作品原文
Lycidas
In this monody the author bewails a learned friend, unfortunately drowned in his passage from Chester on the Irish Seas, 1637; and by occasion foretells the ruin of our corrupted clergy, then in their height.
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
Shatter your leaves before the mellowing year.
Bitter constraint, and sad occasion dear,
Compels me to disturb your season due;
For Lycidas is dead, dead ere his prime,
Young Lycidas, and hath not left his peer.
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.
Begin then, Sisters of the sacred well,
That from beneath the seat of Jove doth spring,
Begin, and somewhat loudly sweep the string.
Hence with denial vain, and coy excuse,
So may some gentle Muse
With lucky words favour my destined urn,
And as he passes turn
And bid fair peace be to my sable shroud.
For we were nursed upon the selfsame hill,
Fed the same flock by fountain, shade, and rill.
Together both, ere the high lawns appeared
Under the opening eyelids of the morn,
We drove a-field, and both together heard
What time the gray-fly winds her sultry horn,
Batt'ning our flocks with the fresh dews of night,
Oft till the star that rose, at ev'ning, bright
Toward heav'n's descent had sloped his west'ring wheel.
Meanwhile the rural ditties were not mute,
Tempered to th' oaten flute;
Rough Satyrs danced, and Fauns with cloven heel
From the glad sound would not be absent long;
And old Damoetas loved to hear our song.
But O the heavy change now thou art gone,
Now thou art gone and never must return!
Thee, Shepherd, thee the woods, and desert caves,
With wild thyme and the gadding vine o'ergrown,
And all their echoes mourn.
The willows, and the hazel copses green,
Shall now no more be seen
Fanning their joyous leaves to thy soft lays.
As killing as the canker to the rose,
Or taint-worm to the weanling herds that graze,
Or frost to flow'rs, that their gay wardrobe wear,
When first the white-thorn blows;
Such, Lycidas, thy loss to shepherd's ear.
Where were ye, nymphs, when the remorseless deep
Closed o'er the head of your loved Lycidas?
For neither were ye playing on the steep
Where your old bards, the famous Druids, lie,
Nor on the shaggy top of Mona high,
Nor yet where Deva spreads her wizard stream.
Ay me, I fondly dream -
Had ye been there - for what could that have done?
What could the Muse herself that Orpheus bore,
The Muse herself for her enchanting son,
Whom universal nature did lament,
When, by the rout that made the hideous roar,
His gory visage down the stream was sent,
Down the swift Hebrus to the Lesbian shore?
Alas! what boots it with uncessant care
To tend the homely slighted shepherd's trade,
And strictly meditate the thankless Muse?
Were it not better done as others use,
To sport with Amaryllis in the shade,
Or with the tangles of Neaera's hair?
Fame is the spur that the clear spirit doth raise
(That last infirmity of noble mind)
To scorn delights, and live laborious days;
But the fair guerdon when we hope to find,
And think to burst out into sudden blaze,
Comes the blind Fury with th' abhorred shears,
And slits the thin-spun life. "But not the praise,"
Phoebus replied, and touched my trembling ears:
"Fame is no plant that grows on mortal soil,
Nor in the glist'ring foil
Set off to the world, nor in broad rumour lies,
But lives and spreads aloft by those pure eyes
And perfect witness of all-judging Jove;
As he pronounces lastly on each deed,
Of so much fame in heav'n expect thy meed."
O fountain Arethuse, and thou honoured flood,
Smooth-sliding Mincius, crowned with vocal reeds,
That strain I heard was of a higher mood;
But now my oat proceeds,
And listens to the herald of the sea
That came in Neptune's plea.
He asked the waves, and asked the felon winds,
What hard mishap hath doomed this gentle swain?
And questioned every gust of rugged wings
That blows from off each beaked promontory:
They knew not of his story,
And sage Hippotades their answer brings,
That not a blast was from his dungeon strayed;
The air was calm, and on the level brine
Sleek Panope with all her sisters played.
It was that fatal and perfidious bark,
Built in th' eclipse, and rigged with curses dark,
That sunk so low that sacred head of thine.
Next Camus, reverend sire, went footing slow,
His mantle hairy, and his bonnet sedge,
Inwrought with figures dim, and on the edge
Like to that sanguine flower inscribed with woe.
