Cromwell, our chief of men, who through a cloudNot of war only, but detractions rude,Guided by faith and matchless fortitude,To peace and truth thy glorious way hast ploughed,And on the neck of crowned Fortune proud5Hast reared God’s trophies, and his work pursued,WhileDarwen stream, with blood of Scots imbrued,AndDunbarfield, resounds thy praises loud,And Worcester’s laureate wreath: yet much remainsTo conquer still; Peace hath her victories10No less renowned than War: new foes arise,Threateningto bind our souls with secular chains.Help us to save free conscience from the pawOfhireling wolves, whose Gospel is their maw.
Cromwell, our chief of men, who through a cloud
Not of war only, but detractions rude,
Guided by faith and matchless fortitude,
To peace and truth thy glorious way hast ploughed,
And on the neck of crowned Fortune proud5
Hast reared God’s trophies, and his work pursued,
WhileDarwen stream, with blood of Scots imbrued,
AndDunbarfield, resounds thy praises loud,
And Worcester’s laureate wreath: yet much remains
To conquer still; Peace hath her victories10
No less renowned than War: new foes arise,
Threateningto bind our souls with secular chains.
Help us to save free conscience from the paw
Ofhireling wolves, whose Gospel is their maw.
Vane, young in years, but in sage counsel old,Than whom a better senator ne’er heldThe helm of Rome, whengowns, not arms, repelledThe fierce Epirot and the African bold,Whether to settle peace, or to unfold5The drift of hollow stateshard to be spelled;Then to advise how war may best, upheld,Move by her two main nerves, iron and gold,In all her equipage; besides, to knowBoth spiritual power and civil, what each means,10What severs each, thou hast learned, which few have done.The bounds of either sword to thee we owe:Therefore on thy firm hand Religion leansIn peace, and reckons thee her eldest son.
Vane, young in years, but in sage counsel old,
Than whom a better senator ne’er held
The helm of Rome, whengowns, not arms, repelled
The fierce Epirot and the African bold,
Whether to settle peace, or to unfold5
The drift of hollow stateshard to be spelled;
Then to advise how war may best, upheld,
Move by her two main nerves, iron and gold,
In all her equipage; besides, to know
Both spiritual power and civil, what each means,10
What severs each, thou hast learned, which few have done.
The bounds of either sword to thee we owe:
Therefore on thy firm hand Religion leans
In peace, and reckons thee her eldest son.
Avenge, O Lord, thy slaughtered saints, whose bonesLie scattered on the Alpine mountains cold;Even them who kept thy truth so pure of old,When all our fathers worshiped stocks and stones,Forget not: in thy book recordtheir groans5Who were thy sheep, and in their ancient foldSlain by the bloody Piedmontese, that rolledMother with infant down the rocks. Their moansThe vales redoubled to the hills, and theyTo heaven. Their martyred blood and ashes sow10O’er all the Italian fields, where still doth swayThe triple Tyrant; that from these may growA hundredfold, who, having learnt thy way,Early may flythe Babylonian woe.
Avenge, O Lord, thy slaughtered saints, whose bones
Lie scattered on the Alpine mountains cold;
Even them who kept thy truth so pure of old,
When all our fathers worshiped stocks and stones,
Forget not: in thy book recordtheir groans5
Who were thy sheep, and in their ancient fold
Slain by the bloody Piedmontese, that rolled
Mother with infant down the rocks. Their moans
The vales redoubled to the hills, and they
To heaven. Their martyred blood and ashes sow10
O’er all the Italian fields, where still doth sway
The triple Tyrant; that from these may grow
A hundredfold, who, having learnt thy way,
Early may flythe Babylonian woe.
When I consider how my light is spentEre half my daysin this dark world and wide,And that one talent which is death to hideLodged with me useless, though my soul more bentTo serve therewith my Maker, and present5My true account, lest He returning chide,“Doth God exact day-labor, light denied?”I fondly ask. But Patience, to preventThat murmur, soon replies, “God doth not needEither man’s work or his own gifts. Who best10Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His stateIs kingly; thousands at his bidding speed,And post o’er land and ocean without rest;They also serve who only stand and wait.”
When I consider how my light is spent
Ere half my daysin this dark world and wide,
And that one talent which is death to hide
Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent
To serve therewith my Maker, and present5
My true account, lest He returning chide,
“Doth God exact day-labor, light denied?”
I fondly ask. But Patience, to prevent
That murmur, soon replies, “God doth not need
Either man’s work or his own gifts. Who best10
Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state
Is kingly; thousands at his bidding speed,
And post o’er land and ocean without rest;
They also serve who only stand and wait.”
Lawrence, of virtuous father virtuous son,Now that the fields are dank, and ways are mire,Where shall we sometimes meet, and by the fireHelp waste a sullen day, what may be wonFrom the hard season gaining? Time will run5On smoother, tillFavoniusreinspireThe frozen earth, and clothe in fresh attireThe lily and rose, that neither sowed nor spun.What neat repast shall feast us, light and choice,OfAttictaste, with wine, whence we may rise10To hear the lute well touched, or artful voiceWarble immortal notes and Tuscan air?He who of those delights can judge,and spareTo interpose them oft, is not unwise.
Lawrence, of virtuous father virtuous son,
Now that the fields are dank, and ways are mire,
Where shall we sometimes meet, and by the fire
Help waste a sullen day, what may be won
From the hard season gaining? Time will run5
On smoother, tillFavoniusreinspire
The frozen earth, and clothe in fresh attire
The lily and rose, that neither sowed nor spun.
What neat repast shall feast us, light and choice,
OfAttictaste, with wine, whence we may rise10
To hear the lute well touched, or artful voice
Warble immortal notes and Tuscan air?
He who of those delights can judge,and spare
To interpose them oft, is not unwise.
Cyriack, whose grandsireon the royal benchOf BritishThemis, with no mean applause,Pronounced, and in his volumes taught, our laws,Which others at their bar so often wrench,To-day deep thoughts resolve with me to drench5In mirth that after no repenting draws;Let Euclid rest, and Archimedes pause,And what the Swede intend, and what the French.To measure life learn thou betimes, and knowToward solid good what leads the nearest way;10For other things mild Heaven a time ordains,And disapproves that care, though wise in show,That with superfluous burden loads the day,And, when God sends a cheerful hour, refrains.
Cyriack, whose grandsireon the royal bench
Of BritishThemis, with no mean applause,
Pronounced, and in his volumes taught, our laws,
Which others at their bar so often wrench,
To-day deep thoughts resolve with me to drench5
In mirth that after no repenting draws;
Let Euclid rest, and Archimedes pause,
And what the Swede intend, and what the French.
To measure life learn thou betimes, and know
Toward solid good what leads the nearest way;10
For other things mild Heaven a time ordains,
And disapproves that care, though wise in show,
That with superfluous burden loads the day,
And, when God sends a cheerful hour, refrains.
Cyriack,this three years’ daythese eyes, though clear,To outward view, of blemish or of spot,Bereft of light, their seeing have forgot;Nor to their idle orbs doth sight appearOf sun, or moon, or star, throughout the year,5Or man, or woman. Yet I argue notAgainst Heaven’s hand or will, nor bate a jotOf heart or hope, but still bear up and steerRight onward. What supports me, dost thou ask?The conscience, friend, to have lost them overplied10In Liberty’s defence, my noble task,Of which all Europe rings from side to side.This thought might lead me through the world’s vain maskContent, though blind, had I no better guide.
Cyriack,this three years’ daythese eyes, though clear,
To outward view, of blemish or of spot,
Bereft of light, their seeing have forgot;
Nor to their idle orbs doth sight appear
Of sun, or moon, or star, throughout the year,5
Or man, or woman. Yet I argue not
Against Heaven’s hand or will, nor bate a jot
Of heart or hope, but still bear up and steer
Right onward. What supports me, dost thou ask?
The conscience, friend, to have lost them overplied10
In Liberty’s defence, my noble task,
Of which all Europe rings from side to side.
This thought might lead me through the world’s vain mask
Content, though blind, had I no better guide.
