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| Milton's statue at Westminster Abbey |
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| Milton's statue at St. Giles Church, Cripplegate. |
1) Thou, brightest star
of English firmament!
Thy quill enriched
the Albion’s tongue
Another Homer on
this island sprung;
Freedom through thy dauntless voice
found vent
Alone you struggled
like an African lion
None dared to enter thy dominion.
2) Immersed in classics right from
schooling time
You mastered the Greek and Roman
authors great
So soon you did attain their sublime
state;
Thy Latin odes showed perfect
rhythm and rhyme
A cynosure to all well-versed in
so many tongues
An Aeolian lyre with many
melodies strung.
3) Thy youthful days at college did not
bear
Rigid religious rules by prelates
bound;
Protested thou with thy writings
profound
Selfish intercession you could
not care;
You parted ways from chosen priestly line
With
strict obedience to forces divine.
4) Thy poetic heart in melancholy found
Serene Contemplation and contentment
In moon-lit seclusion, in
night-bird’s sound
Watching buskined stage with noble
content;
In Arcadian songs praising the
rural queen
A glowing tribute with pastoral
scene.
5) Sweet feelings blent with sweet lyrical
verse
Composed by thee in colorful masque
form;
The cup of vile pleasures with
tempting charm
To cheat the chaste virgin by
cunning Comus
Rescued by brothers and god’s
justice upright
A fitting tribute to virtue and
moral sprite.
6) Of normal height with light brown
luxuriant hair
Grown up to shoulders with smooth
silky touch
Other students’ notice attracted
much;
Famed as Lady of Christ’s College;
Your fair
Countenance blushed though none
could ever see
Thy heroic heart that yearned to be
honest and free.
7) Thy trips abroad provided a chance
rare
To meet the Tuscan scientist
confined and blind;
In Florence, Rome and Paris you did find
Artists who praised thy skills and
views did share;
The simmering civil conflict upset thy heart
Returned thou to England to take
an active part.
8) In pastoral vein you did bemoan the
death
Of Edward King and the poets’
thankless toil
Of selfish prelates who wantonly
spoil
Their sheep misleading them to
their death;
True fame one earns by virtues
from God above
True virtue wends to newer
realms of Love.
9) Thy simple Puritan life did not suit
Thy young Royalist spouse who
left thy abode
You never strayed from thy
strict moral code;
Justifying divorce, old rules
you did refute
Your forgiving nature let her
soon return
Along with her family to
sojourn.
10) Oppressive powers of kings you did
censure
Defending nation’s freedom in
your tracts;
Equally you condemned the
flattering acts
Of
priests who crave for wealth and pleasures impure;
Your vast store of knowledge stood
in good stead
For Commonwealth to run with no sense of
dread.
11) Thy incessant studies deprived thy sight
Exposed to royal wrath with your
life at risk;
Yet still you lost no faith,
composed epics
Upholding your strong views with inner light
Dictating lines to your
daughters and friends
In writing noble works time you
did spend.
12) Pondering over many legends and themes
You chose the loss of Paradise
and Adam’s fall
Man’s disobedience to God’s
warning call
Yielding to Satan, he lost his
powers supreme;
Along with Eve cast out from
garden of bliss
Direct communion with God he did miss.
13) Like a skilled architect with wisdom
and care
An epic unique you wrote with
inner vision
Justifying God’s fairness and
His mission;
Like rushing Oxus or Nile your
lines declare
A noble theme well matched with
noble style
Enriched with imagination
versatile.
14) Thy passion for freedom and for free
will
Seen in rebel angels with
perverted intent;
Lucifer, the arch-angel
enviously spent
His noble strength to become a
devil
Making other rebels suffer in
fiery hell
Like storm-driven dry leaves
they fell.
15) The heathen gods in vile degraded state
As Satan’s rebel army thrown in
hell
For their bloodthirsty rituals and
rites fell;
Cruel Moloch, Baal and Belial
met their fate
Chemosh, Dagon, Mammon and Beelzebub strong
Just punishment thy got for
doing wrong.
16) The loose tottering verse of Jacobean
plays
Strengthened by Thee with regular
majestic pace
With varying pauses linked in
harmonious ways
Adding charm with rich imagery and grace;
A noble epic surpassing the Hellenic song
Divine Dante’s and Virgil’s
heroics long.
