Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the... Poetry?

The first time I saw Skull and Spalko mentions what Ox is saying is from Milton, I thought, "Oh, ha, Milton, cool." But then on subsequent viewings I started trying to focus on what poem he was actually quoting. I just took an upper div course on Milton, but when I looked this poem up it made sense why it wasn't familiar, because it wasn't one we'd studied (there's a lot ).

The quote in question is this one:

Yet som there be that by due steps aspire
To lay their just hands on that Golden Key
That ope's the Palace of Eternity:
To such my errand is, and but for such, [ 15 ]
I would not soil these pure Ambrosial weeds,
With the rank vapours of this Sin-worn mould.

This is from Comus, a masque from Milton's early career. The masque is urging chastity and purity and is about the god Comus raping a woman... in any case, this part is from the prologue. The prologue's something to do with going out of the mortal realm into that of the gods. As I said, I haven't studied this masque and haven't really looked at it, I just thought I'd throw it out there.

The other poem Ox quotes is T.S. Eliot's "Through Eyes that Last I Saw in Tears", which was around the time of "The Hollow Men" and deals with some of the same imagery. I've studied some of Eliot but not really The Hollow Men. In any case, here's that whole poem:

Eyes that last I saw in tears
Through division
Here in death's dream kingdom
The golden vision reappears
I see the eyes but not the tears
This is my affliction

This is my affliction
Eyes I shall not see again
Eyes of decision
Eyes I shall not see unless
At the door of death's other kingdom
Where, as in this,
The eyes outlast a little while
A little while outlast the tears
And hold us in derision.


So, I don't have time to explicate these right now but I thought I'd throw them out and ask: is this just Ox using things he knows as riddles? Does it just sound cool? Does it have any meaning related to the film at all?

Just thought it was curious.

-sj loves kevin spacey

 

The prologue's something to do with going out of the mortal realm into that of the gods.
I can't see that being coincidence, given its close connection to the actual plot of the film.

 

Right. But I'm wondering who in the world put these references in there. Like did it come in for Darabont's screenplay? That was recently leaked but I haven't had a chance to read it yet.

I'm not sure what the T.S. Eliot poem is getting at. I feel like they just used it because it sounded cool for a clue.

-sj loves kevin spacey