I once heard Babylon used in the title of a show about celebrity childhoods and then I read the poem "Babylon" by Robert Graves, which is about childhood. I know that the Hanging Gardens of Babylon were one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, but I don’t see how this relates to childhood. Is there another Babylon that these are referencing? Or is there more to the story that I should know about?
June 8th, 2010
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I’ve just read the poem (which I didn’t know), and it seems to be about the loss of the wonders of childhood; the child grows up, and with the coming of reason and wisdom, all the old heroes and fairies fade away.
But there still remains a longing for "lost Babylon".
If you look at this link, there is an explanation that Babylon still exists as a kind of ancient wonder, and "Revered by some scholars as the origin of the Garden of Eden, it has lived on in their imagination, as in that of our poets. For many it will still have the aura of romance imparted by the tales of childhood about the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World…"
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=LPY9AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA20&lpg=PA20&dq=babylon+-+association+with+childhood%3F&source=bl&ots=8oxvuL6n1U&sig=J6EQBb2QVg7nMA2mlbhU1iHJLDc&hl=en&ei=NXDbSvi8BIKr4Qa076D1Bg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CBAQ6AEwATgK#v=onepage&q=&f=false
There is also another idea that is cited here, in "Child sexual abuse in Victorian England" by Louise Ainsley Jackson, that child sexual abuse was the result of "savage" impulses – a contrast of savagery/civilization, of undercurrents in "modern Babylon", a reference to the destruction by God of the ancient city. Page 56: http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=h8ptjxuQZkoC&pg=PA56&lpg=PA56&dq=babylon+-+association+with+childhood%3F&source=bl&ots=1tODcfk1wO&sig=rjUeKBkABkVEtuXp8GBK94SEwzI&hl=en&ei=pXLbSvfLCIKt4QbrxpnTCA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=8&ved=0CB4Q6AEwBw#v=onepage&q=&f=false
I think the former explanation applies to the poem. There’s also an old nursery rhyme,
How far is it to Babylon?
Three score miles and ten.
Can I get there by candlelight?
Yes, and back again.
(Sometimes "Babylon" is "London Town".)