17) Urged by thy friend another epic you
wrote
A fitting sequel to Paradise
Lost;
Of Christ’s conquest of Satan
in the desert vast
In majestic style with didactic note;
This song supreme you valued as
the best
These two crown jewels show thy
devotion and zest.
18) Oppressed by adverse conditions and
fate
Deserted by thy daughters,
helpless and blind
In poetic effusions solace you
did find;
Reflected in Samson’s miserable state
Like Thee, he trusted in God’s
grace and got
Lost strength and killed his
foes with heroic heart.
19) Though many strove to scale thy level
sublime
None touched thy epic grandeur’s
style and flow
Like grand cathedrals your works
shine and glow;
Thy voice like ocean echoes through every
clime
Like shining Hesperus shining
ethereal bright
With wondrous surprise we view
thy heavenly light.
20) You never compromised your ideals for
gold
You worked for a noble cause with
support divine
You spouse and admirers helped
thee sustain;
Your goal you did attain with
conscience bold
A noble dedication thy works to
English muse
Embellished with classic allusions profuse.
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Reference :
1) Albion --- literary term for
“Britain” or “England”.
2) Aeolian harp --- A
stringed musical instrument which vibrates
when wind passes over it. Here it
represents Milton’s command
over many languages.
3) Cynosure --- the bright
northern star (center of attraction).
4) Prelates ----- Bishops and other higher religious authorities.
5) Intercession ---- priest praying to a
deity on behalf of others to
absolve their sins.
6) Night-bird ---- nightingale which
sings at night time.
7) Buskined stage--tragic plays. The actors
used to wear high boots
made of leather to show their heroic
stature.
8) Arcadian song ---- A pastoral masque
written by Milton in 1634
to honor the Countess Dowager of Darby during
her 75th birthday
at Harefield.
9) Rural queen --- The countess Alice
Spencer was shown as the
queen of the pastoral kingdom.
10) Masque--a festive courtly entertainment
with music, rich scenery
and dance
11) Comus --- A Greek god of festivity and
revels. Milton showed
him as a person who represents sexual
pleasure and
intemperance.
12) Tuscan scientist --- Galileo whom Milton
met in Italy in 1639.
13) Pastoral vein --- ideal life related to
shepherds and country scenes.
14) Edward King ---- (1613—1637)--- friend of
Milton at Cambridge.
He was drowned when his ship struck on a rock near
the
Welsh coast and he was drowned.
15 Royalist spouse --- Mary Powell, Milton’s first
wife, whose family
supported the king’s party.
16) Justifying Divorce ---- Soon after his first wife left him, Milton
wrote four pamphlets justifying divorce : “The Doctrine and
Discipline of Divorce", “The Judgment of Martin Bucer”,
"Tetrachordon"and "Colasterion" between 1643 and 1645.
17 Rushing Oxus --a river (now called “Amu
Darya” that flows
through Central Asian countries like Uzebekistan,
Turkmenistan
and Tajikistan.
18) Nile – a major river that flows through
northeastern Africa.
19) Moloch --- the chief God of Ammonites.
20) Baul --- the god of Philistines.
21) Belial --- a wicked demon
22) Chemosh --- god of the Moabites
23) Dagon --- God of Philistines
24) Mammon --- Heathen God of wealth and
material prosperity.
25) Beelzebub --- God of Philistines.
26) Hellenic song --- Grecian epics "Iliad" and "Odyssey" by Homer.
27) Divine Dante - an Italian poet and moral
philosopher
(1265-1321) Well-known for his epic poem "Divine
Comedy”.
28) Virgil --a famous Roman poet (70 B.C. –
19 B.C.) who wrote the
the epic poem "Aeneid". heroics -- heroic verse used in epics.
29) Hesperus ---- the evening star “Venus”
30) Rites and rituals fell -- vicious and cruel ceremonies.
31) Loose tottering verse--the dramatists of this period (1603-1625)
used blank verse in a loose and irregular way. Milton made it a
fit medium for his noble epic.
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26th May, 2019 Somaseshu Gutala