"Ah! Who hath reft (quoth he) my dearest pledge?"
Last came, and last did go,
The Pilot of the Galilean lake.
Two massy keys he bore of metals twain,
(The golden opes, the iron shuts amain)
He shook his mitred locks, and stern bespake
"How well could I have spared for thee, young swain,
Enow of such as for their bellies' sake
Creep, and intrude, and climb into the fold!
Of other care they little reckoning make
Than how to scramble at the shearers' feast,
And shove away the worthy bidden guest.
Blind mouths! that scarce themselves know how to hold
A sheep-hook, or have learned aught else the least
That to the faithful herdman's art belongs!
What recks it them? What need they? They are sped;
And when they list, their lean and flashy songs
Grate on their scrannel pipes of wretched straw;
The hungry sheep look up, and are not fed,
But swoll'n with wind, and the rank mist they draw,
Rot inwardly, and foul contagion spread;
Besides what the grim wolf with privy paw
Daily devours apace, and nothing said;
But that two-handed engine at the door
Stands ready to smite once, and smite no more."
Return, Alpheus, the dread voice is past
That shrunk thy streams; return, Sicilian Muse,
And call the vales, and bid them hither cast
Their bells and flow'rets of a thousand hues.
Ye valleys low, where the mild whispers use
Of shades, and wanton winds, and gushing brooks
On whose fresh lap the swart star sparely looks,
Throw hither all your quaint enamelled eyes,
That on the green turf suck the honeyed show'rs,
And purple all the ground with vernal flow'rs.
Bring the rathe primrose that forsaken dies,
The tufted crow-toe, and pale jessamine,
The white pink, and the pansy freaked with jet,
The glowing violet,
The musk-rose, and the well-attired woodbine,
With cowslips wan that hang the pensive head,
And every flower that sad embroidery wears.
Bid amaranthus all his beauty shed,
And daffadillies fill their cups with tears,
To strew the laureate hearse where Lycid lies.
For so to interpose a little ease,
Let our frail thoughts dally with false surmise.
Ay me! whilst thee the shores and sounding seas
Wash far away, where'er thy bones are hurled,
Whether beyond the stormy Hebrides,
Where thou perhaps under the whelming tide
Visit'st the bottom of the monstrous world;
Or whether thou, to our moist vows denied,
Sleep'st by the fable of Bellerus old,
Where the great vision of the guarded mount
Looks toward Namancos and Bayona's hold.
Look homeward, Angel, now, and melt with ruth;
And, O ye dolphins, waft the hapless youth.
Weep no more, woeful shepherds, weep no more,
For Lycidas your sorrow is not dead,
Sunk though he be beneath the wat'ry floor.
So sinks the day-star in the ocean bed,
And yet anon repairs his drooping head,
And tricks his beams, and with new-spangled ore
Flames in the forehead of the morning sky:
So Lycidas sunk low, but mounted high,
Through the dear might of Him that walked the waves,
Where, other groves and other streams along,
With nectar pure his oozy locks he laves,
And hears the unexpressive nuptial song,
In the blest kingdoms meek of joy and love.
There entertain him all the saints above,
In solemn troops, and sweet societies,
That sing, and singing in their glory move,
And wipe the tears for ever from his eyes.
Now, Lycidas, the shepherds weep no more;
Henceforth thou art the genius of the shore,
In thy large recompense, and shalt be good
To all that wander in that perilous flood.
Thus sang the uncouth swain to th' oaks and rills,
While the still morn went out with sandals grey;
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.
