INTRODUCTION
We have designed this unit to introduce you to the selected poems of John Milton in order to reveal the poet‟s critical view of life. Your understanding of the poems of Milton is required to further advance you in the knowledge of English Literature and writers of the Medieval and Renaissance generally. Knowing some individual poems/poets will make you more practical in your discussion and critical view of poetry. When you become grounded in the discussion of poetry, you will no longer view it with trepidation. Invariably, your reading, writing and general ability to analyse and criticise works of literature across the genre will be improved. At first, such process of poetic analysis may appear difficult but the more you read, analyse poems, answer the allotted questions as best as you can, and get yourself acquainted with this unit, the more you will become skillful at it.
3.1 INTERPRETING AN EPITAPH ON THE ADMIRABLE DRAMATIC
POET, WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
The poem discusses the themes of death, immortality and excellence in honour of the English poet and playwright, William Shakespeare. In his reminiscence, John Milton begins his epitaph for Shakespeare by dismissing the ephemeral honour accorded the famous English poet and dramatist, an honour enclosed in mere tomb. To Milton, though this honour is good, it is unnecessary. He is of the opinion that honouring the bones of the departed by enclosing it in a tomb, „house‟ of stories which, is in itself is subject to destructibility is benevolent, but his numerous plays, poems and general contributions to the humanities has honoured him even more in death. It is therefore not pleasing for a man who has attained a recognisable glorious height, and provided enviable platform while alive such that these can speak for him in death, and not his “honoured bones” or the needless labour of “hallowed reliques” “hidden under” “…a star of pointing pyramid?”
John Milton deliberately ridicules man‟s wasteful efforts in constructing expensive edifice for the remains of a deceased, for the contributions one makes to the Arts are of greater value to humanity. In this poem, Milton addresses Shakespeare as a “great heir of fame”, revealing that the honour he is given in death is a weak witness of his name because Shakespeare has built “for himself” a lifelong monument” . His art, literary contributions and memorable poetic lines have left “deep impression” on people‟shearts.
John Milton argues that the works of Shakespeare are genuine marble that he has made for himself, and that even kings of this world prefer such forms of marble, and will be ready to die if they are able to achieve such a great feat (“kings for such atomb would wish to die”).
3.2 INTERPRETING AT A VATICAN EXERCISE
John Milton, in this humorous poem, recalls the language and cultural transformation of his age. He reminds readers that at a point in English history, Latin was the domineering language of communication, “The Latin speeches ended, the English thus began”. The poet reveals his experience at returning to his native English tongue, “Dist more my first endearing tongue to speak”. The difficulties encountered in the otherwise complex linguistic process are carefully recorded by the poet: the “mad‟st imperfect words”, “half unpronounce‟d” that slid through his “infant lips” and driven into muteness. John Milton glorifies the English language, his mother tongue, and now embraces and uses it as a mode of communication freely in his creative work, “I use thee in my latter task”. The years of the Latin tongue or of desertion at the expense of the poet‟s English tongue are to the poet years of “small loss”, yet he is happy that he could use both Latin and the English tongues. The poet has fallen in love with his culture, so the English language need not compete with other recipient cultures like Latin, “Thou needst not be ambitious to be first” .
Like a prodigal, Milton made a very special appeal to his culture to accept him into the fold of the English culture unconditionally by overlooking the moment of separation his/love for the Latin language and culture had caused. He pleads:
I pray thee then deny me not thy aid
For this same small neglect that I have made
The poet yearns for the return of the pleasure he enjoyed in using his native English tongue. He preaches a total return and acceptability to the English culture, eagerly waiting to take a full advantage of his culture, “…fantastic delight”, “pleasure”, “choicest wits”. He apologises for the ignorance and late embrace of his native tongue; he described this as “…late fantastics” .
He is also eager to express the roving thoughts in him in his native English tongue, the language with which such burning thoughts can be better expressed. He is desperate and impatient as the thoughts too “knock loudly to have their passage out” .
