Part 9 (1/2)

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.