中文譯釋
（在這首輓歌中作者悼念一位博學的友人，
1637年他不幸在自切斯特城出發的旅程中
溺斃於愛爾蘭海。同時偶然地預言了彼時如日中天的
我們的僧侶階層的毀滅。）
然而再一次，噢汝月桂樹，再一次汝褐色的桃金孃，和永不枯涸的長春藤，
我來採摘你生澀粗糙的漿果，
被迫用粗魯的手指
在醇熟之前將你的葉片揉碎。
辛酸的克制，悲愁的寶貴因由，
迫使我擾亂自然的節奏：
因利西達斯死去了，死在盛年之前，
年輕的利西達斯，未曾離開他的友伴：
誰不為利西達斯歌唱？他知道
他要歌唱，他修築崇高的韻。
他不能漂浮於水質的棺槨之上
無人悲泣，或者混淆於炙熱的風
而無甜美悅耳的眼淚回應。
那么開始吧，從朱庇特的寶座下湧起的
神聖泉眼的姊妹們，
開始吧，有幾分響亮地撥掃弓琴。
因此帶著徒勞的拒絕，和羞澀的辯解，
也許某位溫柔的繆斯
會用幸運的言詞恩惠我的命定之瓮，
如同他離去時那樣，
賜我昏暗的壽袍美好的安寧。
因我們生長於同一座山巒，
在泉水、樹蔭和小河裡放牧同一群羊群。
我倆一起，在高高的草坪顯露之前，
在清晨張開的眼瞼下，
我倆一起驅趕著田野，並同時聽見
某一時刻灰翅翼的風的潮熱號角
與夜晚的新鮮露水共同餵養我們的獸群，
常常直到傍晚，那升起的星辰
明亮地向著天堂的坡落傾斜它西下的車輪。
同時鄉野小調並不沉靜，
它呼應於牧羊神之笛，
粗暴的薩梯跳著舞，偶蹄的牧農神
不會在愉快的樂音中隱遁太久，
而年老的達摩艾達 斯喜悅我們的歌音。
但是噢沉重的改變，如今汝已離去，
如今汝已離去，再也不能回返！
汝乃牧羊人，汝乃樹林，汝乃荒蕪的洞穴
野生的百里香和漫遊叢生的藤蔓，
它們的回聲充滿了哀音。
柳樹與綠色的榛木林
已不復可見，
歡樂的葉片在你柔軟的歌謠上簇成扇形。
那致命如同尺蠖之於玫瑰，
如同污蟲之於牧場中健壯的牲畜，
如同嚴霜之於花朵，當白色的荊棘首次來襲，
磨損了它們鮮艷的衣衾；
如同這些，利西達斯，你的死亡之於牧羊人的耳際。
當無情的深淵在汝們鍾愛的
利西達斯頭上閉闔，寧芙們，汝們棲息何處？
因汝們既未嬉戲於峻峭懸崖，
那兒埋葬著汝們年老的歌者，著名的德魯伊們 ，
亦未在安格西島 植被蓬鬆的山巔，
亦未在德瓦河鋪展它巫術的河流之地：
哎我，我愚蠢地發夢！
設若汝們在場——又能有何作為？
那產下俄耳甫斯的繆斯自己
繆斯自己，又能為她被魔法蠱惑的兒子做些什麼，
整個的自然為他悲嘆，
當那場引起可憎的咆哮的潰敗
將他慘白的頭顱順流攜下，
從敏捷的赫布魯斯河一直到萊斯博斯島海岸。
唉！用無盡憂心照料這平凡輕微的
牧羊人的行當，嚴格地冥思
忘恩寡義的繆斯，有何益處？
如旁人那樣豈不更好，與阿瑪瑞麗絲
在陰影中玩耍，或戲弄尼亞艾拉
纏結的捲髮？
聲名是清晰的精神舉起的鞭策
（高貴頭腦最終的弱點）
以蔑視歡愉，終日辛勤勞作：
卻非我們希望找見的公正的報償，
原以為它會爆發成突然的焰火。
盲眼的命運女神手持可憎的修剪，
撕裂這輕薄織就的人生。但是並非讚美，
阿波羅回答，輕觸我顫動的耳朵，
聲名不是生長在世俗土壤的植物，
亦不跟隨閃亮的鈍劍
飛向人間，亦非存在於廣闊的傳言，
卻在審判者朱庇特純潔的雙眼
和完美的見證下高傲地生長和傳播；
當他最終裁定每一件事跡，
天堂里你應得的酬勞便是如許聲譽。
喔阿瑞梭斯泉 ，還有汝，光榮的河流，
光華流淌的敏西烏斯 ，以樂音的蘆葦為你加冕，
我聽到的曲調來自更宏偉的樣式：
但此刻我的長笛繼續吹奏，
傾聽在海王的懇請下
前來的帶喇叭的海洋使者，
他問詢海浪，問詢邪惡的風，
怎樣殘酷的厄運將這溫雅的情郎判決？
他質問自每個鳥喙狀的海岬吹來的
有著粗獷翅翼的氣流，
它們不知曉他的故事，
智慧的風神帶來它們的答案，
沒有一陣強風從他的地牢里逃走，
空氣靜謐，在平整的海面上
膚色光潔的潘諾佩 和她所有的姐妹們在嬉戲。
乃是那致命而背信的三桅船
建造於月食之中 ，裝配著黑暗的詛咒，
讓你高貴的頭顱如此地下沉。
接著是坎姆斯 ，尊貴的陛下，步履緩慢地離開，
他的披風參差多毛，他莎草的軟帽
刺繡著昏暗的人形，而帽檐
就像紅潤的花朵 鐫刻著悲愁。
啊；誰掠奪了（他說）我最寶貴的誓言？
最後到來，也最後離去，
加利利湖的引航員 ，
他帶著一對厚重的金屬鑰匙
（金鑰匙開門，鐵鑰匙急速地關門）
他搖動著束髮帶的髮捲，嚴厲地說道，
我應該怎樣保護你，年輕人，
這一切已足夠滿足他們的肚腹，
他們躡手躡腳，闖入、攀爬進羊圈？
他們很少有別的算計，
除了混入剪羊毛者的盛宴，
轟走值得邀請的客人。
盲目的嘴！他們不知道如何
舉起一支羊鉤，或者至少習得