John Milton confesses that if he were to choose a language of expression, it will be in no other than the English language, the best for the expression of service in “graver subject use”. The poet insists he feels at home and more protected when he uses his English tongue, “…clothe my fancy” and his willing mind transported to the celestial, hence the ability to express knowledge in sublime tone and converse in language far from the ordinary man ‟s, but “deity” personified; can hear when “Apollo sings” and “Hebe brings immortal nectar to her kingly sire”, “Neptone raves”, a glorified “lofty” heights of divine knowledge attainable. The poet can then hear directly from the gods, “Ulysses soul and all the rest”, also, “sweet captivity”, and “melodious harmony” are some of the advantages the poet hopes to get by a total return to the culture of his birth other than recipient cultures, mere exercises he never enjoyed.
3.3 INTERPRETINGAN EPITAPH ON THE MARCHIONESS OF WINCHESTER
The epitaph of John Milton is dedicated to the Marchioness of Winchester, the “honoured wife of Winchester” . The virtuousness “verlues fair” of the Marchioness is emphasised in the poem. The honoured lady, a “hein” apparent to the throne dies young “ …After so short time of breath” and is buried in an expensive “rich marble”. Milton observes:
…the number of her days… as was her praise, Nature and fate had had no strife in giving limit to her life. Her high birth, and her graces sweet
The Marchioness married early: “Quickly found a lover meet”, and that was followed by a great “marriage feast”, even with the populace and the God of marriage as witnesses at the lover‟s request:
The God that sits at marriage feast;
He at their invoking came
But with a scarce-well-lighted flame
And in his Garland as he stood.
Shortly after her marriage, our subject of discussion in this poem was delivered of a baby boy. Unfortunately, while the populace was waiting anxiously, and the matron waiting to undertake another delivery, the Marchioness died in the process of child labour, a condition that evades the poet‟s understanding, as the unborn child died in her womb: “The hapless Babe before his birth/Had burial yet not laid in earth/And the languish mother‟s womb was not long a living Tomb” .
John Milton‟s descriptive epitaph is so comprehensive that one cannot help imagine the poet as an eyewitness of the life of his subject:
…Once had the early matrons run
To greet her of a lovely son
And now with second hope she goes.
Every line of the poem reflects the virtue and glory of the Marchioness, her gentle glamour and pain of childbirth did not evade the poet‟sprayer:
Gentle Lady may thy grave
Peace and quiet ever have;
After this thy travail sore
Sweet rest sease thee evermore,
That to give the world encrease,
Shortened hast thy own lives lease
John Milton in this epitaph unveils death‟s veil, making death visible to all eyes, especially those of his readers by a fair juxtaposition of the pain and glory of his subject of discussion in the poem “…besides the sorrowing that they noble House doth bring”, admirerswept for her in various locations, including Helicon, immortalizing her virtue as each deemed it fit “And some flowers, and some Bays… Devoted to thy virtuous name” .
In what looks like an attempt by Milton to console his subject even in death, he advises that her death has now made history. The poet teaches that fate and the destructibility of death are universal. He consoled the deceased further by telling her that the “Syrian shepherdess” who had been barren for many years suffered a similar fate as hers. After the shepherdess gave birth to Joseph, and people were expecting her next child, she died:
…And at her next birth much like thee
Through pangs fled to felicity
Far within the bossom bright
of blazing majesty and Light
There with thee …
The poet concludes by advising the earlier deceased to welcome the new saint with her in heaven where both souls are united in fate and status: “her soul acquaint with thee there clad in radiant sheen” .
3.4 INTERPRETING THE POEM, ARCADES
The poem commemorates Countess Dowager of Darby at Harefield. It recalls and commends the brilliance and radiance of the Countess, describing her comprehensively in rare majestic coloration, elevating her status to the divine: “Look nymphs and Shepherds look”… blaze of majesty” “ … too divine”. The poet emphasises her authority thus “This this is she”. The repetitive use of “This” in the poem is introductory in nature and suggests her rare personage, “To whom our vows and wishes bend” .
