85

Far from all resort of mirth,

Save the cricket on the hearth,
Or the bellman's drowsy charm

To bless the doors from nightly harm.
Or let my lamp, at midnight hour,

Be seen in some high lonely tower
Where I may oft outwatch the Bear
With thrice great Hermes, or unsphere
The spirit of Plato, to unfold

90 What worlds or what vast regions hold
The immortal mind that hath forsook
Her mansion in this fleshly nook;
And of those demons that are found
In fire, air, flood, or underground,
95 Whose power hath a true consent,
With planet or with element.
Sometime let gorgeous Tragedy,
In sceptred pall, come sweeping by,
Presenting Thebes, or Pelops' line,
100 Or the tale of Troy divine.

Or what (though rare) of later age
Ennobled hath the buskined stage.

But, O, sad Virgin, that thy power Might raise Musæus from his bower; 105 Or bid the soul of Orpheus sing

Such notes as, warbled to the string,
Drew iron tears down Pluto's cheek,
And made Hell grant what love did seek;
Or call up him that left half told

110 The story of Cambuscan bold,
Of Camball, and of Algarsife,
And who had Canace to wife,

That owned the virtuous ring and glass,
And of the wondrous horse of brass,

115 On which the Tartar king did ride;
And if aught else great bards beside
In sage and solemn tunes have sung,
Of turneys, and of trophies hung,

. Of forests and enchantments drear, 120 Where more is meant than meets the ear. Thus, Night, oft see me in thy pale career, Till civil-suited Morn appear,

Not tricked and frounced as she was wont,
With the Attic boy to hunt,

125 But kerchieft in a comely cloud,

While rocking winds are piping loud;
Or ushered with a shower still,
When the gust hath blown his fill,
Ending on the rustling leaves,

130 With minute drops from off the eaves.
And, when the sun begins to fling
His flaring beams, me, Goddess, bring
To arched walks of twilight groves,
And shadows brown, that Sylvan loves,
135 Of pine, or monumental oak,

Where the rude axe with heaved stroke
Was never heard the nymphs to daunt,
Or fright them from their hallowed haunt.
There in close covert by some brook,
140 Where no profaner eye may look,
Hide me from day's garish eye,
While the bee, with honeyed thigh,
That at her flowery work doth sing,
And the waters murmuring,

145 With such consort as they keep,
Entice the dewy-feathered Sleep;

And, let some strange mysterious dream
Wave at his wings, in airy stream

Of lively portraiture displayed,

150 Softly on my eyelids laid.

155

And, as I wake, sweet music breathe
Above, about, or underneath,

Sent by some Spirit to mortals good,
Or the unseen Genius of the wood.
But let my due feet never fail
To walk the studious cloister's pale,
And love the high embowed roof,
With antique pillars massy proof,
And storied windows richly dight,
160 Casting a dim religious light:

There let the pealing organ blow,
To the full-voiced choir below,

In service high, and anthems clear,
As may with sweetness through mine ear,

165 Dissolve me into ecstasies,

And bring all Heaven before mine eyes.
And may at last my weary age
Find out the peaceful hermitage,
The hairy gown and mossy cell,
70 Where I may sit and rightly spell
Of every star that heaven doth shew,
And every herb that sips the dew,
Till old experience do attain
To something like prophetic strain.
175 These pleasures, Melancholy, give,

And I with thee will choose to live.

(1-30) Observe Milton's meaning of "melancholy"; and note the various senses in which the word has been used in ancient and modern times. Cf. Burton's "The Author's Abstract of Melancholy" and Fletcher's "Hence, all you vain delights." Observe the lines of beautiful darkness which are added by the classical legends. (31-60) By the description of Melancholy, we are reminded of what character in Book

I. Canto I. of the “Faërie Queene"? How are Melancholy's attendants balanced by those of Mirth in "L'Allegro"? "Smoothing the rugged brow of Night." Cf. Milton's "Comus," 251: "smoothing the raven down | Of darkness till it smiled!" (61–96) Balance all night sounds with those of day in "L'Allegro." Note the assonance and

the manipulation of consonants which are employed by Milton to make the curfew correctly meet the ear in melancholy pleasure. (97-120) Ascertain what ancient classical characters in tragedy are presented in "Thebes, or Pelops' line | Or the tale of Troy divine." In “The Squieres Tale" Chaucer has told the story of the horse of brass. Boiardo, Ariosto, Tasso, and Spenser, are the medieval writers of impure allegory. Analyse Milton's definition of allegory. (121-176) Read the close of "Westminster Abbey" where Irving uses the imagery of "Il Penseroso." In English poetry, Timon, Duke Frederick, Jaques, and Manfred, characters suffering from melancholy, have sought the hairy gown and mossy cell. Classify the finest phrases. Analyse the one great dynamic phrase. Explain the mythological allusions throughout the poem.

LYCIDAS

Yet once more, O ye laurels, and once more,
Ye myrtles brown, with ivy never sere,

I come to pluck your berries harsh and crude,
And with forced fingers rude

5 Shatter your leaves before the mellowing year.
Bitter constraint and sad occasion dear

Compels me to disturb your season due; For Lycidas is dead, dead ere his prime, Young Lycidas, and hath not left his peer. 10 Who would not sing for Lycidas? he knew Himself to sing, and build the lofty rhyme. He must not float upon his watery bier Unwept, and welter to the parching wind, Without the meed of some melodious tear.

15

Begin then, Sisters of the sacred well
That from beneath the seat of Jove doth spring;
Begin, and somewhat loudly sweep the string.

Hence with denial vain and coy excuse:
So may some gentle Muse

20 With lucky words favour my destined urn,
And as he passes turn,

And bid fair peace be to my sable shroud!

For we were nursed upon the self-same hill,

Fed the same flock, by fountain, shade, and rill; 25 Together both, ere the high lawns appeared

Under the opening eye-lids of the Morn,
We drove a-field, and both together heard
What time the grey-fly winds her sultry horn,
Battening our flocks with the fresh dews of night,
30 Oft, till the star that rose at evening bright

Toward heaven's descent had sloped his westering wheel.

Meanwhile the rural ditties were not mute;

Tempered to the oaten flute,

Rough Satyrs danced, and Fauns with cloven heel 35 From the glad sound would not be absent long; And old Damoetas loved to hear our song.

But, oh! the heavy change, now thou art gone,
Now thou art gone, and never must return!
Thee, shepherd, thee the woods and desert caves,
40 With wild thyme and the gadding vine o'ergrown,
And all their echoes, mourn.

The willows, and the hazel copses green,
Shall now no more be seen

Fanning their joyous leaves to thy soft lays.

45 As killing as the canker to the rose,

50

Or taint-worm to the weanling herds that graze,

Or frost to flowers, that their gay wardrobe wear,
When first the white-thorn blows;

Such, Lycidas, thy loss to shepherd's ear.

Where were ye, Nymphs, when the remorseless deep