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L'Allegro

L'Allegro is a pastoral lyric poem by the English poet John Milton, first published in 1645 as part of his collection Poems of Mr. John Milton, Both English and Latin, which celebrates the joys of mirth, liberty, and an active life amid rural and urban scenes.^[1]^[2] Composed likely in the early 1630s, during Milton's time as a young scholar and shortly after his university years at Cambridge, the poem contrasts with its companion piece, Il Penseroso, by contrasting cheerfulness with contemplative melancholy rather than presenting a strict opposition.^[1]^[2]^[3] The 152-line work is structured in iambic tetrameter couplets for most of its length, beginning with irregular lines to invoke and banish Melancholy—depicted as born of Cerberus and midnight—before welcoming Mirth (the goddess Euphrosyne) and her attendants like Jest and Jollity.^[1]^[4] The poem unfolds through vivid imagery of pastoral pleasures, such as the lark's song at dawn, the ploughman's cheerful work, shepherds' tales under haystacks, and village May games featuring figures like Robin Goodfellow (Puck), before shifting to urban delights including towers, feasts, masques, and the arts of poets like Ben Jonson and William Shakespeare, culminating in a vision of Orpheus's lyre inspiring poetic ecstasy.^[2]^[4] Drawing on classical mythology, Renaissance pastoral traditions, and influences like Robert Burton's The Anatomy of Melancholy (1621), L'Allegro employs personification, alliteration, and rhythmic vitality to evoke themes of communal joy, nature's bounty, and art's role in banishing sorrow.^[2] L'Allegro has exerted significant influence on English literature, praised for its graceful description and technical virtuosity, and was adapted in 1740 by composer George Frideric Handel into the pastoral oratorio L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato (HWV 55), with libretto by Charles Jennens, which premiered in London and blended Milton's contrasting moods with a moderating third voice.^[4]^[5]^[6]

Publication and Overview

Publication History

L'Allegro first appeared in print in the 1645 collection Poems of Mr. John Milton, Both English and Latin, Compos'd at several times, printed by Ruth Raworth for the London bookseller Humphrey Moseley and released to the public in early 1646.^[7] The volume marked the publication of Milton's first collection of poems, gathering his earlier English and Latin verses without his apparent direct supervision, as Moseley assembled the material from manuscripts and emphasized their authenticity in his prefatory address to the reader.^[8] Moseley, known for issuing works by royalist authors, highlighted the collection's potential appeal by comparing it to recent successes like Edmund Waller's poetry, positioning Milton's output as a significant literary contribution.^[9] Within the English section of the book, L'Allegro immediately precedes its companion piece Il Penseroso, the two forming a paired contrast without a dedicated title page or introductory note separating them as a unit.^[10] The edition's title page credits Milton by name, though subsequent printings and revisions, such as the 1673 volume, incorporated additional works and commendatory verses absent from the initial release.^[8] Scholars date the poem's composition to the early 1630s, likely between 1630 and 1632, aligning with Milton's final years at Cambridge University or his immediate post-graduation period at his family's estate in Buckinghamshire.^[11] This timing reflects the work's youthful lyricism and pastoral themes, drawn from classical influences during Milton's student years.^[2]