Methought I saw my late espoused saintBrought to melike Alcestisfrom the grave,Whom Jove’s great son to her glad husband gave,Rescued from Death by force, though pale and faint.Mine, as whom washed from spot of child-bed taint5Purification in the Old Lawdid save,And such as yet once more I trust to haveFull sight of her in Heaven without restraint,Came vested all in white, pure as her mind.Her face was veiled; yet to my fancied sight10Love, sweetness, goodness, in her person shinedSo clear as in no face with more delight.But, oh! as to embrace me she inclined,I waked, she fled, and day brought back my night.
Methought I saw my late espoused saint
Brought to melike Alcestisfrom the grave,
Whom Jove’s great son to her glad husband gave,
Rescued from Death by force, though pale and faint.
Mine, as whom washed from spot of child-bed taint5
Purification in the Old Lawdid save,
And such as yet once more I trust to have
Full sight of her in Heaven without restraint,
Came vested all in white, pure as her mind.
Her face was veiled; yet to my fancied sight10
Love, sweetness, goodness, in her person shined
So clear as in no face with more delight.
But, oh! as to embrace me she inclined,
I waked, she fled, and day brought back my night.
From his sixteenth year Milton had been wont to write freely in Latin verse, on miscellaneous poetic themes, sometimes expressing his thoughts on events of the day, and sometimes addressing letters to his friends on purely personal matters. From these Latin poems, which therefore in some sense belong to English literature, we obtain valuable insight into his course of life and his way of thinking. What Milton wrote in foreign languages is indispensable for the information it gives us about himself—its content is important; but as poetry implies a fusing of content and form into an artistic unity, if one of these elements is foreign, the result is nondescript and cannot be ranged under the head of English literature in the strict sense of the term.
It is in one of Milton’s own Latin pieces that we find our best commentary on the Hymn on the Nativity. The sixth Latin Elegy is an epistle to his intimate college friend, “Charles Diodăti making a stay in the country,” the last twelve lines of which may be freely translated as follows:—
But if you shall wish to know what I am doing,—if indeed you think it worth your while to know whether I am doing anything at all,—we are singing the peace-bringing king born of heavenly seed, and the happy ages promised in the sacred books, and the crying of the infant God lying in a manger under a poor roof, who dwells with his father in the realms above; and the starry sky, and the squadrons singing on high, and the gods suddenly driven away to their own fanes. Those gifts we have indeed given to the birthday of Christ; that first light brought them to me at dawn. Thee also they await sung to our native pipes; thou shalt be to me in lieu of a judge for me to read them to.
This means, of course, that the poet is composing a Christmas Hymn in his native language. We must note his age at this time,—twenty-one years: he is a student at Cambridge. The poem remains the great Christmas hymn in our literature. “The Ode on the Nativity,” says Professor Saintsbury, “is a test of the reader’s power to appreciate poetry.”
In four stanzas the poet speaks in his own person: he too must, with the wise men from the east, bring such gifts as he has, to offer to the Infant God. His offering is thehumble odewhich follows. We must take note of the change in the metric form which marks the transition from the introduction to the ode. In the stanzas of the former the lines all have five accents, except the last, which has six; while in the latter, four lines have three accents each, one has four, two have five, and one has six. Notice also the occasional hypermetric lines, such as line 47.
In connection with Milton’s Hymn, read Alfred Domett’sIt was the calm and silent night.
5. For so the holy sages once did sing.See Par. Lost XII 324.6. our deadly forfeit should release.Compare Par. Lost III 221, and see the idea ofreleasing a forfeitotherwise expressed in the Merchant of Venice IV 124.10. he wont.This is the past tense of the verbwont, meaning tobe accustomed. See the present, Par. Lost I 764, and the participle, I 332.15. thy sacred vein.Seeveinin the same sense, Par. Lost VI 628.19. the Sun’s team.CompareComus 95, and read the story of Phaëthon in Ovid’s Metamorphoses II 106.24. prevent them with thy humble ode.Seepreventin this sense, in Shakespeare’s Julius Cæsar V 1105, and in PsalmXXI3.28. touched with hallowed fire.See ActsII3. On the meaning ofsecret, compare Par. Lost X 32.41. Polluteis the participle, exactly equivalent topolluted.48. the turning sphere.For poetical purposes Milton everywhere adopts the popular astronomy of his day, which was based on the ancient, i.e. the Ptolemaic, or geocentric system of the universe. Copernicus had already taught the modern, heliocentric theory of thesolar system, and his innovations were not unknown to Milton, who, however, consistently adheres to the old conceptions. In Milton, therefore, we find the earth the centre of the visible universe, while the sun, the planets, and the fixed stars revolve about it in their severalspheres. These spheres are nine in number, arranged concentrically, like the coats of an onion, about the earth, and, if of solid matter, are to be conceived as being of perfectly transparent crystal. Beginning with the innermost, they present themselves in the following order: the Moon, Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, the Fixed Stars, the Primum Mobile. In Par. Lost III 481, the ninth sphere appears as “that crystalline sphere whose balance weighs the trepidation talked,” and the Primum Mobile, or the first moved, becomes the tenth and outermost of the series. The last two spheres contain no stars.We see, then, what we must understand by the oft-recurringspheresin Milton’s poetry. In the line,Down through the turning sphere, however, the singularsphereis obviously used to mean the whole aggregate of spheres composing the starry universe.50. With turtle wing.With the wing of a turtle-dove.56. The hooked chariot.War chariots sometimes had scythes, or hooks, attached to their axles. See 2 MaccabeesXIII2.60. sovran.Milton always uses this form in preference tosovereign.62. the Prince of Light.Note the corresponding epithet applied to Satan, Par. Lost X 383.64. The winds, with wonder whist.The wordwhist, originally an interjection, becomes an adjective, as here and in The Tempest I 2378.66.Make three syllables ofOceän, and make it rhyme withbegan.68. birds of calm.The birds referred to are doubtless halcyons. Dr. Murray defines halcyon thus: “A bird of which the ancients fabled that it bred about the time of the winter solstice in a nest floating on the sea, and that it charmed the wind and waves so that the sea was specially calm during the period; usually identified with a species of kingfisher, hence a poetic name of this bird.”71. their precious influence.The wordinfluenceis originally a term of astrology,—“a flowing in, or influent course, of the planets; their virtue infused into, or their course working on, inferior creatures” (Skeat,Etym. Dict.).73. For all the morning light.As in Burns’s “We dare be poor for a’ that,”formeaning in spite of.74. Lucifer.See Par. Lost VII 131-133.81. As, foras if.86. Or ere the point of dawn.The two wordsor eremean simplybefore, as in Hamlet I 2147, “A little month, or ere those shoes were old.”The point of dawnimitates the Frenchle point du jour.88. Full little thought they than.Thanis an ancient form ofthen, not wholly obsolete in Milton’s day.89. the mighty Pan.The poet takes the point of view of the shepherds and uses the name of their special deity.95. by mortal finger strook.Milton uses the three participle forms,strook, struck, andstrucken.98. As all their souls in blissful rapture took.The verbtakehas here the same meaning as in Hamlet I 1163, “no fairy takes nor witch hath power to charm.” Thus also we say, a vaccination takes.103. Cynthia’s seat.SeePenseroso 59, and Romeo and Juliet III 520.108.Make the line rhyme properly, giving tounionthree syllables.112. The helmed cherubim.See GenesisIII24.113. The sworded seraphim.See IsaiahVI2-6.116. With unexpressive notes, meaning beyond the power of human expression. So inLycidas 176; Par. Lost V 595; and in As You Like It, “the fair, the chaste, and inexpressive she.”119. But when of old the Sons of Morning sung.See JobXXXVIII7.124. the weltering waves.CompareLycidas 13.125. Ring out, ye crystal spheres.Seenote, line 48. The elder poetry is full of the notion that the spheres in their revolutions made music, which human ears are