最基本的牧羊人的技藝。
它與他們有何關係？他們有何所需？他們被
加速，而當他們願意，那傾斜、閃光的歌謠
摩挲著毀敗的稻草做成的刺耳長笛，
於是飢餓的羊兒抬起頭來，不被餵養，
卻在風裡膨脹，他們描畫的惡臭迷霧，
從內部腐爛，讓惡病傳染：
除了那陰森的教堂用它秘密的腳爪
終日一言不發，急速吞咽，
那兩隻手的引擎 伺在門邊，
準備好了一次重創，就這一次。
回來吧，阿爾菲烏斯 ，讓你的河流枯萎的
可怕聲音已經消散；回來吧西西里的繆斯，
呼喚山谷，命令它們向此處拋擲
它們的秀美，以及一千種顏色的花蕾。
噢汝柔和低語的低矮山谷，
充滿樹蔭和野性的風，奔騰的溪流，
天狼星極少照耀你潔淨的膝部，
向這裡拋灑你所有奇趣的琺瑯之眼，
在綠色的草皮上吮吸甜蜜的陣雨，
並用春天的花朵們薰染所有土地。
帶來那死於無名的含苞的櫻草花。
成簇的野生風信子，憔悴的茉莉，
潔白的石竹，長著雀斑的三色紫羅蘭，
和耀眼的紫羅蘭。
麝香薔薇，精心打扮的忍冬。
蒼白的西洋櫻草垂著多思的頭顱，
以及悲傷的刺繡佩戴的每一種花兒：
讓不凋花卸下她所有的美，
黃水仙在它們的杯冠里注滿眼淚，
將榮譽的植物撒向利西達死去的地方。
這樣便可介入片刻的安寧，
讓我們脆弱的思想與錯誤的猜測遊戲。
哎我！當你被海灘，被喧響的海洋沖走，
在那裡你的骨骸曾被用力拋擲，
無論是否避過了赫布里底群島的暴風疾雨；
那兒你許在吞沒一切的潮汐下，
游訪怪獸般世界的底部；
或者無論你是否否認我們淚濕的誓約，
沉睡在年老的貝利魯斯 神話的身邊，
那兒被護佑之山 的廣闊視野
伸向納曼科斯 和巴約納 的地點，
天使啊，如今回望故鄉，融化於悲憫。
喔汝海豚，推送這不幸的青春。
別再哭泣，悲傷的牧羊人別再哭泣，
因為利西達斯，你的悲痛，並未死去，
雖然他沉到水的土地之下，
正如白晝之星也會沉入海床，
但很快修復它低垂的頭顱，
用金光閃爍的新礦裝飾它的光柱，
再次燃燒在黎明的額頭：
於是利西達斯沉得低，卻攀登得高，
通過行走于波浪之上的親愛的力量，
和別的果林，別的溪流一起，
用純潔的花蜜洗滌他的捲髮，
在喜悅和愛的被祝福的謙恭國度，
傾聽無以言表的婚曲。
所有天上的神祗將他款待，
以莊嚴的部隊，或甜蜜的陪伴，
他們唱誦，在他們光榮的行動中唱誦，
並永遠地拭去他眸中的淚水。
如今利西達斯這牧羊人不再哭泣；
從此後你便是海岸的精靈，
這於你是巨大補償，並且這對
所有徜徉在險惡洪水的人兒無比有益。
粗俗的少年這樣對著蘆葦和小河歌唱，
當寂靜的清晨穿著灰色涼鞋離去，
他觸碰蘆笛上柔和的音孔，
在急切的思想中婉轉唱出他的多利安謠曲：
此刻太陽已伸展至所有山巒，
此刻已墜入了西方的海岸；
終於他站起身來，扯動藍色的披肩，
明天將有鮮美的樹林，和嶄新的草原。
－－
Damoetas，一個傳統的牧羊人的名字。
Druids，古老的卡爾特人的游吟詩人階層，他們為歌頌領主和勇士的勝利撰寫詩句並歌唱。
Mona，安格西島，英格蘭西海岸的一個小島，曾經是游吟詩人的居住地。
Amaryllis，寧芙名。
Neaera，寧芙名，與Amaryllis均出自維吉爾的牧歌。
Arethuse，西西里的一眼泉水，與詩歌靈感相連。
Mincius，維吉爾家鄉的一條河流。
Panope，海洋寧芙。
在月食中建造的船被認為攜帶厄運的詛咒。
Camus，流經劍橋的坎姆河的擬人化身。這個擬人化可與維吉爾將流經他家鄉的敏西烏斯擬人化相比。
指風信子。從阿波羅心愛的美少年Hyacinthus的血泊中長出風信子。
此處指聖彼得。基督曾將天國的鑰匙交給他。（馬可福音：16:19）
兩隻手的引擎（two-handed engine），普遍認為是指一柄大到用雙手把持的劍。
Alpheus，河神之名。
Bellerus，羅馬神話中的巨人，他把土地的盡頭叫做Bellerium.
被護佑之山：聖米歇爾山。
Namancos，西班牙地名。
Bayona，菲尼斯特雷角（西班牙北端海角）附近的一座城堡。
英文注釋