Poem Summary

L'Allegro consists of 152 lines composed in iambic tetrameter couplets and divided into irregular stanzas.^[12] The poem opens with the speaker banishing Melancholy, portrayed as offspring of Cerberus and blackest midnight, born in a forlorn Stygian cave amid horrid shapes, shrieks, and unholy sights, directing it to dwell in an uncouth cell under ebon shades and low-browed rocks in a dark Cimmerian desert. In contrast, the speaker invokes the goddess Euphrosyne, called Mirth by mortals and heart-easing, either born to ivy-crowned Bacchus and lovely Venus alongside her sister Graces or conceived when frolic Zephyrus met Aurora a-Maying on beds of violets and dew-washed roses, filling her with this buxom, blithe daughter. Haste is urged upon Mirth to bring Jest and youthful Jollity, along with quips, cranks, wanton wiles, nods, becks, wreathed smiles like those on Hebe's cheek, sport that derides wrinkled Care, and Laughter holding both sides, tripping on light fantastic toe while leading the mountain nymph, sweet Liberty, to admit the speaker to her crew for unreproved pleasures free. The narrative progresses to a cheerful morning, where the lark begins its flight, singing to startle the dull night from its watch-tower in the skies until dappled dawn rises, entering spite of sorrow to bid good morrow at the window through sweet-briar, vine, or twisted eglantine, as the cock scatters darkness with lively din and struts before his dames to the stack or barn door, while hounds and horn rouse the slumbering morn from a hoar hill through high wood echoing shrill. By hedge-row elms on hillocks green, right against the eastern gate where the great sun begins his state robed in flames and amber light with clouds in thousand liveries dight, the plowman whistles o'er the furrowed land, the milkmaid singeth blithe, the mower whets his scythe, and every shepherd tells his tale under the hawthorn in the dale. The eye catches new pleasures in the landscape: russet lawns and fallows gray where nibbling flocks stray, mountains on whose barren breast laboring clouds rest, meadows trim with daisies pied, shallow brooks and rivers wide, towers and battlements bosom'd high in tufted trees where perhaps some beauty lies, the cynosure of neighboring eyes, and a cottage chimney smokes from betwixt two aged oaks where Corydon and Thyrsis met at their savory dinner of herbs and country messes dressed by neat-handed Phillis, who then hastes with Thestylis to bind the sheaves or to the tann'd haycock in the mead. Midday rural pleasures extend to upland hamlets inviting with secure delight when merry bells ring round and jocund rebecks sound to many a youth and maid dancing in the chequer'd shade, young and old coming forth to play on a sunshine holyday till the live-long daylight fail, then to spicy nut-brown ale with stories of feats like Faery Mab eating junkets, pinching and pulling, or being led by friar's lanthorn, the drudging goblin sweating to earn his cream-bowl duly set, his shadowy flail threshing in one night what ten day-laborers could not end, then the lubbar fiend stretching out to bask at the fire and flinging crop-full out ere the first cock's matin rings, after which the tales done, they creep to bed lulled asleep by whispering winds. Evening shifts to urban joys in towered cities and the busy hum of men, where throngs of knights and barons bold in weeds of peace hold high triumphs with store of ladies whose bright eyes rain influence and judge the prize of wit or arms while both contend to win her grace whom all commend, Hymen appearing in saffron robe with taper clear, and pomp, feast, revelry, mask, and antique pageantry such as youthful poets dream on summer eves by haunted stream. The poem closes with a call to the well-trod stage, invoking Jonson's learned sock or sweetest Shakespeare fancy's child warbling native wood-notes wild, and against eating cares to lap in soft Lydian airs married to immortal verse such as the meeting soul may pierce in notes with many a winding bout of linked sweetness long drawn out, with wanton heed and giddy cunning the melting voice through mazes running, untwisting chains that tie the hidden soul of harmony, that Orpheus' self may heave his head from golden slumber on a bed of heaped Elysian flowers and hear strains that would win Pluto's ear to quite set free his half-regained Eurydice. These delights granted, the speaker vows to live with Mirth in a bower furnished with books, song, and learned arts amidst the vision of mirth.^[13]

Composition and Influences

Historical Context

L'Allegro was likely composed between 1630 and 1632, when John Milton was in his early twenties, specifically aged 21 to 24.^[14] This period followed his graduation with a Bachelor of Arts from Christ's College, Cambridge, in 1629, though he remained associated with the university until receiving his Master of Arts in 1632.^[15] During his time at Cambridge, Milton earned the nickname "Lady of Christ's" due to his refined appearance, delicate manners, and perceived effeminacy, which set him apart from his peers and reflected his introspective nature.^[16] His education there emphasized neoclassical studies and Renaissance humanism, immersing him in classical languages, literature, and philosophy, which shaped his early poetic voice.^[15] The poem emerged during a phase of personal transition and poetic experimentation for Milton, often termed his "Lady of Christ's" period, marked by youthful exploration before the more mature elegy Lycidas in 1637.^[14] This era captured a sense of pre-travel optimism, as Milton would embark on his continental tour to Italy from 1638 to 1639, experiencing Renaissance culture firsthand but reflecting in L'Allegro the buoyant spirit of his immediate post-university years.^[14] Socio-politically, the early 1630s represented a time of mounting tensions in England under Charles I's personal rule, with issues like forced loans and religious controversies foreshadowing the English Civil War that erupted in 1642.^[17] Yet L'Allegro, written prior to these conflicts, offers a pastoral escape, evoking an idealized, mirthful world amid the era's underlying unrest.^[14]

Literary Influences

L'Allegro draws heavily from the pastoral tradition established by Theocritus's Idylls, which provided Milton with models for depicting idyllic rural scenes, rustic songs, and the harmonious integration of human joy with nature.^[18] The poem's evocation of shepherds piping and larks rising echoes the bucolic simplicity and musicality found in Theocritus's works, adapting these elements to celebrate mirthful leisure.^[19] Classical sources further shape the poem's mythological framework, particularly Hesiod's Theogony, which supplies the genealogy of Euphrosyne, one of the Graces invoked as the embodiment of heart-easing Mirth.^[20] Milton presents Euphrosyne as born to Venus and Bacchus, drawing on Renaissance mythographic traditions that adapt classical divine lineages, while emphasizing her role in fostering delight.^[20] Similarly, Horace's odes contribute the carpe diem motif, infusing L'Allegro with an urgency to embrace fleeting pleasures through scenes of dancing, feasting, and nocturnal revelry. Renaissance influences are evident in Edmund Spenser's Epithalamion, which inspired the dawn-to-dusk progression structuring L'Allegro's joyful day, from morning birdsong to evening towers.^[21] This temporal arc mirrors Spenser's celebration of marital bliss unfolding across the hours, adapted by Milton to trace mirth's expansive rhythm.^[21] The poems are also indebted in metre and conception to the verses prefixed to Robert Burton's The Anatomy of Melancholy (1621), which explores similar contrasts between mirth and melancholy.^[2] Among English contemporaries, Ben Jonson's masques, such as Pleasure Reconciled to Virtue, inform the poem's allusions to courtly entertainments and figures like Comus, blending festive spectacle with moral undertones in descriptions of towers and jovial crowds.^[22] Milton's contemporaneous work Arcades shares pastoral motifs of Arcadian harmony and divine inspiration with L'Allegro's idealized landscapes. While no direct antecedent exists for pairing L'Allegro with Il Penseroso, the poems draw from dualistic traditions in Ovid's Fasti, where contrasting calendrical and seasonal oppositions reflect broader philosophical tensions between activity and contemplation.^[23]