too gross to hear. See Merchant of Venice V 150-65.136. speckled Vanity.The leopard that confronts Dante in Canto I ofHellis beautiful with its dappled skin, but symbolizes vain glory.143. like glories wearing.The adjectivelikemeans nothing without a complement, though the complement sometimes has to be supplied, as in this instance. Fully expressed the passage would be,—wearing glories like those of Truth and Justice. Thelikein such a case as this must be spoken with a fuller tone than when its construction is completely expressed.155. those ychained in sleep.The poets, in order to gain a syllable, long continued to use the ancient participle prefixy. Seeyclept,Allegro 12.157. With such a horrid clang.See ExodusXIX.168. The Old Dragon.See RevelationXII9.173.StanzasXIX-XXVIannounce the deposition and expulsion of the pagan deities, and the ruin of the ancient religions. In accordance with his custom of grouping selected proper names in abundance, thus giving vividness and concreteness to his story and sonority to his verse, the poet here illustrates the triumph of the new dispensation by citing the names of various gods from the Roman, Greek, Syrian, and Egyptian mythologies.176. Apollo, the great god, whose oracle was at Delphi, or Delphos.179. spell, as inComus 853, and often.186. Genius.A Latin word, signifying a tutelary or guardian spirit supposed to preside over a person or place. SeeLycidas 183, andPenseroso 154.191. The Lars and Lemures.In the Roman mythology these were the spirits of dead ancestors, worshipped or propitiated in families as having power for good or evil over the fortunes of their descendants.194. Affrights the flamens.The Roman flamens were the priests of particular gods.195. the chill marble seems to sweat.Many instances of this phenomenon are reported. Thus Cicero, in hisDe Divinatione, tells us: “It was reported to the senate that it had rained blood, that the river Atratus had even flowed with blood, and that the statues of the gods had sweat.”197. Peor and Baälim.Syrian false gods. See NumbersXXV3.199. that twice-battered god of Palestine.See I SamuelV2.200. mooned Ashtaroth.See I KingsXI33.203. The Lybic Hammon.“Hammon had a famous temple in Africa, where he was adored under the symbolic figure of a ram.”204. their wounded Thammuz.See EzekielVIII14.205. sullen Moloch.See Par. Lost I 392-396.210. the furnace blue.CompareArcades 52.212. Isis, and Orus, and the dog Anubis.Egyptian deities, the latter figured as having the head of a dog.213. Nor is Osiris seen.Osiris was the principal god of the Egyptians,brother and husband of Isis. His highest function was as god of the Nile. He met his death at the hands of his brother Typhon, a deity of sterility, by whom he was torn into fourteen pieces. Thereupon a general lament was raised throughout Egypt. The bull Apis was regarded as the visible incarnation of Osiris.—Murray’s Manual of Mythology.215. the unshowered grass.Remember, this was in Egypt.223. his dusky eyn.This ancient plural of eye occurs several times in Shakespeare, as in As You Like It IV 350.240. Heaven’s youngest-teemed star.CompareComus 175.241. Hath fixed her polished car.Fixhas its proper meaning,stopped. The star “came and stood over where the young child was.”
5. For so the holy sages once did sing.See Par. Lost XII 324.
6. our deadly forfeit should release.Compare Par. Lost III 221, and see the idea ofreleasing a forfeitotherwise expressed in the Merchant of Venice IV 124.
10. he wont.This is the past tense of the verbwont, meaning tobe accustomed. See the present, Par. Lost I 764, and the participle, I 332.
15. thy sacred vein.Seeveinin the same sense, Par. Lost VI 628.
19. the Sun’s team.CompareComus 95, and read the story of Phaëthon in Ovid’s Metamorphoses II 106.
24. prevent them with thy humble ode.Seepreventin this sense, in Shakespeare’s Julius Cæsar V 1105, and in PsalmXXI3.
28. touched with hallowed fire.See ActsII3. On the meaning ofsecret, compare Par. Lost X 32.
41. Polluteis the participle, exactly equivalent topolluted.
48. the turning sphere.For poetical purposes Milton everywhere adopts the popular astronomy of his day, which was based on the ancient, i.e. the Ptolemaic, or geocentric system of the universe. Copernicus had already taught the modern, heliocentric theory of thesolar system, and his innovations were not unknown to Milton, who, however, consistently adheres to the old conceptions. In Milton, therefore, we find the earth the centre of the visible universe, while the sun, the planets, and the fixed stars revolve about it in their severalspheres. These spheres are nine in number, arranged concentrically, like the coats of an onion, about the earth, and, if of solid matter, are to be conceived as being of perfectly transparent crystal. Beginning with the innermost, they present themselves in the following order: the Moon, Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, the Fixed Stars, the Primum Mobile. In Par. Lost III 481, the ninth sphere appears as “that crystalline sphere whose balance weighs the trepidation talked,” and the Primum Mobile, or the first moved, becomes the tenth and outermost of the series. The last two spheres contain no stars.
We see, then, what we must understand by the oft-recurringspheresin Milton’s poetry. In the line,Down through the turning sphere, however, the singularsphereis obviously used to mean the whole aggregate of spheres composing the starry universe.
50. With turtle wing.With the wing of a turtle-dove.
56. The hooked chariot.War chariots sometimes had scythes, or hooks, attached to their axles. See 2 MaccabeesXIII2.
60. sovran.Milton always uses this form in preference tosovereign.
62. the Prince of Light.Note the corresponding epithet applied to Satan, Par. Lost X 383.
64. The winds, with wonder whist.The wordwhist, originally an interjection, becomes an adjective, as here and in The Tempest I 2378.
66.Make three syllables ofOceän, and make it rhyme withbegan.
68. birds of calm.The birds referred to are doubtless halcyons. Dr. Murray defines halcyon thus: “A bird of which the ancients fabled that it bred about the time of the winter solstice in a nest floating on the sea, and that it charmed the wind and waves so that the sea was specially calm during the period; usually identified with a species of kingfisher, hence a poetic name of this bird.”
71. their precious influence.The wordinfluenceis originally a term of astrology,—“a flowing in, or influent course, of the planets; their virtue infused into, or their course working on, inferior creatures” (Skeat,Etym. Dict.).
73. For all the morning light.As in Burns’s “We dare be poor for a’ that,”formeaning in spite of.
74. Lucifer.See Par. Lost VII 131-133.
81. As, foras if.
86. Or ere the point of dawn.The two wordsor eremean simplybefore, as in Hamlet I 2147, “A little month, or ere those shoes were old.”The point of dawnimitates the Frenchle point du jour.
88. Full little thought they than.Thanis an ancient form ofthen, not wholly obsolete in Milton’s day.
89. the mighty Pan.The poet takes the point of view of the shepherds and uses the name of their special deity.
95. by mortal finger strook.Milton uses the three participle forms,strook, struck, andstrucken.
98. As all their souls in blissful rapture took.The verbtakehas here the same meaning as in Hamlet I 1163, “no fairy takes nor witch hath power to charm.” Thus also we say, a vaccination takes.
103. Cynthia’s seat.SeePenseroso 59, and Romeo and Juliet III 520.
108.Make the line rhyme properly, giving tounionthree syllables.
112. The helmed cherubim.See GenesisIII24.
113. The sworded seraphim.See IsaiahVI2-6.
116. With unexpressive notes, meaning beyond the power of human expression. So inLycidas 176; Par. Lost V 595; and in As You Like It, “the fair, the chaste, and inexpressive she.”
119. But when of old the Sons of Morning sung.See JobXXXVIII7.
124. the weltering waves.CompareLycidas 13.
125. Ring out, ye crystal spheres.Seenote, line 48. The elder poetry is full of the notion that the spheres in their revolutions made music, which human ears are too gross to hear. See Merchant of Venice V 150-65.
136. speckled Vanity.The leopard that confronts Dante in Canto I ofHellis beautiful with its dappled skin, but symbolizes vain glory.
143. like glories wearing.The adjectivelikemeans nothing without a complement, though the complement sometimes has to be supplied, as in this instance. Fully expressed the passage would be,—wearing glories like those of Truth and Justice. Thelikein such a case as this must be spoken with a fuller tone than when its construction is completely expressed.
155. those ychained in sleep.The poets, in order to gain a syllable, long continued to use the ancient participle prefixy. Seeyclept,Allegro 12.