Introduction.Background and Text. Lycidas first appeared in a 1638 collection of elegies entitled Justa Edouardo King Naufrago. This collection commemorated the death of Edward King, a collegemate of Milton's at Cambridge who drowned when his ship sank off the coast of Wales in August, 1637. Milton volunteered or was asked to make a contribution to the collection. The present edition follows the copy of Poems of Mr. John Milton(1645) in the Rauner Collection at Dartmouth College known as Hickmott 172. Milton made a few significant revisions to Lycidas after 1638. These revisions are noted as they occur.
Form and Structure. The structure of Lycidas remains somewhat mysterious. J. Martin Evansargues that there are two movements with six sections each that seem to mirror each other. Arthur Barker believes that the body of Lycidas is composed of three movements that run parallel in pattern. That is, each movement begins with an invocation, then explores the conventions of the pastoral, and ends with a conclusion to Milton's "emotional problem" (quoted in Womack).
Voice. Milton's epigram labels Lycidas a "monody": a lyrical lament for one voice. But the poem has several voices or personae, including the "uncouth swain" (the main narrator), who is "interrupted" first by Phoebus (Apollo), then Camus (the river Cam, and thus Cambridge University personified), and the "Pilot of the Galilean lake" (St. Peter). Finally, a second narrator appears for only the last eight lines to bring a conclusion in ottava rima (see F. T. Prince). Before the second narrator enters, the poem contains the irregular rhyme and meter characteristic of the Italian canzone form. Canzone is essentially a polyphonic lyrical form, hence creating a serious conflict with the "monody." Milton may have meant "monody" in the sense that the poem should be regarded more as a story told completely by one person as opposed to a chorus. This person would presumably be the final narrator, who seemingly masks himself as the "uncouth swain." This concept of story-telling ties Lycidas closer to the genre of pastoral elegy.
