Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

tic fictions in verse, has been left not even "half told," as Milton says, but scarcely begun. We have only an announcement of the wonders to be performed, not the performances themselves. Chaucer intended to finish the poem, as the closing lines

show:

[ocr errors]

"First wil I telle you of Cambynskan,

That in his time many a citie wan:
And after wil I speke of Algarsif,
How that he wan Theodora to his wif;
For whom ful ofte in grete peril he was,

Ne had he ben holpen by the hors of bras:
And after wil I speke of Camballo,

That fought in lystes with the brethern tuo
For Canace, ere that he mote hire winne,
And ther I lefte, I wol agayn beginne."

116. The allusion is to Spenser's Faery Queene, as may be seen from the context. The term bard" here applied to that poet is not inappropriate, for he sings the praise of illustrious heroes in his " sage and solemn " epic of Christian chivalry; and, according to Festus (Dict. Etym.), Bardus, Gallicé cantator appellatur qui virorum fortium laudes canit.

118. Turneys (or tournaments).-[Fr. tournoi and tournotment; Lat. torno, to turn in a lathe.] The favourite amusement of knights in the Middle Ages was so called because of the frequent wheeling of chargers in the lists. - -Trophies [the correct form would be tropees; Gr. τpóжalov, from τроný, a turning] are the memorials of an enemy's flight, which the Greeks "hung" on posts or frames.

[ocr errors]

119. Forests, and enchantments drear.-Perhaps an allusion to the enchanted forest" in Tasso's Gerusalemme Liberata; but indeed the romances of chivalry are thick-strewn with such.

120. Where more is meant than meets the ear.-This is usually quoted as if it referred to the hidden mysteries of the forests, whereas it is an allusion to the allegorical meaning of the " sage and solemn " tales of the great bards." The expression occurs in Seneca (Ep., 114): "In quibus plus intelligendum est quam audiendum."

[ocr errors]

66

122. Civil-suited Morn.-Civil-suited means sober-hued." Morn is to come, not decked out in the glittering colour of a cloudless sunrise, but kerchief'd in a comely cloud," or ushered in with still rains. Shakspeare has used the same imagery in addressing Night (Romeo and Juliet, Act iii., sc. 4):

Come, civil Night,

Thou sober-suited matron, all in black.”

Malvolio (Twelfth Night, Act. iii., sc. 4) is "sad and civil.”
123. Trickt and frounc't.-Trickt means dressed out. Sandys in his Travels (1615,
p. 66), speaking of a Turkish bride, says: "They tricke her in her richest ornaments."
It is the same word as the Sc. trig, neatly dressed. Frounc't, extravagantly curled, or
plaited. Spenser thus describes the "lordes and ladies" in attendance on the Queen of
Pride (Faery Queene, B. I., c. iv., st. 14):

"Some frounce their curled haire in courtly guise,
Some prancke their ruffes."

The word is from the Fr. froncer-lit., to wrinkle the brow [Lat. frons]; then to plait or curl generally. The same root is seen in "frown" [Fr. frogner].

124. Attic boy.-Cephalus, grandson of Cecrops king of Attica, was beloved by Eōs, the goddess of the dawn, whose passion for mortal youths is further illustrated in the myths of Orion and Tithonus.

130. Minute drops.-Not small drops, but such as drop at brief intervals, as it were minute after minute. (So "minute guns," "minute bells.") The "still," i.e., the soft, shower, falling gently after the wind has gone down, is now over, and only the leaves make a faint rustle under the slow drip from cottage roofs.

134. Sylvan.-As his name implies, a woodland god of the old Latins, and a

66

protector of the herds that pastured amidst the brown shadows" of the forest wastes.

66

66

135. Monumental oak.-The monuments in churches were often made of carved oak. and Il Penseroso naturally thinks of the most solemn use to which this wood was put. 137. Nymphs.-The Dryads, or oak-nymphs," who might well be daunted" at the sound of the "rude axe," because they perished with the trees in which they dwelt. 140. Profaner.-Somewhat profane. A Latinism.

[ocr errors]

141. Garish.-Dazzling, or flaring." The O. Eng. gare, to stare, is probably from the Fr. garer, to beware, to take heed of. Another form is gaure and gawre, which we find in Chaucer (The Man af Lawes Tale):

[ocr errors]

'Doun fro the castel cometh many a wight

To gawren on this schip and on Constaunce."

