedia)

John Milton was born 399 years ago.

Well, not quite, but he will have been born 399 years ago on December 9, 2007, for he was born on December 9, 1608.

Actually, that's also not quite correct, for it ignores a calendrical complication known as the Gregorian Calendrical Reform, which Great Britain adopted in 1752, when eleven days were skipped as Wednesday, September 2nd was immediately followed by Thursday, September 14th.

Just for curiosity's sake, let's recalculate. Since eleven days were skipped, we have to add 12 to reach the true date. The actual 399th anniversary of Milton's birth will be December 21, 2007.

I'm moved to ponder these things in my heart because I was recently reminded of the upcoming 9th International Milton Symposium, which will celebrate the 400th anniversary of his birth next ... albeit somewhat early, from the 7th through the 11th of July. (Or as we actually know, from the 19th through the 23rd of July.)

What happened to remind me? A Milton List email specifically conceived, written, and sent forth with the aim of reminding scholars of a call for papers for this ninth Milton Symposium.

Thank you, Milton List. Should anyone have missed that reminder, here's the email:

Dear colleagues,

The deadline for submissions to IMS9, the International Milton Symposium, "Milton and London", has now passed, but we can still accept submissions until 1 October. So far we have received about 150 submissions for papers and panels. Proposals to [Professor Martin Dzelzainis].... We hope to have registration forms with information about fringe events, accommodation in London, and other details about the conference by December. For your information, the Call for Papers is enclosed. Hope to see you in London.

Best wishes,

Warren Chernaik

This email was composed on September 19th, so I'm assuming that Professor Chernaik was making sure to allow for those of us still operating on the old Julian Calendar by adding another 12 days (though he was being even extra generous since the original deadline was September 15th).

Anyway, all you Milton aficionados, you have a grace period until October 1 to get those applications in.

And remember, if you were born before your homeland adopted the Gregorian Calendrical Reform, then to calculate your true birthday, assume that you were actually born 12 days after you were born.