157. With such a horrid clang.See ExodusXIX.
168. The Old Dragon.See RevelationXII9.
173.StanzasXIX-XXVIannounce the deposition and expulsion of the pagan deities, and the ruin of the ancient religions. In accordance with his custom of grouping selected proper names in abundance, thus giving vividness and concreteness to his story and sonority to his verse, the poet here illustrates the triumph of the new dispensation by citing the names of various gods from the Roman, Greek, Syrian, and Egyptian mythologies.
176. Apollo, the great god, whose oracle was at Delphi, or Delphos.
179. spell, as inComus 853, and often.
186. Genius.A Latin word, signifying a tutelary or guardian spirit supposed to preside over a person or place. SeeLycidas 183, andPenseroso 154.
191. The Lars and Lemures.In the Roman mythology these were the spirits of dead ancestors, worshipped or propitiated in families as having power for good or evil over the fortunes of their descendants.
194. Affrights the flamens.The Roman flamens were the priests of particular gods.
195. the chill marble seems to sweat.Many instances of this phenomenon are reported. Thus Cicero, in hisDe Divinatione, tells us: “It was reported to the senate that it had rained blood, that the river Atratus had even flowed with blood, and that the statues of the gods had sweat.”
197. Peor and Baälim.Syrian false gods. See NumbersXXV3.
199. that twice-battered god of Palestine.See I SamuelV2.
200. mooned Ashtaroth.See I KingsXI33.
203. The Lybic Hammon.“Hammon had a famous temple in Africa, where he was adored under the symbolic figure of a ram.”
204. their wounded Thammuz.See EzekielVIII14.
205. sullen Moloch.See Par. Lost I 392-396.
210. the furnace blue.CompareArcades 52.
212. Isis, and Orus, and the dog Anubis.Egyptian deities, the latter figured as having the head of a dog.
213. Nor is Osiris seen.Osiris was the principal god of the Egyptians,brother and husband of Isis. His highest function was as god of the Nile. He met his death at the hands of his brother Typhon, a deity of sterility, by whom he was torn into fourteen pieces. Thereupon a general lament was raised throughout Egypt. The bull Apis was regarded as the visible incarnation of Osiris.—Murray’s Manual of Mythology.
215. the unshowered grass.Remember, this was in Egypt.
223. his dusky eyn.This ancient plural of eye occurs several times in Shakespeare, as in As You Like It IV 350.
240. Heaven’s youngest-teemed star.CompareComus 175.
241. Hath fixed her polished car.Fixhas its proper meaning,stopped. The star “came and stood over where the young child was.”
The first edition of the collected works of Shakespeare, known as the first folio, was published in 1623, when Milton was fifteen years old. The second Shakespeare folio appeared in 1632. Among the commendatory verses by various hands prefixed, after the fashion of the time, to the latter volume, was a little piece of eight couplets, in which some then unknown rhymer expressed his admiration of the great poet. Collecting his poems for publication in 1645, Milton included these couplets, gave them the date 1630, and the titleOn Shakespearewhich they have since borne in his works. The fact that he wrote the verses two years before their publication in the Shakespeare folio shows that he did not produce them to order, for the special occasion. It is interesting to note that Milton at twenty-two was an appreciative reader of Shakespeare. The lines themselves give no hint of great poetic genius; they are a fair specimen of the conventional, labored eulogy in vogue at the time.
4. star-ypointing.To make the decasyllabic verse, the poet takes the liberty of prefixing to the present participle theywhich properly belongs only to the past.8. a livelong monument.Instead oflivelong, the first issue of the lines, in the Shakespeare folio of 1632, haslasting. The change is Milton’s, appearing in his revision of his poems in 1645. Does it seem to be an improvement?10-12. and that each heart hath ... took.The conjunctionthatsimply repeats thewhilst.11. thy unvalued book.In Hamlet I 319unvalued personsare persons of no value, or of no rank. In Macbeth III 194thevalued fileis the file that determines values or ranks. In Milton’s phrase theunvalued bookmeans the book whose merit is so great as to be beyond all valuation: a new rank must be created for it.12. Those Delphic lines:lines so crowded with meaning as to seem the utterances of an oracle.13. our fancy of itself bereaving:transporting us into an ecstasy, or making us rapt with thought.14. Dost makeusmarble with too much conceiving.The concentrated attention required to penetrate Shakespeare’s meaning makes statues of us.15.Make the wordsepulchredfit metrically into the iambic verse.
4. star-ypointing.To make the decasyllabic verse, the poet takes the liberty of prefixing to the present participle theywhich properly belongs only to the past.
8. a livelong monument.Instead oflivelong, the first issue of the lines, in the Shakespeare folio of 1632, haslasting. The change is Milton’s, appearing in his revision of his poems in 1645. Does it seem to be an improvement?
10-12. and that each heart hath ... took.The conjunctionthatsimply repeats thewhilst.
11. thy unvalued book.In Hamlet I 319unvalued personsare persons of no value, or of no rank. In Macbeth III 194thevalued fileis the file that determines values or ranks. In Milton’s phrase theunvalued bookmeans the book whose merit is so great as to be beyond all valuation: a new rank must be created for it.
12. Those Delphic lines:lines so crowded with meaning as to seem the utterances of an oracle.
13. our fancy of itself bereaving:transporting us into an ecstasy, or making us rapt with thought.
14. Dost makeusmarble with too much conceiving.The concentrated attention required to penetrate Shakespeare’s meaning makes statues of us.
15.Make the wordsepulchredfit metrically into the iambic verse.
The year in which the poems were composed is uncertain. Masson regards 1632 as the probable date.
The exquisite poems to which Milton gave the Italian titles L’Allegro,—the mirthful, or jovial, man,—and Il Penseroso,—the melancholy, or saturnine, man,—should be regarded each as the pendant and complement of the other, and should be read as a single whole. The poet knew both moods, and takes both standpoints with equal grace and heartiness. The essential idea of thus contrasting the mirthful and the melancholy temperament he found ready to his hand. Robert Burton had prefaced hisAnatomy of Melancholy, published in 1621, with a series of not unpleasing, though by no means graceful, amœbean stanzas, in which two speakers alternately represent Melancholy, one as sweet and divine, and the other as harsh, sour, and damned. Undoubtedly Milton knew his Burton. But if he got his main idea from this source, he made his poems thoroughly Miltonic by his art of visualizing in delicious pictures the various phases of his abstract theme. The poems are wholly poetical, equally free from obscurity of thought and from obscurity of expression.
Each poem is prefaced with a vigorous exorcism of the spirit towhich it is hostile. This is couched in alternate three and five accent iambics, preparing a delicious rhythmic effect when the metre changes, in the invocation, to the octosyllable, with or without anacrusis.
In L’Allegro we accompany the mirthful man through an entire day of his pleasures, from early morning to late evening. The melancholy man moves through a programme less definitely and regularly planned. The scenes of his delights are mostly in the hours of the night: when the sun is up, he hides himself from day’s garish eye.
