He passed the flaming bounds of place and time—
The living throne, the sapphire-blaze,

Where angels tremble, while they gaze,

He saw; but, blasted with excess of light,
Closed his eyes in endless night.

III.

Milton! thou shouldst be living at this hour.'
England hath need of thee: she is a fen
Of stagnant waters; altar, sword, and pen,
Fireside, the heroic wealth of hall and bower,
Have forfeited their ancient English dower

GRAY.

Of inward happiness. We are selfish men ;
Oh! raise us up, return to us again;
And give us manners, virtue, freedom, power.
Thy soul was like a star, and dwelt apart ;
Thou hadst a voice whose sound was like the sea:
Pure as the naked heavens, majestic, free,

So didst thou travel on life's common way,

In cheerful godliness; and yet thy heart The lowliest duties on herself did lay.

WORDSWORTH.

"This hour;" to wit, 1802, when this sonnet was written.

I.-L'ALLEGRO.

[INTRODUCTION.-L'Alle'gro (Italian) signifies the cheerful or merry man, and the poem celebrates the charms of mirth, just as Il Pensero'so (the melancholy man-see page 57) celebrates the charms of melancholy. The two poems should be read together, for they are counterparts of each other. It may be noted that the respective characteristics of the two speakers are scarcely expressed by the terms merry and melancholy. L'Allegro is a celebration of the social side of life-the view taken of life by one who loves to associate with the "kindly race of men ;" while Il Penseroso brings before us the moods and feelings of a grave and serious spirit-of one whose eye looks inward rather than outward. "There can be little doubt as to which of the two characters he portrays was after Milton's own heart. He portrays L'Allegro with much skill and excellence; but he cannot feign with him the sympathy he genuinely feels with the other; into his portrait of Il Penseroso he throws himself, so to speak, with all his soul."-HALES: Longer English Poems.]

Hence, loathéd Melancholy,*

Of Cerberus and blackest Midnight born,
In Stygian* cave forlorn,

'Mongst horrid shapes, and shrieks, and sights unholy!
Find out some uncouth* cell,

Where brooding Darkness spreads his jealous wings,
And the night raven sings;

There, under ebon shades and low-browed rocks,
As ragged as thy locks,

NOTES.-Line 2. Of Cerberus ... born. 3. Stygʻian, relating to Styx, a river of

The genealogy here assigned

to "Melancholy" is Milton's
own invention.

the infernal region; hence, hellish, hateful.

5. uncouth, wild, strange.

LITERARY ANALYSIS.—Explain the following names in classical mythology: "Cerberus " (2); "Euphrosyne" (12); and “Bacchus " (16).—Give the etymology of the following words: "Melancholy" (1); "ycleped" (12); “dight" (54).

1-16. Hence . . . bore. To what class (grammatically considered) do the first three sentences belong?

I. Melancholy. What is the figure of speech? (See Def. 22.)-Give another instance of the use of this figure in sentence I, and another in sentence 2. 3, 4 What phrases present a vivid picture of the under-world?

5. uncouth. How does its modern differ from its original meaning?

9. As ragged, etc. What figure of speech? (See Def. 19.)

5

In dark Cimmerian desert ever dwell.
But come, thou goddess fair and free,
In heaven ycleped* Euphrosyne,*
And by men, heart-easing Mirth,
Whom lovely Venus at a birth,
With two sister Graces more,

To ivy-crowned Bacchus bore.

*

Haste thee, nymph, and bring with thee

Jest and youthful Jollity,

Quips, and cranks, and wanton wiles,

Nods, and becks, and wreathéd smiles

Such as hang on Hebe's cheek,

And love to live in dimple sleek ;
Sport, that wrinkled Care derides,
And Laughter holding both his sides.
Come, and trip it as ye go

On the light fantastic toe;

10. Cimmerian, relating to the Cim- 16. Bacchus (in Greek mythology Dio

sister graces" were Agla'ia 22. love to live: that is, are wont to (grace) and Thali'a (favor).

live (Latin idiom).