147-150. The meaning of these lines is not very clear, but the simplest interpretation seems to be: "Let some strange mysterious dream stir the wings of dewy-feather'd Sleep (i.e., give consciousness to my sleep), by displaying to my inward vision a succession of vivid images." Both Warton and Newton, it seems to us, have failed in their attempt to explain this passage.

152. Above, about, or underneath.-Milton was perhaps thinking of the machineries of the masques, which included devices for the mysterious production of music both from the earth and the air. Comp. Shakspeare's Antony and Cleopatra, Act iv., sc. 3: [Music of hautboys under the stage.

66

Sec. Sold. Peace! what noise?

First Sold. List, list! Music i' the air.

Third Sold. Under the earth."

156. Studious cloister's pale.—A pale [A.-S. pal; Lat. palus, a stake] is an enclosure, as in the phrase, "Within the pale of the Church." The "English pale" in Ireland was that part of the country within the safe-guard of English law or authority.Studious cloister. — Shakspeare has the "studious university (Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act i., sc. 3). A cloister [Lat. claustrum, a place closed in] commonly denotes a monastery, but here, perhaps, a church or cathedral.

[ocr errors]

157. High-embowed." Lofty-vaulted," or arched. So Comus, l. 1015: The bow'd welkin."

158. Massy proof.-Able to sustain the superincumbent weight.

159. Storied.-Painted with stories, or histories taken from Scripture. Chaucer in his Legende of Cleopatrie has, And this is storial, sothe it is no fable" (l. 123).Dight here means ornamented." See L'Allegro, note to l. 62.

66

168. Hermitage.-The older form of hermit is eremite, from Gr. épîμos, a solitude or desert.

teach."]

170. Spell. [A.-S. spelian, read, or tell, or 173, 174. Years should bring not only the philosophic mind, as Wordsworth sings, but that " sage and solemn " thought which Milton believed akin to inspiration.

COMUS.

THIS matchless poem, like its predecessors L'Allegro and Il Penseroso, is a striking illustration of that peculiarity of Milton's genius to which we have already made reference, viz., the free appropriation and transformation into nobler forms of the conceptions and imagery of other writers. This is not vulgar plagiarism. He never transplants a flower but it gains in beauty and fragrance. Whatever he touches is turned to gold. Fletcher's Faithful Shepherdess, represented as a masque at court in 1633, has furnished him with many hints; but there are two works in particular of which he appears to have availed himself with royal freedom. These are The Old Wives' Tale of George Peele, one of the three notable dramatists who preceded Shakspeare, and a

Latin poem, entitled Comus, by Henri du Puy, Professor of Eloquence at Louvain, published in 1608, and republished at Oxford in 1634. The former piece exhibits, among other curious parallels, two brothers wandering in quest of a sister imprisoned by an enchanter, who has been instructed in sorcery by his mother; the answer of Echo to the invocation of their sister's name; the drinking of the magic potion by the lady, and her consequent loss of reason and memory for a time; her rescue by the help of a good "spirit;" with the incident of the glass wrested from the hand and dashed on the ground.

The Latin poem by the accomplished Dutchman (Du Puy was a native of Gelderland) contains many ideas and expressions which Milton has turned to his own use with admirable skill; but Professor Masson is right in his opinion that, after all, the English poet has produced an essentially original work--a work that, in spirit, doctrine, and diction, stands far above the semi-prosaic mediocrities from which it sprung.

Line 1. Threshold" entrance "-is literally "a piece of wood for threshing on." As the primitive mode of threshing was by the treading of cattle, the name was applied to the wooden bar under the door on which men trode when entering a house. The O. Eng. form is threswold, A.-S. threscwald, from threscan, to thresh, and weald (hence "wold;" comp. Ger. wald), a wood.

3. Inspher'd.-In Il Penseroso the spirit of Plato was to be unsphered. See note to 1. 88 of that poem.

4. In such a region Homer seats the gods. Comp. Od., VI. 42 :

“Οθι φασὶ θεῶν ἕδος ασφαλὲς αἰεὶ

Εμμεναι. Οὔτ ̓ ανέμοισι τινάσσεται οὔτε ποτ' ὄμβρῳ
Δεύεται, οὔτεχιὰν ἐπιπίλναται ἀλλὰ μάλ' αἴθρη
Πέπταται ἀνέφελος, λευκὴ δ ̓· ἐπιδέδρομεν αἴγλη.”

Comp. also Lucretius (B. III., l. 18) and Virgil (B. VI., l. 640).