2. Of Cerberus and blackest Midnight born.Milton follows the example of the ancient poets in announcing the parentage of the principal beings whom he brings upon his stage. Moreover, he uses the ancient freedom in assigning mythical pedigrees, not only adopting no authority as a canon, but allowing his own fancy to invent origins as suits his purpose. He knew the Greek and Latin poets, and assumed for himself the privilege which they exercised of shaping the myths as they pleased. We are not therefore to seek in Milton a reproduction of any system of mythology.Cerberuswas the terrible three-headed dog of Pluto. His station was at the entrance to the lower world, or theStygian cave.3.TheStygian caveis so called from the Styx, the infernal river, “the flood of deadly hate.”5. some uncouth cell.Uncouthmay be used here in its original sense ofunknown, as in Par. Lost VIII 230.10. In dark Cimmerian desert.The Cimmerians were a people fabled by the ancients to live in perpetual darkness.12. ycleptis the participle of the obsolete verbclepe, with the ancient prefixy, as in ychained,Hymn on the Nativity 155.15. two sister Graces more.Hesiod names, as the three Graces, Euphrosyne, Aglaia, and Thalia, but he makes them the daughters of Zeus and Eurynome.18. The frolic wind.Seefrolicagain as an adjective,Comus 59.24. So buxom, blithe, and debonair.See Shakespeare’s Pericles, I Gower 23. All these words are interesting to look up for etymologies and changes of meaning.25-36.We readily accept and understand the personification ofJest, Jollity, Sport, Laughter, andLiberty, but the plurals,Quips, Cranks, Wiles, Nods, Becks, Smiles, we do not manage quite so easily, especially in view of the couplet 29-30.28. Smilesmay be said to bewreathedbecause they inwreathe the face. See Par. Lost III 361.33. trip it, as you go.So in Shakespeare, “I’ll queen it no inch further; Rather than fool it so; I’ll go brave it at the court, lording it in London streets.”41.With this line begins a series of illustrations of theunreproved pleasureswhich L’Allegro is going to enjoy during a day of leisure. At first the specified pleasures or occupations are introduced by infinitives,to hear, to come; but the construction soon changes, as we shall see. The first pleasure isTo hear the lark, etc. 41-44. L’Allegro begins his day with early morning. Here we must imagine him as having risen and gone forth where he can see the sky and can look about him to see what is going on in the farm-yard.45-46. Then to come, in spite of sorrow,And at my window bid good-morrow.It must be L’Allegro himself who comes to the window, and as he is outside, he comes to look in through the shrubbery and bid good morning to the cottage inmates, who are now up and about their work. The pertinency of the phrase,in spite of sorrow, is not intelligible.53. Oft listening how the hounds and horn.This “pleasure” and the next—sometime walking—are introduced with present participles. There is no interruption of grammatical consistency.57. Sometime walking, not unseen.See the counterpart of this line,Penseroso 65. Todd quotes the note of Bishop Hurd,—“Happy men love witnesses of their joy: the splenetic love solitude.”59. against,i.e.toward.62. The clouds in thousand liveries dight.Dightis the participle of the verbto dight, meaning to adorn. It is still used as an archaism.67. And every shepherd tells his tale.This undoubtedly meanscounts the numberof his flock. In Shakespeare we find, totellmoney, years, steps, a hundred. Sotaleoften means an enumeration, a number. L’Allegro finds the shepherds in the morning counting their sheep, not telling stories.68.With this line ends the long, loose sentence that began with line 37. We now come to a full stop, and with line 69 begin a new sentence.70. the landskip.A word of late origin in English, of unsettled spelling in Milton’s day.71. Russet lawns.In Milton,lawnmeans field or pasture. SeeLycidas 25.77.In this line the subject,mine eye, is resumed.80. The cynosure of neighboring eyes.In the constellation Cynosure, usually called the Lesser Bear, is the pole-star, to which very many eyes are directed.81.A new “pleasure” is introduced, with a new grammatical subject.83. Where Corydon and Thyrsis met.The proper names in lines 83-88 add to the poem a pleasing touch of pastoral simplicity and cheerfulness. They are taken from the common stock of names, which, originally devised by the Greek idyllists for their shepherds and shepherdesses, have by the pastoral poets of all subsequent ages been appropriated to their special use. Corydon and Thyrsis stand for farm-laborers, Phyllis and Thestylis for their wives or housekeepers. The day of L’Allegro has now advanced to dinner-time. Phyllis has been preparing the frugal meal, as we could surmise from the smoking chimney. As soon as the dinner is over the women go out to work with the men in the harvest field.87. bowermeans simplydwelling.90.In thetanned haycockwe see the hay dried and browned by the sun.91.The scene changes and brings yet another “pleasure.”secure delightis delight without care,sine cura. See Samson Agonistes 55.96. in the chequered shade.They danced under trees through whose foliage the sunlight filtered.99.Evening comes on, and a new pleasure succeeds. Story-telling is now in order.102.Sufficient information aboutFaery Mabcan be got from Romeo and Juliet I 453-95.103-104. She,i.e.one of the maids;And he,—one of the youths. TheFriar’s lanternis the ignis fatuus, or will-o’-the-wisp, fabled to lead men into dangerous marshes.105.A connective is lacking to make the syntax sound: the subject oftellsmust behe.the drudging goblin.This is Robin Goodfellow, known to readers of fairy tales. Ben Jonson makes him a character in his Court Masque, Love Restored, where he is made torecount many of his pranks, and says, among other things, “I am the honest plain country spirit, and harmless, Robin Goodfellow, he that sweeps the hearth and the house clean, riddles for the country maids, and does all their other drudgery.”109. could not end.Dr. Murray gives this among other quotations as an instance of the verbendmeaningto put into the barn, to get in.So in Coriolanus V 687.110. the lubber fiend.This goblin is loutish in shape and fiendish-looking, though so good to those who treat him well.115. Thus done the tales.An absolute construction, imitating the Latin ablative absolute.117.The country folk having gone early to bed, tired with their day’s labor, L’Allegro hastes to the city, where the pleasures of life are prolonged further into the night.120. In weeds of peace, high triumphs hold.This must mean such things as masques and revelries among the upper classes.122. Rain influence.Seenote on Hymn on the Nativity 71.124.What is the antecedent ofwhom?125.What ceremony is here introduced?128.Do not misunderstand the wordmask. Its meaning becomes plain from the context.131.To what pleasure does L’Allegro now betake himself?132.Among the dramatists of the Jacobean timeBen Jonsonhad especially the repute of scholarship. Thesocksymbolizes comedy, as thebuskindoes tragedy. CompareIl Penseroso 102.133-134. Or sweetest Shakespeare, Fancy’s child,Warble his native wood-notes wild.The couplet seems intended to convey the idea of a counterpart or contrast to thelearned sockof Jonson. So considered, it is by no means an unhappy characterization.135.The last of the “unreproved pleasures” that L’Allegro wishes he may enjoy, seems not so much planned to follow the rest in sequence of time as to accompany them and be diffused through them all. Observe theeverin this line. Theeating caresare a reminiscence of Horace’scuras edaces, Ode II 1118.136. Lap me in soft Lydian airs.The three chief modes, or moods, of Greek music were theLydian, which was soft and pathetic; theDorian, especially adapted to war (see Par. Lost 550); and thePhrygian, which was bold and vehement.138. the meeting soul.The soul, in its eagerness, goes forth to meet and welcome the music.139.The wordboutseems to point at a piece of music somewhat in the nature of a round, or catch.145. That Orpheus’ self may heave his head.Even Orpheus, who in his life “drew trees, stones, and floods” by the power of his music, and who now reposes in Elysium, would lift his head to listen to the strains that L’Allegro would fain hear.149.Orpheus, withhismusic, had succeeded in obtaining from Pluto only a conditional release of his wife Eurydice. He was not to look back upon her till he was quite clear of Pluto’s domains. He failed to make good the condition, and so again lost his Eurydice.Il Penseroso.3. How little you bested.The verbbestedmeansto avail, to be of service. It is not the same word that we find in IsaiahVIII21, “hardly bestead and hungry.”6. fondhere has its primitive meaning,foolish. Understandpossessin the sense in which it is used in the Bible,—“possessed with devils.”10.Make two syllables ofMorpheus.12.Note that while he invoked Mirth in L’Allegro under her Greek name Euphrosyne, the poet finds no corresponding Greek designation forMelancholy. To us Melancholy seems a name unhappily chosen. But see how Milton applies it inline 62 below, and inComus 546. To him the word evidently connotes pensive meditation rather than gloomy depression.14. To hit the sense of human sight:to be gazed at by human eyes.18. Prince Memnonwas a fabled Ethiopian