Minor Poems by Milton Part 9

XXII.

TO THE SAME.

Cyriack, this three years' day these 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 overplied 10 In Liberty's defence, my n.o.ble 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.

XXIII.

ON HIS DECEASED WIFE

Methought I saw my late espoused saint Brought to me like Alcestis from 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 taint 5 Purification in the Old Law did 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 sight 10 Love, sweetness, goodness, in her person s.h.i.+ned 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.

NOTES.

ON THE MORNING OF CHRIST'S NATIVITY.

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 Diodati 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 G.o.d 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 G.o.ds 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 G.o.d. His offering is the _humble ode_ which 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's _It 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 of _releasing a forfeit_ otherwise expressed in the Merchant of Venice IV 1 24.

10. he wont. This is the past tense of the verb _wont_, meaning to _be accustomed_. See the present, Par. Lost I 764, and the participle, I 332.

15. thy sacred vein. See _vein_ in the same sense, Par. Lost VI 628.

19. the Sun's team. Compare Comus 95, and read the story of Phaethon in Ovid's Metamorphoses II 106.

24. prevent them with thy humble ode. See _prevent_ in this sense, in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar V 1 105, and in Psalm XXI 3.

28. touched with hallowed fire. See Acts II 3. On the meaning of secret, compare Par. Lost X 32.

41. Pollute is the participle, exactly equivalent to _polluted_.

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 the solar 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 several _spheres_. 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-recurring _spheres_ in Milton's poetry. In the line, _Down through the turning sphere_, however, the singular _sphere_ is 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 Maccabees XIII 2.

60. sovran. Milton always uses this form in preference to _sovereign_.

62. the Prince of Light. Note the corresponding epithet applied to Satan, Par. Lost X 383.

64. The winds, with wonder whist. The word _whist_, originally an interjection, becomes an adjective, as here and in The Tempest I 2 378.

66. Make three syllables of Ocean, and make it rhyme with _began_.

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 word _influence_ is 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," _for_ meaning in spite of.

74. Lucifer. See Par. Lost VII 131-133.

81. As, for _as if_.

86. Or ere the point of dawn. The two words _or ere_ mean simply _before_, as in Hamlet I 2 147, "A little month, or ere those shoes were old." _The point of dawn_ imitates the French _le point du jour_.

88. Full little thought they than. _Than_ is an ancient form of _then_, 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_, and _strucken_.

98. As all their souls in blissful rapture took. The verb _take_ has here the same meaning as in Hamlet I 1 163, "no fairy takes nor witch hath power to charm." Thus also we say, a vaccination takes.

103. Cynthia's seat. See Penseroso 59, and Romeo and Juliet III 5 20.