Genre. Lycidas is a pastoral elegy, a genre initiated by Theocritus, also put to famous use by Virgil and Spenser. Christopher Kendrickasserts that one's reading of Lycidas would be improved by treating the poem anachronistically, that is, as if it was one of the most original pastoral elegies. Also, as already stated, it employs the irregular rhyme and meter of an Italian canzone. Stella Revardsuggests that Lycidas also exhibits the influence of Pindaric odes, especially in its allusions to Orpheus, Alpheus, and Arethusa. The poem's arrangement in verse paragraphs and its introduction of various voices and personae are also features that anticipate epic structures. Like the form, structure, and voice of Lycidas, its genre is deeply complex. James Sitar
Monody.A lyrical lament for one voice.
height.The headnote — "In this Monody ... height." — did not appear in 1638 (Justa Edouardo King). This addition might be due to the less strict laws regarding published texts. The Trinity MS has the headnote but without the final sentence: "And by occasion ... height." The clergy Milton refers to is the clergy of the English Church as ruled by William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury, a champion of traditional liturgy and the bane of reformist Puritans. Bishops fell out of power in 1642, between the two editions.
Friend.Edward King, a schoolmate of Milton's at Cambridge who drowned when his ship sank off the coast of Wales in August, 1637. King entered Christ's College in 1626 when he was 14 years old. Upon finishing his studies, King was made a Fellow of Christ's thanks to his patron King Charles I. The Trinity MS of Lycidas is dated Nov. 1637, three months after King's death.
Never-sear.Never withered. 1638 has "never-sere". Laurel was considered the emblem of Apollo, myrtle of Venus, and ivy of Bacchus.
Lycidas.The name Lycidas is common in ancient Greek pastorals, establishing the style Milton imitates for this poem. William Collins Wattersonnotes that in Theocritus' pastoral, Lycidas loses a singing competition. Watterson asserts that Milton is aligning King with Lycidas in an attempt to portray himself as victorious over King. Virgil's ninth Eclogueis spoken in part by the shepherd Lycidas, a scene that includes, as Balachandra Rajanpoints out, a reference to social injustice. Lucan's Civil Wars 3.657-58 also tells the story of a Lycidas pulled to pieces during a sea battle by a grappling hook.
Lycidas?An echo of Virgil; "Who would not sing for Gallus?" (Eclogue 10.5).
bear.Bier, or funeral platform. 1638 has "biere".
Begin then, Sisters.Following the pastoral tradition of Theocritus, Moschus, and Virgil, Milton invokes the muses to begin the lament. See Virgil's Eclogue 4.1. The sisters are the nine muses, daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne (memory). Their sacred well is called Aganippe on Mount Helicon, just a bit lower than the "seat" of Jove.
lucky.It would certainly be bad luck to refuse an invitation to sing for the dead. Virgil's persona implies as much in Eclogue 10.5-6. See also OED2.
opening.1638 has "glimmering" instead of "opening"; The Trinity MS replaces "glimmering" with "opening".
Batt'ning.Feeding.
Star.Venus as Hesperus, the evening star. 1638 has "ev'n-starre" in place of "Star that rose, at Ev'ning,". The Trinity MS corrected the 1638 reading to "Oft till the star that rose in evening bright".
westering.1638 has "burnisht" in place of "westering"; Trinity MS initiated the change to "westering".
th'Oaten Flute.A Panpipe, or the flute used by Pan, traditionally associated with the songs of shepherds. See Virgil's Ecologues10.64-5. Spenser calls him "God of shepheards all" in The Shepheardes Calendar, "December," 7. Drawingof Pan playing a panpipe.
Satyrs.Mythical goat-men renowned for lust. Milton is probably referring to his (and King's) classmates at Christ's. Picture.
Damoetas.A traditional pastoral name, see Virgil's Eclogue 3. Also a clownish shepherd named Damoetas appears in Sidney's Arcadia. Search Dartmouth's Library catalog.Milton might be referring to Christ's College tutor William Chappel.
to hear our song.The narrator imagines that he and King were shepherds (poets and students) in the same pasture (Christ's College, Cambridge) and learned from the same master, William Chappel (perhaps personified here as Old Damoetas).
gadding.Wandering, unruly.