prince, black, and celebrated for his beauty. Recall Virgil’snigri Memnonis arma.19. that starred Ethiop queen.Cassiopeia, wife of theEthiopianking Cepheus, boasted that she was more beautiful thanthe Nereids, for which act of presumption she was translated to the skies, where she became the beautiful constellation which we know by her name.23. bright-haired Vesta.Vesta—in Greek, Hestia—“was the goddess of the home, the guardian of family life. Her spotless purity fitted her peculiarly to be the guardian of virgin modesty.”30. Whilst yet there was no fear of Jove,i.e.before Saturn was dethroned by Jupiter.33. All in a robe of darkest grain.In Par. Lost V 285, the third pair of Raphael’s wings have the color ofsky-tinctured grain; and XI 242, his vest is of purple livelier than “the grain of Sarra,” or Tyrian purple. This would leave us to infer that the robe of Melancholy is of a deep rich color, so dark as to be almost black. Dr. Murray quotes from Southey’sThalaba, “The ebony ... with darkness feeds its boughs of raven grain.” What objection is there to making thegrainin Milton’s passageblack?35. And sable stole of cypress lawn.Dr. Murray thus definescypress lawn, “A light transparent material resembling cobweb lawn or crape; like the latter it was, when black, much used for habiliments of mourning.”37. Come; but keep thy wonted state.Compare with this passage, L’Allegro 33.40. Thy rapt soul sitting in thine eyes.In Cymbeline I 651we find the present tense of the verb of whichraptis the participle: “What, dear Sir, thus raps you?” Do not confound this word withrap, meaning to strike.42. Forget thyself to marble.With this compareOn Shakespeare 14.43. With a sad leaden downward cast.So in Love’s Labor’s Lost IV 3321, “In leaden contemplation;” Othello III 4177, “I have this while with leaden thoughts been pressed.” So also Gray in the Hymn to Adversity, “With leaden eye that loves the ground.”45-55.Compare the company which Il Penseroso entreats Melancholy to bring along with her with that which L’Allegro wishes to see attending Mirth.46. Spare Fast, that oft with gods doth diet.Only the rigid ascetic has a spiritual ear so finely trained that he hears the celestial music.48. Aye, as their rhymes show, is always pronounced by the poets with the vowel sound inday.53. the fiery-wheeled throne.See DanielVII9.54. The Cherub Contemplation.Pronouncecontemplationwith five syllables. It is difficult to form a distinct conception of the nature and office of thecherubof the Scriptures. Milton in many passages of Par. Lost follows, with regard to the heavenly beings, the account given by Dionysius the Areopagite in his Celestial Hierarchy. According to Dionysius there were nine orders or ranks of beings inheaven, namely,—seraphim, cherubim, thrones, dominions, virtues, powers, principalities, archangels, angels. The cherubim have the special attribute of knowledge and contemplation of divine things.55. hist, primarily an interjection commanding silence, becomes here a verb.56.With the introduction of the nightingale comes the first intimation of the time of day at which Il Penseroso conceives the course of his satisfactions to begin.57.Everywhere else in Miltonplightis used with its modern connotations.59.The moon stops to hear the nightingale’s song.65.Remember L’Allegro’snot unseen.77.Up to this point Il Penseroso has been walking in the open air.78. removed,—remote, retired.87.Asthe Bearnever sets, tooutwatchhim must mean to sit up all night.88. With thrice great Hermes.“Hermes Trismegistos—Hermes thrice-greatest—is the name given by the Neo-Platonists and the devotees of mysticism and alchemy to the Egyptian god Thoth, regarded as more or less identified with the Grecian Hermes, and as the author of all mysterious doctrines, and especially of the secrets of alchemy.” (TheNew Eng. Dicty.) To such studies the serious mediæval scholars devoted themselves. Tounsphere the spirit of Platois to call him from the sphere in which he abides in the other world, or, simply, to take in hand for study his writings on immortality.93-96.On the four classes ofdemons,—Salamanders, Sylphs, Nymphs, Gnomes,—see Pope’s Rape of the Lock. These demons are in complicity with the planets and other heavenly bodies to influence mortals.97-102. Thebes, Pelops’ line, andthe tale of Troyare the staple subjects of the great Attic tragedians. It seems strange that the poet finds no occasion to name Shakespeare here, as well as in L’Allegro.104-105. Musæus and Orpheusare semi-mythical bards, to whom is ascribed a greatness proportioned to their obscurity.105-108.Seenote on L’Allegro, 149.109-115. Or call up him that left half-told.This refers to Chaucer and to his Squieres Tale in the Canterbury Tales. It is left unfinished. Note that Milton changes not only the spelling but theaccent of the chief character’s name. Chaucer writes, “This noble king was cleped Cambinskan.”120.Stories in whichmore is meant than meets the earrefer to allegories, like the Fairy Queen.121.Having thus filled the night with the occupations that he loves, Il Penseroso now greets the morning, which he hopes to find stormy with wind and rain.122. civil-suited Morn:i.e.Morn in the everyday habiliments of business.123-124.Eos—Aurora, the Dawn—carried off several youths distinguished for their beauty.the Attic boyis probably Cephalus, whom she stole from his wife Procris.125. kerchieft in a comely cloud.Kerchiefis here used in its original and proper sense. Look up its origin.126.The winds may be calledrockingbecause they visibly rock the trees, or because they shake houses.127. Or ushered with a shower still.The shower falls gently, without wind.130. With minute-drops from off the eaves.After the rain has ceased, and while the thatch is draining, the drops fall at regular intervals for a time,—as it were, a drop every minute. Il Penseroso listens with contentment to the wind, the rustling rain-fall on the leaves, and the monotonous patter of the drops when the rain is over.131.The shower is past, and the sun appears, but Il Penseroso finds its beams flaring and distasteful. He seeks covert in the dense groves.134. Sylvanis the god of the woods.135.Themonumental oakis so called from its great age and size.140.Consciously nursing his melancholy, Il Penseroso deems the wood that hides him a sacred place, and resents intrusion as a profanation.141. Hide me from day’s garish eye.See Richard III. IV 489, Romeo and Juliet III 225.142. While the bee with honeyed thigh.Is this good apiology?146. Entice the dewy-feathered Sleep.Note that sleep is represented as having feathers. These feathers, in their soft, gentle movement and in their refreshing effect are likened to dew. The figure is a common one with the poets. In Par. Lost IX 1044, Milton has,—“till dewy sleep oppressed them.” Cowper, Iliad II, 41, has,—“Awaking from thy dewy slumbers.”148. hisrefers to thedewy-feathered sleep. Il Penseroso asks that a strange, mysterious dream, hovering close by the wings of sleep, and lightly pictured in a succession of vivid forms, may be laid on his eye-lids.155-166.The wordstudiousin line 156 determines that the passage refers to college life and not to church attendance. The old English colleges have their cloisters, and these have much the same architectural features as do churches.157. embowedmeans vaulted, or bent like abow.158. massy-proof:massive and proof against all failure to support their load.159. And storied windows richly dight.CompareL’Allegro, 62.170.The best possible comment on this use of the verbspellis Milton’s own language, Par. Regained IV 382, where Satan, addressing the Son of God, thus speaks:—Now, contrary, if I read aught in Heaven,Or Heaven write aught of fate, by what the starsVoluminous, or single charactersIn their conjunction met, give me to spell,Sorrows and labors, opposition, hate,Attends thee; scorns, reproaches, injuries,Violence and stripes, and, lastly, cruel death.Il Penseroso’s aspiration is that as an astrologer he may learn the influence of every star and that he may come to know the virtue of every herb.
2. Of Cerberus and blackest Midnight born.Milton follows the example of the ancient poets in announcing the parentage of the principal beings whom he brings upon his stage. Moreover, he uses the ancient freedom in assigning mythical pedigrees, not only adopting no authority as a canon, but allowing his own fancy to invent origins as suits his purpose. He knew the Greek and Latin poets, and assumed for himself the privilege which they exercised of shaping the myths as they pleased. We are not therefore to seek in Milton a reproduction of any system of mythology.Cerberuswas the terrible three-headed dog of Pluto. His station was at the entrance to the lower world, or theStygian cave.
3.TheStygian caveis so called from the Styx, the infernal river, “the flood of deadly hate.”
5. some uncouth cell.Uncouthmay be used here in its original sense ofunknown, as in Par. Lost VIII 230.
10. In dark Cimmerian desert.The Cimmerians were a people fabled by the ancients to live in perpetual darkness.
12. ycleptis the participle of the obsolete verbclepe, with the ancient prefixy, as in ychained,Hymn on the Nativity 155.
15. two sister Graces more.Hesiod names, as the three Graces, Euphrosyne, Aglaia, and Thalia, but he makes them the daughters of Zeus and Eurynome.