6. Low-thoughted care.-Comp. Pope's Eloisa, l. 298; "Divine oblivion of lowthoughted care."

[ocr errors]

7. Pester'd in this pinfold here.-Pester'd is commonly rendered crowded" [It. pesta, a crowd], but its ordinary meaning of worried," or annoyed" [Lat. pestis, a plague], is more in harmony with the context. The bright aërial spirits who enjoy the serene peace of heaven know nothing of the irritating vexations of mortals striving "to keep up a frail and feverish being."

The comparison of Earth to a narrow pinfold is fine. A pinfold was so called because cattle found straying were seized and confined there, the owner being obliged to give a "pledge" to make good the damage before they were released. The A.-S. of "pin" is pund (comp. Ger. pfand, Dutch pand, a pledge).

9. Virtue gives.—The spirit of Milton's poetry is always Christian, but in his earlier productions especially, the phraseology of his ethics is derived from the ancient philosophy. The "servants of virtue, who sit on sainted seats amidst the gods," are the symbolic elders of the Book of Revelation (iv. 4) presented to us in a classic guise. 13. That golden key, &c.-Comp. Lycidas, l. 110, 111.

[ocr errors]

14. Pope had doubtless this line in view when speaking of Virtue in one of his Satires: Her priestess muse forbids the good to die, And opes the temple of Eternity."

16. Pure ambrosial weeds.-The Greeks applied the epithet ambrosial to whatever belonged to the gods. Milton's phrase is a translation of the ȧμßрoσíos пéпλos of Homer (Il., V., 338). The word radically signifies "immortal "[a priv., and ẞporós, reäppearing in Lat. mors; Ger. mord; Eng. murder; the root being the Sansc. mri, to die]; but it gradually acquired the vaguer and more poetic meaning of "heavenly," or divinely

beautiful.

66

17. Mould-The earth. [A.-S. molde, Sc. mool, Ger. müll-dust; lit., what is ground down; from the same root as Eng. mill, or Lat. molo.] This use of mould," still preserved in poetry, was general in Old English, e.g., Piers the Plowman (Pass. II., 7. 186):

"Of many manner man that on this molde libbeth."

19. Ebbing stream.-A stream that ebbs and flows; that is, visibly subject to tidal influences.

20. High and nether Jove. After the overthrow of Saturn, the government of the universe became tripartite: Zeus ruling in Heaven; Pluto ("the nether Jove "— Zevs KaTaxoóvios, Il., IX., 457) in Hades; and Neptune in the World of Waters.

21-23. The comparison of islands studding the bosom of the deep to gems was never so finely expressed as here. Comp. Shakspeare (Richard II., Act ii., sc. 1):

[ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small]
[ocr errors]

The gallant Firth the eye might note,
Whose islands on its bosom float
Like emeralds chased in gold."

24. Tributary gods.-The Tritons, and other dii minores of the sea. 25. Several.-Separate. This use of the word was once common. (Essay on Criticism, l. 66) :

<6 Each might his several province well command

Would all but stoop to what they understand."

Comp. Pope

29. Quarters.--Lit., divides into four parts;" but here the sense is nearly the same as in the phrase to quarter a regiment on a town.' It means assigns, or distributes. 30. All this tract that fronts the falling sun.-Wales, of which Lord Bridgewater, the "noble peer" mentioned in the following line, became president in 1633.

[ocr errors]

31. Mickle.-Much. [A.-S. micel and mycel.] The form in Chaucer varies. We have 'moche," "mochel," and "mochil;" but Spenser uses "mickle." Piers the Plowman, of course, comes nearest to the A.-S. form (Pass. V., l. 477):

"But for thi mykel mercy, mitigacioun I biseche."

Comp. Sc. meikle, mickle, and more frequently muckle.

The

33. Proud in arms.- -Comp. Virgil (Aen., I., 21): "Belloque superbum." old and haughty nation is the Welsh, or Kymry, descended from the original inhabitants of the island. By haughty, Milton perhaps means fiery, or "high spirited.

34. Nurst in princely lore.—The Egerton family were connected with royalty by marriage. Frances Stanley, the wife of the Earl of Bridgewater (before whom Comus was presented), was the great-granddaughter of Eleanor, Countess of Clifford, whose mother (first married to the King of France, and afterwards to the Duke of Suffolk) was a sister of Henry VIII.

37. Perplex't.-Entangled. [Lat. per and plecto, to twist or twine.]

38. Comp. Petrarch's sonnet composed as he passed through the forest of Ardennes : 66 Un solitario orrore

D'ombrosa selva mai tanto me piacque "—

where, however, the sentiment is exactly the opposite of Milton's.