Canker.Cankerworm, a garden pest.
Taint-worm.Intestinal parasite that afflicts young calves, that is, weanlings.
weanling.Young livestock, recently weaned from mother's milk.
wardrop.Wardrobe. 1638 has "wardrobe".
blows.Blossoms.
Bards.Ancient Druid poet-singers: "An ancient Celtic order of minstrel-poets, whose primary function appears to have been to compose and sing (usually to the harp) verses celebrating the achievements of chiefs and warriors, and who committed to verse historical and traditional facts, religious precepts, laws, genealogies, etc." (OED2).
Mona.Anglesey, an Island off the west coast of Britain, once the home of Celtic druids.
Deva.The river Dee, where Chester, King's destination, stands. Spenser's Faerie Queene 4.11.39 refers to the Dee as "divine."
fondly.Foolishly, idly.
Lesbian shore.Calliope, daughter of Jupiter and Mnemosyne was Orpheus's mother and a muse. Orpheus, according to legend, could charm animals, birds, and even inanimate bits of nature with his music. For Milton, as for many others, he serves as a personified symbol of the power of poetic song. For the story of the death of Orpheus, see Ovid's Metamorphoses 11.1-66. Also see Albrecht Dürer's 1494 engraving, Death of Orpheus.
strictly.1638 misprints this as "stridly".
Or with.1638 has "Hid in the" in place of "Or with". "Or with" is a Trinity MS correction.
Amaryllis.The names of the nymphs, Amaryllis and Neaera, are conventional, borrowed from Virgil's Eclogues 1.4-5and Eclogues 3.3.
Guerdon.Reward.
Fury.Milton refers to fate or destiny here as a "Fury," as if one of the Eumendies from classical Greek drama. Some traditions personify the Fates as three sisters, the sisters of destiny; one spins the thread of life, one measures out its length, and the third snips it with shears. Hughes asserts that this figure is Atropos. See Plato's Republic 620e.
Phoebus.Apollo. Virgil, in Eclogues 6.5-6,imagines the "Cynthian god" plucking at his ear.
foil.Hughesnotes that a foil is the "setting of a gem".
Arethuse.A fountain in Sicily associated with poetic inspiration (see Arcades 30-31). Mincius is the river of Virgil's hometown, Mantua. Virgil associates the Mincius with his own pastoral verse in Eclogues 7. 15-16 and Georgics 3. 20-21.
higher mood.Epic poetry was considered to be a more elevated form than pastoral, thus in a higher mode.
Herald.Triton, a sea-god usually pictured with a trumpet.
plea.That is, at Neptune's request, to testify in his defence.
swain.A shepherd; a word frequently used by Theocritus, Virgil, and Spenser.
Hippotades.Homeric epithet for Aeolus, the wind-god, son of Hippotas. See Odyssey 10.3.
Panope.A sea nymph.
Bark.Small ship.
th'eclipse.A ship built during an eclipse might be imagined to be either cursed with bad luck or simply ill-built as a result.
Camus.Personification of the river Cam, which runs through Cambridge. This personification draws comparisons to Virgil's personification of Mincius, the river that runs through his home town.
sanquine flower.The Hyacinth. Apollo made this flower from the blood of his beloved Hyacinthus, whom he accidentally killed. The story is in Ovid's Metamorphoses 10.214-16.
The Pilot.It is commonly accepted that this refers to St. Peter, to whom Christ gave "the keys of the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 16:19). Peter's first meeting with Jesus is told in Luke 5:2-4.
Miter'd.A miter is a liturgical headress worn by bishops.
Line 113.1645 has a period at the end of this line, but that appears to be an error, especially since the line is the last on the page in 1645.
Anow.Enough. 1638 has "Enough".
into the fold.See John 10:1.
Blind mouthes!John Ruskin suggests that "a bishop means a person who sees" and a "pastor means one who feeds. The most unbishoply character...is therefore to be blind. The most unpastoral is, instead of feeding, to want to be fed,—to be a mouth" (quoted in Orgel and Goldberg).
scrannel.Thin, shriveled.