18. The frolic wind.Seefrolicagain as an adjective,Comus 59.
24. So buxom, blithe, and debonair.See Shakespeare’s Pericles, I Gower 23. All these words are interesting to look up for etymologies and changes of meaning.
25-36.We readily accept and understand the personification ofJest, Jollity, Sport, Laughter, andLiberty, but the plurals,Quips, Cranks, Wiles, Nods, Becks, Smiles, we do not manage quite so easily, especially in view of the couplet 29-30.
28. Smilesmay be said to bewreathedbecause they inwreathe the face. See Par. Lost III 361.
33. trip it, as you go.So in Shakespeare, “I’ll queen it no inch further; Rather than fool it so; I’ll go brave it at the court, lording it in London streets.”
41.With this line begins a series of illustrations of theunreproved pleasureswhich L’Allegro is going to enjoy during a day of leisure. At first the specified pleasures or occupations are introduced by infinitives,to hear, to come; but the construction soon changes, as we shall see. The first pleasure isTo hear the lark, etc. 41-44. L’Allegro begins his day with early morning. Here we must imagine him as having risen and gone forth where he can see the sky and can look about him to see what is going on in the farm-yard.
45-46. Then to come, in spite of sorrow,And at my window bid good-morrow.
45-46. Then to come, in spite of sorrow,
And at my window bid good-morrow.
It must be L’Allegro himself who comes to the window, and as he is outside, he comes to look in through the shrubbery and bid good morning to the cottage inmates, who are now up and about their work. The pertinency of the phrase,in spite of sorrow, is not intelligible.
53. Oft listening how the hounds and horn.This “pleasure” and the next—sometime walking—are introduced with present participles. There is no interruption of grammatical consistency.
57. Sometime walking, not unseen.See the counterpart of this line,Penseroso 65. Todd quotes the note of Bishop Hurd,—“Happy men love witnesses of their joy: the splenetic love solitude.”
59. against,i.e.toward.
62. The clouds in thousand liveries dight.Dightis the participle of the verbto dight, meaning to adorn. It is still used as an archaism.
67. And every shepherd tells his tale.This undoubtedly meanscounts the numberof his flock. In Shakespeare we find, totellmoney, years, steps, a hundred. Sotaleoften means an enumeration, a number. L’Allegro finds the shepherds in the morning counting their sheep, not telling stories.
68.With this line ends the long, loose sentence that began with line 37. We now come to a full stop, and with line 69 begin a new sentence.
70. the landskip.A word of late origin in English, of unsettled spelling in Milton’s day.
71. Russet lawns.In Milton,lawnmeans field or pasture. SeeLycidas 25.
77.In this line the subject,mine eye, is resumed.
80. The cynosure of neighboring eyes.In the constellation Cynosure, usually called the Lesser Bear, is the pole-star, to which very many eyes are directed.
81.A new “pleasure” is introduced, with a new grammatical subject.
83. Where Corydon and Thyrsis met.The proper names in lines 83-88 add to the poem a pleasing touch of pastoral simplicity and cheerfulness. They are taken from the common stock of names, which, originally devised by the Greek idyllists for their shepherds and shepherdesses, have by the pastoral poets of all subsequent ages been appropriated to their special use. Corydon and Thyrsis stand for farm-laborers, Phyllis and Thestylis for their wives or housekeepers. The day of L’Allegro has now advanced to dinner-time. Phyllis has been preparing the frugal meal, as we could surmise from the smoking chimney. As soon as the dinner is over the women go out to work with the men in the harvest field.
87. bowermeans simplydwelling.
90.In thetanned haycockwe see the hay dried and browned by the sun.
91.The scene changes and brings yet another “pleasure.”secure delightis delight without care,sine cura. See Samson Agonistes 55.
96. in the chequered shade.They danced under trees through whose foliage the sunlight filtered.
99.Evening comes on, and a new pleasure succeeds. Story-telling is now in order.
102.Sufficient information aboutFaery Mabcan be got from Romeo and Juliet I 453-95.
103-104. She,i.e.one of the maids;And he,—one of the youths. TheFriar’s lanternis the ignis fatuus, or will-o’-the-wisp, fabled to lead men into dangerous marshes.
105.A connective is lacking to make the syntax sound: the subject oftellsmust behe.the drudging goblin.This is Robin Goodfellow, known to readers of fairy tales. Ben Jonson makes him a character in his Court Masque, Love Restored, where he is made torecount many of his pranks, and says, among other things, “I am the honest plain country spirit, and harmless, Robin Goodfellow, he that sweeps the hearth and the house clean, riddles for the country maids, and does all their other drudgery.”
109. could not end.Dr. Murray gives this among other quotations as an instance of the verbendmeaningto put into the barn, to get in.So in Coriolanus V 687.
110. the lubber fiend.This goblin is loutish in shape and fiendish-looking, though so good to those who treat him well.
115. Thus done the tales.An absolute construction, imitating the Latin ablative absolute.
117.The country folk having gone early to bed, tired with their day’s labor, L’Allegro hastes to the city, where the pleasures of life are prolonged further into the night.
120. In weeds of peace, high triumphs hold.This must mean such things as masques and revelries among the upper classes.
122. Rain influence.Seenote on Hymn on the Nativity 71.
124.What is the antecedent ofwhom?
125.What ceremony is here introduced?
128.Do not misunderstand the wordmask. Its meaning becomes plain from the context.
131.To what pleasure does L’Allegro now betake himself?
132.Among the dramatists of the Jacobean timeBen Jonsonhad especially the repute of scholarship. Thesocksymbolizes comedy, as thebuskindoes tragedy. CompareIl Penseroso 102.
133-134. Or sweetest Shakespeare, Fancy’s child,Warble his native wood-notes wild.
133-134. Or sweetest Shakespeare, Fancy’s child,
Warble his native wood-notes wild.
The couplet seems intended to convey the idea of a counterpart or contrast to thelearned sockof Jonson. So considered, it is by no means an unhappy characterization.
135.The last of the “unreproved pleasures” that L’Allegro wishes he may enjoy, seems not so much planned to follow the rest in sequence of time as to accompany them and be diffused through them all. Observe theeverin this line. Theeating caresare a reminiscence of Horace’scuras edaces, Ode II 1118.
136. Lap me in soft Lydian airs.The three chief modes, or moods, of Greek music were theLydian, which was soft and pathetic; theDorian, especially adapted to war (see Par. Lost 550); and thePhrygian, which was bold and vehement.
138. the meeting soul.The soul, in its eagerness, goes forth to meet and welcome the music.
139.The wordboutseems to point at a piece of music somewhat in the nature of a round, or catch.
145. That Orpheus’ self may heave his head.Even Orpheus, who in his life “drew trees, stones, and floods” by the power of his music, and who now reposes in Elysium, would lift his head to listen to the strains that L’Allegro would fain hear.
149.Orpheus, withhismusic, had succeeded in obtaining from Pluto only a conditional release of his wife Eurydice. He was not to look back upon her till he was quite clear of Pluto’s domains. He failed to make good the condition, and so again lost his Eurydice.
3. How little you bested.The verbbestedmeansto avail, to be of service. It is not the same word that we find in IsaiahVIII21, “hardly bestead and hungry.”
6. fondhere has its primitive meaning,foolish. Understandpossessin the sense in which it is used in the Bible,—“possessed with devils.”
10.Make two syllables ofMorpheus.
12.Note that while he invoked Mirth in L’Allegro under her Greek name Euphrosyne, the poet finds no corresponding Greek designation forMelancholy. To us Melancholy seems a name unhappily chosen. But see how Milton applies it inline 62 below, and inComus 546. To him the word evidently connotes pensive meditation rather than gloomy depression.
14. To hit the sense of human sight:to be gazed at by human eyes.
18. Prince Memnonwas a fabled Ethiopian prince, black, and celebrated for his beauty. Recall Virgil’snigri Memnonis arma.
19. that starred Ethiop queen.Cassiopeia, wife of theEthiopianking Cepheus, boasted that she was more beautiful thanthe Nereids, for which act of presumption she was translated to the skies, where she became the beautiful constellation which we know by her name.
