No More Learning

This "collect in verse," as it has been justly named, is
the most mighty Sonnet in any language known to the Editor. Readers
should observe that, unlike our sonnets of the sixteenth century, it is
constructed , on the original Italian or Provencal model,--unquestionably
far superior to the imperfect form employed by Shakespeare and Drummond.


Poem 65.

Cromwell returned from Ireland in 1650. Hence the prophecies, not
strictly fulfilled, of his deference to the Parliament, in stanzas
21-24.

This Ode, beyond doubt one of the finest in our language, and more in
Milton's style than has been reached by any other poet, is occasionally
obscure from imitation of the condensed Latin syntax. The meaning of st.
5 is "rivalry or hostility are the same to a lofty spirit, and
limitation more hateful than opposition. " The allusion in st. 11 is to
the old physical doctrines of the non-existence of a vacuum and the
impenetrability of matter:--in st. 17 to the omen traditionally
connected with the foundation of the Capitol at Rome. The ancient belief
that certain years in life complete natural periods and are hence
peculiarly exposed to death, is introduced in stanza 26 by the word
_climacteric_.


Poem 66.

_Lycidas_. The person lamented is Milton's college friend Edward King,
drowned in 1637 whilst crossing from Chester to Ireland.
Strict Pastoral Poetry was first written or perfected by the Dorian
Greeks settled in Sicily: but the conventional use of it, exhibited more
magnificently in _Lycidas_ than in any other pastoral, is apparently of
Roman origin. Milton, employing the noble freedom of a great artist, has
here united ancient mythology, with what may be called the modern
mythology of Camus and Saint Peter,--to direct Christian images. --The
metrical structure of this glorious poem is partly derived from Italian
models.

_Sisters of the sacred well_: the Muses, said to frequent the fountain
Helicon on Mount Parnassus.

_Mona_: Anglesea, called by the Welsh Inis Dowil or the Dark Island,
from its dense forests.

_Deva_: the Dee: a river which probably derived its magical character
from Celtic traditions: it was long the boundary of Briton and
Saxon. --These places are introduced, as being near the scene of the
shipwreck.

_Orpheus_ was torn to pieces by Thracian women; _Amaryllis_ and _Neaera_
names used here for the love idols of poets: as _Damoetas_ previously
for a shepherd.

_the blind Fury_: Atropos, fabled to cut the thread of life.

_Arethuse_ and _Mincius_: Sicilian and Italian waters here alluded to as
synonymous with the pastoral poetry of Theocritus and Virgil.

_oat_: pipe, used here like Collins' _oaten stop_, No. 146, for _Song_.

_Hippotades_: Aeolus, god of the Winds. _Panope_ a Nereid. The names of
local deities in the Hellenic mythology express generally some feature
in the natural landscape, which the Greeks studied and analysed with
their usual unequalled insight and feeling. Panope represents the
boundlessness of the ocean-horizon when seen from a height, as compared
with a limited horizon of the land in hilly countries such as Greece or
Asia Minor.