Milton praises the Countess to the high heavens, extolling her virtue in memorabilia, “fame that her high worth to raise”. He again reintroduces the Countess by a repetitive use of “This this is she alone”, to reflect her uniqueness, indicating that without her, there can be no other. She is described as a “goddess bright” “in the centre of her light” of fame.
She is mighty, towered above many, such that she could compete favourably with deities: “A deity so unparalel‟d”, valiant than gods”, “mother of a hundred guds”, a genius per excellence, most honourable, “honour sparkle through your eyes”, “…famous Arcady”. John Milton described the Countess in beautifully elevated style as a woman who equals the status of the gods: “Divine Alpheus”, who, for instance, travelled under the seas to meet Arethusa. Milton‟s Countess Dowager of Darby at Harefield appears larger than life as she is capable of giving life, “breathing Roses to the wood”, an honourable mistress of “princely shrine” . The poet‟s adoration showered on the Countess continues, by his insistence that he dares not measure her fame with people of lesser honour, “shallow-searching fame”. She is power personified.
The poet confessed that he knows too much about the Countess, her compassion, love, and care, even for the human environment: “wood”, “life in oakn bowr”, “ …nurse the sampling tall, and curl the grove”, “plants”, …heal the harms of the thawarting thunder blew”, “…dire-looking… planet smites” .
The poet ends the poem in honour of the Countess with what looks like a vote of thanks to those who graced the memorable occasion, requesting that the town, the rural grove where the seat of glory of the Countess is located, be open to all visitors, including those who may be willing to come on as permanent residents: “Bring your flocks and live with us”, “Here ye shall have greater grace”. And when the invitees finally decide to relocate to the “rural Queen”, they are assured of peace, love, good health, abundance and longevity.
SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE
Explain the themes in John Milton‟s poetic reflection in the poem, An Epitaph on the Admirable Dramatic Poet, William Shakespeare.
4.0 CONCLUSION
In this unit, we have discussed/interpreted the themes in the selected poems of John Milton: An Epitaph on the Admirable Poet, William Shakespeare; At a Vatican Exercise; The Marchioness of Winchester; and Arcades.
5.0 SUMMARY
In this unit, you have learnt:
. The themes in John Milton‟sAn Epitaph on the Admirable Dramatic Poet, William Shakespeare;
. The poet‟s new found love in At a Vatican Exercise;
. John Milton‟s assessment of his most admired Countess in Arcade.
In the next unit, you will be introduced to the poems of Sir Philip Sidney.
6.0 TUTOR-MARKED ASSIGNMENT
1) Mention and discuss 3 adjectives the poet used to express his honour for the literary giant, William Shakespeare in An Epitaph on the Admirable Dramatic Poet, William Shakespeare.
2) Do you share John Milton‟s view in his poem, Arcades?
3) What is the poet‟s reminiscence in At a Vatican Exercise?
4) Nature and the Divine juxtaposed in the character portrayal of the Marchioness in An Epitaph on The Marchioness of Winchester. Discuss.
5) Compare John Milton‟s Epitaph on William Shakespeare with The Marchioness of Winchester.
7.0 REFERENCES/FURTHER READING
Elliot, T. S. (1963). Prelude in Collected Poems (1909-62). London.
Geoffrey, Leech (1969). A Linguistic Guide to English Poetry. London:
Macmillan.
George, Gordon (2006). John Milton in Poetry - An Anthology. London: Helms.
Matterson Stephen and Jones Darryl (2000). Studying Poetry. Great Britain: Hodder Educational Books.
Milton, J. (1766). Paradise Lost, Book I, in Compete Poems. London: Penguin.
Paul de Man (1983). Blindness and Insight: Essays in the Rhetoric of Contemporary Criticism. Minneapolis.
Rolers, Thomas (2000). John Milton Selected Poems. London: Macmillan,
White Bridge (Ed.) (2002). Norton Anthology of Poetry. London: Macmillan.
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