23. bright-haired Vesta.Vesta—in Greek, Hestia—“was the goddess of the home, the guardian of family life. Her spotless purity fitted her peculiarly to be the guardian of virgin modesty.”
30. Whilst yet there was no fear of Jove,i.e.before Saturn was dethroned by Jupiter.
33. All in a robe of darkest grain.In Par. Lost V 285, the third pair of Raphael’s wings have the color ofsky-tinctured grain; and XI 242, his vest is of purple livelier than “the grain of Sarra,” or Tyrian purple. This would leave us to infer that the robe of Melancholy is of a deep rich color, so dark as to be almost black. Dr. Murray quotes from Southey’sThalaba, “The ebony ... with darkness feeds its boughs of raven grain.” What objection is there to making thegrainin Milton’s passageblack?
35. And sable stole of cypress lawn.Dr. Murray thus definescypress lawn, “A light transparent material resembling cobweb lawn or crape; like the latter it was, when black, much used for habiliments of mourning.”
37. Come; but keep thy wonted state.Compare with this passage, L’Allegro 33.
40. Thy rapt soul sitting in thine eyes.In Cymbeline I 651we find the present tense of the verb of whichraptis the participle: “What, dear Sir, thus raps you?” Do not confound this word withrap, meaning to strike.
42. Forget thyself to marble.With this compareOn Shakespeare 14.
43. With a sad leaden downward cast.So in Love’s Labor’s Lost IV 3321, “In leaden contemplation;” Othello III 4177, “I have this while with leaden thoughts been pressed.” So also Gray in the Hymn to Adversity, “With leaden eye that loves the ground.”
45-55.Compare the company which Il Penseroso entreats Melancholy to bring along with her with that which L’Allegro wishes to see attending Mirth.
46. Spare Fast, that oft with gods doth diet.Only the rigid ascetic has a spiritual ear so finely trained that he hears the celestial music.
48. Aye, as their rhymes show, is always pronounced by the poets with the vowel sound inday.
53. the fiery-wheeled throne.See DanielVII9.
54. The Cherub Contemplation.Pronouncecontemplationwith five syllables. It is difficult to form a distinct conception of the nature and office of thecherubof the Scriptures. Milton in many passages of Par. Lost follows, with regard to the heavenly beings, the account given by Dionysius the Areopagite in his Celestial Hierarchy. According to Dionysius there were nine orders or ranks of beings inheaven, namely,—seraphim, cherubim, thrones, dominions, virtues, powers, principalities, archangels, angels. The cherubim have the special attribute of knowledge and contemplation of divine things.
55. hist, primarily an interjection commanding silence, becomes here a verb.
56.With the introduction of the nightingale comes the first intimation of the time of day at which Il Penseroso conceives the course of his satisfactions to begin.
57.Everywhere else in Miltonplightis used with its modern connotations.
59.The moon stops to hear the nightingale’s song.
65.Remember L’Allegro’snot unseen.
77.Up to this point Il Penseroso has been walking in the open air.
78. removed,—remote, retired.
87.Asthe Bearnever sets, tooutwatchhim must mean to sit up all night.
88. With thrice great Hermes.“Hermes Trismegistos—Hermes thrice-greatest—is the name given by the Neo-Platonists and the devotees of mysticism and alchemy to the Egyptian god Thoth, regarded as more or less identified with the Grecian Hermes, and as the author of all mysterious doctrines, and especially of the secrets of alchemy.” (TheNew Eng. Dicty.) To such studies the serious mediæval scholars devoted themselves. Tounsphere the spirit of Platois to call him from the sphere in which he abides in the other world, or, simply, to take in hand for study his writings on immortality.
93-96.On the four classes ofdemons,—Salamanders, Sylphs, Nymphs, Gnomes,—see Pope’s Rape of the Lock. These demons are in complicity with the planets and other heavenly bodies to influence mortals.
97-102. Thebes, Pelops’ line, andthe tale of Troyare the staple subjects of the great Attic tragedians. It seems strange that the poet finds no occasion to name Shakespeare here, as well as in L’Allegro.
104-105. Musæus and Orpheusare semi-mythical bards, to whom is ascribed a greatness proportioned to their obscurity.
105-108.Seenote on L’Allegro, 149.
109-115. Or call up him that left half-told.This refers to Chaucer and to his Squieres Tale in the Canterbury Tales. It is left unfinished. Note that Milton changes not only the spelling but theaccent of the chief character’s name. Chaucer writes, “This noble king was cleped Cambinskan.”
120.Stories in whichmore is meant than meets the earrefer to allegories, like the Fairy Queen.
121.Having thus filled the night with the occupations that he loves, Il Penseroso now greets the morning, which he hopes to find stormy with wind and rain.
122. civil-suited Morn:i.e.Morn in the everyday habiliments of business.
123-124.Eos—Aurora, the Dawn—carried off several youths distinguished for their beauty.the Attic boyis probably Cephalus, whom she stole from his wife Procris.
125. kerchieft in a comely cloud.Kerchiefis here used in its original and proper sense. Look up its origin.
126.The winds may be calledrockingbecause they visibly rock the trees, or because they shake houses.
127. Or ushered with a shower still.The shower falls gently, without wind.
130. With minute-drops from off the eaves.After the rain has ceased, and while the thatch is draining, the drops fall at regular intervals for a time,—as it were, a drop every minute. Il Penseroso listens with contentment to the wind, the rustling rain-fall on the leaves, and the monotonous patter of the drops when the rain is over.
131.The shower is past, and the sun appears, but Il Penseroso finds its beams flaring and distasteful. He seeks covert in the dense groves.
134. Sylvanis the god of the woods.
135.Themonumental oakis so called from its great age and size.
140.Consciously nursing his melancholy, Il Penseroso deems the wood that hides him a sacred place, and resents intrusion as a profanation.
141. Hide me from day’s garish eye.See Richard III. IV 489, Romeo and Juliet III 225.
142. While the bee with honeyed thigh.Is this good apiology?
146. Entice the dewy-feathered Sleep.Note that sleep is represented as having feathers. These feathers, in their soft, gentle movement and in their refreshing effect are likened to dew. The figure is a common one with the poets. In Par. Lost IX 1044, Milton has,—“till dewy sleep oppressed them.” Cowper, Iliad II, 41, has,—“Awaking from thy dewy slumbers.”
148. hisrefers to thedewy-feathered sleep. Il Penseroso asks that a strange, mysterious dream, hovering close by the wings of sleep, and lightly pictured in a succession of vivid forms, may be laid on his eye-lids.
155-166.The wordstudiousin line 156 determines that the passage refers to college life and not to church attendance. The old English colleges have their cloisters, and these have much the same architectural features as do churches.
157. embowedmeans vaulted, or bent like abow.
158. massy-proof:massive and proof against all failure to support their load.
159. And storied windows richly dight.CompareL’Allegro, 62.
170.The best possible comment on this use of the verbspellis Milton’s own language, Par. Regained IV 382, where Satan, addressing the Son of God, thus speaks:—
Now, contrary, if I read aught in Heaven,Or Heaven write aught of fate, by what the starsVoluminous, or single charactersIn their conjunction met, give me to spell,Sorrows and labors, opposition, hate,Attends thee; scorns, reproaches, injuries,Violence and stripes, and, lastly, cruel death.
Now, contrary, if I read aught in Heaven,
Or Heaven write aught of fate, by what the stars
Voluminous, or single characters
In their conjunction met, give me to spell,
Sorrows and labors, opposition, hate,
Attends thee; scorns, reproaches, injuries,
Violence and stripes, and, lastly, cruel death.
Il Penseroso’s aspiration is that as an astrologer he may learn the influence of every star and that he may come to know the virtue of every herb.
The noble persons of the family of the Countess Dowager of Derby were fortunate enough to obtain the services of the poet John Milton to aid in the composition of a mask, which they presented to her ladyship at her residence in the country. Arcădes—the Arcadians—is Milton’s contribution to this performance. In date the poem precedes Comus, which is known to have been composed in 1634.
On the meaning of the termmask, as applied to a dramatic form, seeintroductory note on Comus.