Is there any tautology here?

LITERARY ANALYSIS.-10. dark Cimmerian.

16. ivy-crowned. Why is this an appropriate epithet?

20. wreathéd. What epithet contrasting with "wreathéd" is applied to "Care" in line 23?

23, 24. Sport... sides. Give three examples of personification (see Def. 22) in this passage.

25, 26. What expression in this passage is now a familiar quotation? And compare with Shakespeare (Tempest, iv. 2):

"Come and go,

Each one tripping on his toe."

And in thy right hand lead with thee
The mountain nymph, sweet Liberty.
And, if I give thee honor due,
Mirth, admit me of thy crew *

To live with her, and live with thee,
In unreprovéd✶ pleasures free;
To hear the lark begin his flight,
And singing startle the dull Night
From his watch-tower in the skies,
Till the dappled dawn doth rise;
Then to come in spite of sorrow,
And at my window bid good-morrow,
Through the sweet-brier, or the vine,
Or the twisted eglantine,

While the cock, with lively din,

Scatters the rear of darkness thin,

30. crew, set or company. The word | 39, 40. sweet-brier... eglantine. Eglan

is not here used in its deroga-
tory sense.

32. unreprovéd, unreprovable, blame

less.

37. in spite of sorrow = out of a spirit

tine and sweet-brier being the same plant, it is conjectured that by "twisted eglantine" Milton has reference to the honey-suckle.

of spite against sorrow; that is, 41. lively din. Compare with Grey's
to spite sorrow.
"shrill clarion."

LITERARY ANALYSIS.-28. mountain nymph. Can you think of any reason why "Liberty" is styled a "mountain nymph?”

32. unreprovéd pleasures free. Note that the order of words here is adjective +noun+adjective. This is a favorite arrangement with Milton. Are there any other examples of this order in the present poem? What would be the prose arrangement?

33-60. To hear the lark... dale. In this fine piece of description, enumerate the various sights and sounds that address the senses of L'Allegro. Select the most picturesque touches.

35. his. Whose? and why the masculine form?

37. to come. On what does "to come" depend-on "admit" or on "to hear?" On the answer to this question rests whether it is L'Allegro or the lark that comes to "bid good-morrow."

42. Scatters... darkness. What figure of speech in this? (See Def. 20.) From what is the metaphor taken? Expand it into a simile. (See Def. 20, ii.)

And to the stack or the barn door
Stoutly struts his dames before;
Oft list'ning how the hounds and horn
Cheerly rouse the slumb'ring morn,
From the side of some hoar hill,
Through the high wood echoing shrill;
Sometime walking, not unseen,
By hedge-row elms, on hillocks green,
Right against the eastern gate,
Where the great sun begins his state,
Robed in flames and amber light,
The clouds in thousand liveries dight,*
While the ploughman near at hand
Whistles o'er the furrowed land,
And the milkmaid singeth blithe,
And the mower whets his scythe,
And every shepherd tells his tale*
Under the hawthorn in the dale.

Straight mine eye hath caught new pleasures

Russet lawns and fallows gray,

While the landscape round it measures—

Where the nibbling flocks do stray,
Mountains on whose barren breast

The laboring clouds do often rest,
Meadows trim with daisies pied,*
Shallow brooks and rivers wide.
Towers and battlements it sees
Bosomed high in tufted trees,

=

46. Cheerly cheerily. 47. hoar, rime-white. 51. against, towards.

54. in thousand liveries dight: that is, arrayed in a thousand suits of color.

59. tells his tale tells or counts the
tale, or number of his flock.
61. Straight, straightway, immediately.
63. lawns, open grassy spaces, pastures;
gray, light-brown.
67. pied, variegated in color.

LITERARY ANALYSIS.-59. Give the etymology of the word "tale."

65-67. What epithets are applied to "breast," "clouds," and "meadows?" Are these literal or metaphorical?