39. Forlorn here perhaps retains its primary meaning of "lost." [A.-S. forloren, from forleósan. Comp. Ger. verloren.]

41. Sovran.-See Hymn on the Nativity, note to l. 60.

43, 44. It is possible that the peculiar turn which Milton here gives to his language was suggested by the canto of Horace (Odes, B. III., i., 2):

[ocr errors][merged small]

45. In hall or bower.-These two words are often conjoined in the metrical romances, of which Spenser and Milton were both students in their youth. Comp. Spenser (Astrophel, l. 28):

"Merily masking both in bowre and hall."

Also, Colin Clout's come Home againe, l. 726:

[ocr errors]

And purchace highest rowme in bowre or hall."

For the meaning and etymology of "bower," see L'Allegro, note on l. 87.

48. After the Tuscan mariners [had been] transform'd. -The last of the mythic exploits of Bacchus was his transformation into dolphins of the Tyrrhenian pirates, who would have sold him into slavery. See Ovid (Met., III., 670).

49. Listed.-Pleased. See Hymn on the Nativity, note on l. 36.

50. Circe's island.—Aeaea, originally off the coast of Latium, but afterwards joined to the mainland, and forming the promontory of Circeii. The island furnished the sorceress with a surname, and hence magic arts and charms were called by the Romans Aeaeae artes, and Aeaea carmina.

51-53. This was the fate of the companions of Ulysses; but that subtle chief himself outwitted the sorceress by the help of Hermes. See Od., X., 135-335.

54. Clust'ring locks. —Ancient art represents Bacchus with grape clusters or ivyberries intertwined among his hair.

55. Blithe is the very word to describe the Greek Bacchus (Atóvûσos), who was not the god of intemperance, if we may so speak, but of heart-easing mirth and youthful jollity. Silenus was the drunkard and sot.

58. And Comus nam'd.--The name is not original. In the Agamemnon of Aeschylus, a "Comus" figures, who is a kinsman and messenger of the Furies; but there is little resemblance between the wild blood-drinker of the Greek tragedian and the cruel voluptuary of Milton. Ben Jonson's " Comus" (Masque, 1619), is a mere "god of cheer;" while Dekker in his Gull's Horn-Book invokes "Comus" as the "Clarke of Gluttonies Kitchen."

59. Frolic.-Joyous. [Comp. Ger. fröhlich; Du, vrolijk.] The word has now become a substantive, the adjectival form being "frolicsome." Comp. L'Allegro, l. 18. 60. Celtic and Iberian fields.-France and Spain.

61. Ominous-i.e., full of wondrous and inauspicious portents; because in its "thick shelter of black shades" lives the sorcerer who excels his mother at her mighty art." Ominous has now always the meaning of "bad omen;" but originally it meant indifferently foreboding good or evil; and we still speak of good as well as bad omens. Omen," according to Varro, is a contraction of osmen— Quod ex ore primum elatum est;" but its origin is more probably to be found in the Sansc. om, a mystic expression, denoting a solemn affirmation-i.e., on the part of the gods.

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

66

65. Orient liquor.-Comus came from the East to this tract that fronts the falling

sun."

66. Drouth, for "thirst," is now retained only in the Scotch dialect of English. It is the same word as "drought," meaning "dryness." The A.-S. is drugoth, from drigan, to dry.

[blocks in formation]

75. In Plutarch's Dialogue of Grillus some of the companions of Ulysses refuse to be restored by Circe to human form; but for another reason than that which Milton here attributes to the victims of Comus. The poet had perhaps in view the condition of the lotos-eaters described by Plato in the Eighth Book of the Republic.

79. Adventrous glade.—A glade in which adventures are to be met with. The poet is thinking of the forests of romance, and of their "enchantments drear, where more is meant than meets the ear."

80. The simile is one of faultless beauty; it is repeated (Par. Lost, B. IV., l. 555). It is found also in Homer (Il., IV., 75), in Shakspeare (Venus and Adonis, st. 136), and in other writers, but Milton has surpassed them all in melodious beauty of expression. 83. Iris' woof.The colours of the rainbow. Comp. Par. Lost, B. XI., l. 244: "Iris had dipt the woof."

84. Swain. The A.-S. swán (servant or herdsman) is perhaps derived from swincan, to work; and in that case its primary significance would be a "labourer," and equivalent to the Sc. swankie, in Miss Elliot's fine version of the Flowers of the Forest:

[ocr errors][merged small]
« AnteriorContinuar »