John Milton; Pastoral Poetry for Poetic Purpose
John Milton utilizes conventional poetic methods to demonstrate his theological and philosophical views of life, loss, and love. It was argued by Samuel Johnson whom wrote on Milton’s work Lycidas, that the language Milton had used whilst elegizing a deceased friend was pastoral; and therefore vulgar and barbaric in nature. Johnson exclaims that “Where there is leisure in fiction, there is little grief.” On the contrary, Milton commiserates the passing of his friend by utilizing pastoral language as a rhetorical device showcasing a duality between the pagan and protestant views of life and death, and defines his faith in a deceased poet’s eternal existence. After close-reading Lycidas; it only becomes more apparent that Milton has an organic and passionate investment into lamenting his deceased friend.
Milton employs the name Lycidas as a cognomen for his friend Edward King. The act of renaming King as Lycidas demonstrates Milton’s affirmation of the studies him and King shared at Cambridge. By using the name Lycidas, Milton pays homage to the scholarship of the Greek poet Theocritus; whom is accredited for creating the pastoral genre. By utilizing this allusion of adapting the character Lycidas whom is known as “the best of pipers” in Theocritus’ Idylls, Milton acknowledges Edward King as an up and coming poet. In Lycidas Milton shares how King was a poet and passed before his prime:
Who would not sing for Lycidas? He knew
Himself to sing, and build the lofty rhyme.
He must not float upon his wat’ry bier
Unwept, and welter to the parching wind,
Without the meed of some melodious tear. (10-14)
Milton’s use of language in lines (10-14) demonstrates his endorsement of Theocritus’ character Lycidas as a reflection of the quality of character he perceived King to be. As Milton asks “Who would not sing for Lycidas” this is reflective of the character Lycidas in Theocritus’ Idylls, as being an unrecognized talent, whom was finished before his due as an artist. Milton utilizes words like (unwept) to symbolize acknowledgments not given, and the phrase “meed of some melodious tear” to symbolize a reward that has not been received. Milton expresses his ideas with metaphorical symbolism, and the symbols convey his intentions as well as his investment in the ideas he wishes to present.
Milton uses his syntactic ability to convey a meaning behind a metaphor, as well as he utilizes his knowledge of poetic sound effects to create an environment to facilitate his ideas. In the beginning of Lycidas, Milton starts with a variable metric pattern:
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 (1-4)
This uneven pattern consists of a transition between spondaic pentameter with trochaic substitutions, and then becomes more-steady as the lines progress and evolves into a consistent iambic pentameter from lines (2-3), then iambic trimeter in line (4). Milton’s use of this variable rhythm, word choice, and syntax resembles the waves of the ocean. The rhythm crashes in the beginning, however the description of pastoral flowers develops a pleasant atmosphere through the usage of symbolism. As the rhythm progresses it becomes soft and melodic whilst describing the (crude) and (rude) nature of which that the pleasant pastoral atmosphere is ravaged. This usage of sound effects, meter, and structure demonstrate the duality between a settled calm and the transition to an abrupt chaos, which indicates the perspective Milton has on the passing of his friend. Furthermore these poetic effects demonstrate Milton’s necessity for the medium of a pastoral elegy.
Milton uses pagan theology to showcase value towards the ideals of the classical poets in which he and King had studied. Through the use of pagan deities in Lycidas Milton demonstrates the symbolism of Kings passing by acknowledging tradition:
Begin then, sisters of the sacred well
That from beneath the seat of Jove doth spring,
Begin, and somewhat loudly sweep the string.
Hence the denial vain and coy excuse;
So many some gentle Muse
With lucky words favor my destined urn,
And as he passes turn, (16-21)
By using titles such as Sisters, Jove, and Muse, Milton brings attention to the classical perspective towards eternal life and legitimacy of Kings passing. However Milton also uses phrases like “denial vain” and “coy excuse”, which is representative reluctance towards an expectation to mourn in a very traditional fashion. Furthermore Milton utilizes emotionally loaded statements to cynically lament the passing of his friend in a traditional manner. The syntax in lines (17-19) places the verb at the end of the phrase and the noun in the center, this device is a Latin syntactical pattern combined with the English language to embody the voice of a traditional pastoral elegy. Which further illustrates Milton’s emotional investment into his poetic commemoration of Edward King.
In the concluding lines of Milton’s elegy Lycidas, Milton reveals that the speaker whom the audience thought was narrating a poem turns out to be a singing shepherd guiding his flock:
While the still morn went out with sandals gray;
He touched the tender stops of various quills,
With eager thought warbling his Doric lay.
And now the sun had stretched out all the hills,
And now was dropped into the western bay;
At last he rose, and twitched his mantle blue:
Tomorrow to fresh woods, and pastures new. (188-194)
The symbolism behind the shepherd being the narrator not only represents the form of a traditional pastoral elegy, it also represents Protestant theology. Milton draws attention pastorally iconic shepherd, and utilizes the shepherd as a symbol for Christ. With the Shepherd representing Christ, Milton can offer a prayer to his deceased friend. As Milton uses phrases such as “Tomorrow to fresh woods, and pastures new.” (194), he illustrates the contemporary Protestant philosophy of an eternal existence by sharing the idea that where one journey ends another will begin.