Lines 121-127. An echo of Menalcas' sentiments in Virgil's Ecologues 3.81, 4-9, 30-4.
Woolf.The Roman Catholic Church.
privy.Secret. See 2 Peter 2:1. Perhaps also a pun on the Privy Council.
nothing.Critics dispute whether "little" should stand. In accordance with 1645, most modern editions use "nothing."
sed.1638 has "said".
two-handed engine.The meaning of this phrase has generated much commentary. Orgel's assertion, that it is a sword large enough to require two hands to use, is commonly accepted.
smite once, and smite no more.See Matthew 26:31 and Mark 14: 27-9.
Alpheus.Personification of a river in Greece and also the god who fell in love with Arethusa and pursued her until she was turned into a fountain. See Ovid's Metamorphoses 5.865-875.
swart Star.Sirius, the dog star, is ascendant during the hottest days of the year; hence the term, "dog days."
rathe.Ready to bloom.
Crow-toe.Wild hyacinth.
Gessamine.Jasmine, a climbing shrub with fragrant flowers.
freakt.Flecked or streaked whimsically or capriciously; variegated. See OED2. "Freakt with jeat" (jet, black) means flecked with black streaks or spots.
wan.Pale.
Amaranthus.In the garden of Eden, an immortal flower (Paradise Lost 3.353-57). See also Spenser's Faerie Queene 3.6.45 (search "Amaranthus").
Daffadillies.This flower list, a typical pastoral element, was first added to the Trinity MS on a separate sheet of paper and marked for insertion here. Sackscontrasts this section with the plucking at the beginning of the poem (line 3). He asserts, "the anger has been purged, and the rewards (the undying flowers of praise) have been established."
Hebrides.The Hebrides lie off the west coast of Scotland.
whelming.Overwhelming, or drowning. 1638 has "humming". Trinity MS also has "humming", changed to "whelming" by marginal hand in BM and Cambridge copies of Justa Eduardo King (Carey & Fowler).
moist.Tear-dampened.
Bellerus.A giant for whom Land's End was called Bellerium in Roman times.
guarded Mount.Mount St. Michael's, near Land's End on the Cornish coast, across the Channel from Mont St. Michel. Milton imagines the patron saint of England looking out from here to guard England from overseas (Catholic) religion. Namancos is in Spain and Bayona a fortress near Cape Finisterre.
Look homeward.The Angel could refer to either St. Michael, whose mount it is, or Lycidas. In either case, the injunction is for him to turn his eye from the threat of Spain (represented by Namancos and Bayona) and instead to look homeward, where Lycidas has drowned (Orgel & Goldberg). Lawrence Lipkingasserts that the angel is in fact Lycidas, who is looking not to where he drowned but to his destination, Ireland. He further asserts that Milton demands a change of attention from Spain to Ireland because he felt the pagans in Ireland were a serious threat to England.
Dolphins.Dolphins were thought by sailors to be a good omen at sea, looking after the ship and guarding it from peril.
him that walk'd the waves.Alluding to Jesus, who walked on water according to Matthew 14:25-26.
weep no more.Recalls the opening line of the poem "Yet once more, O ye Laurels, and once more." The invocation to begin the lament is repeated as the invitation to end the lament.
unexpressive nuptial Song.According to Hughes, "the unutterable nuptial Song is sung at the marriage supper of the Lamb." See Revelation 14:9. Janet E. Halley makes important points about the unacknowledged homoerotic features of Milton's pastoral heaven here and in Epitaphium Damonis (see her "Female Autonomy"241-242).
In the blest Kingdoms meek of joy and love.1638 omits this line entirely.
wipe the tears.See Revelation 7:17.
Genius.The spirit or guardian angel of the place.
Dorick.The sort of Greek spoken in Crete and Laconia. Also the dialect preferred by Theocritus and Bion, the earliest practictioners of pastoral verse. A doric lay is the sort of song sung by pastoral poets in doric.
th'Okes and rills."Oates," reeds, quills, and pipes are all terms associated with composing and singing pastoral poetry. This line signifies the end of the shepherd persona.
Quills.The hollow reeds of the shepherd's pipes; the stops are the holes one covers with fingers to make different notes sound.
Pastures new.See the end of Virgil's Eclogues10. 70-97.