Form and Analysis

Structure and Style

L'Allegro is composed primarily in iambic tetrameter, consisting of eight-syllable lines with four stressed beats, which imparts a light and bouncy rhythm suited to the poem's theme of mirth and vitality. This meter dominates the body of the work from line 11 onward, shifting from the more variable trimeter and pentameter of the opening ten lines that establish a deliberate, invocatory expulsion of Melancholy. The tetrameter's quick pace evokes the energy of a carefree existence, allowing the verse to flow with an effortless gaiety that mirrors the speaker's embrace of joy.^[1] The rhyme scheme employs irregular rhymed couplets (aa) and occasional triplets, with variations such as aba or aab patterns emerging to inject spontaneity and avoid a rigid formality. These irregularities, particularly the triplets noted in the poem's rhythmic structure, contribute to a sense of playful improvisation, enhancing the overall lightness without descending into chaos. Unlike the more consistent couplet structure in some of Milton's contemporaries, this variation underscores the poem's organic, exuberant style.^[24] Organizationally, the poem traces a diurnal progression, commencing at dawn with the arrival of the lark and Euphrosyne, advancing through midday pastoral scenes, and culminating in evening towers and nocturnal revels, thereby encapsulating a full day devoted to mirth. This temporal framework reinforces the cheerful ethos by presenting joy as a continuous, unfolding experience rather than a static state. The work unfolds in a continuous flow without fixed stanza divisions, though some analyses identify irregular groupings that align with thematic shifts.^[1] The tone is predominantly invocatory and exclamatory, summoning figures of delight with apostrophes like "Come, and trip it as you go" and interjections that propel the reader forward. Enjambment frequently carries momentum across lines, creating an energetic, breathless pace that amplifies the vivacity of the scenes described. This stylistic choice contrasts with the more contemplative regularity of Il Penseroso, its companion poem, highlighting L'Allegro's emphasis on dynamic exuberance.^[2]

Imagery and Language

In L'Allegro, John Milton employs vivid visual imagery to evoke the brightness and vibrancy of a cheerful day, particularly through depictions of golden landscapes and urban splendor. For instance, the poem describes the dawn as "dappled" and the sun rising "Rob’d in flames, and amber light / The clouds in thousand liveries dight," portraying a radiant, multifaceted sky that bathes the world in warm hues.^[25] Later, pastoral scenes feature "meadows trim with daisies pied" and "mountains blue," while urban elements include "towr'd cities" that "please us then," emphasizing elevated structures that symbolize lively progress.^[25]^[26] Auditory imagery further animates the poem's sense of liveliness, incorporating natural and human sounds to create a symphony of joy. The lark "sings shrill," the cock crows with a "matin ring," and hounds and horn contribute to a "merry hunt," all evoking the dawn's awakening chorus.^[25]^[26] In rural settings, the milkmaid "singeth blithe," accompanied by the mower's whetstone, while urban scenes feature the "busy hum of men" and the rebecks' strains in a masque, blending harmonious tones to propel the day's energy.^[25]^[27] Personification infuses the language with dynamic agency, transforming abstract mirth and elements of nature into animated figures. Mirth appears as a goddess "come" with "wanton heed, and giddy cunning," leading "nimble mazes" alongside companions like Jest, Jollity, and Liberty, who "trip it as you go / On the light fantastic toe."^[25]^[28] Nature itself is vivified, as in the "sporting the shoeing horn" or the "crop-full" lark flinging itself out of doors, attributing playful motion to birds and objects alike.^[25]^[26] Mythological allusions are seamlessly woven into these sensory scenes, enhancing the poem's figurative depth without disrupting its flow. References to figures like Orpheus, whose "linked sweetness long drawn out" evokes enchanting music, and Faery Queen Mab, who "by moonlight" leads dances, integrate classical and folk elements into vivid, joyful tableaux.^[25]^[28] A notable literary allusion praises "sweetest Shakespeare, Fancy's child," positioning the playwright amid "towered cities" and masques, blending bardic legacy with the poem's celebratory visuals.^[25] The predominance of active verbs propels the language's dynamic quality, mirroring the poem's emphasis on motion and vitality. Words such as "haste," "come," "rouse," "whistles," and "dancing" drive the narrative forward, from the speaker's invitation to mirth to the progression through rural and urban pursuits, creating a rhythmic urgency that underscores the day's cheerful progression.^[25]^[27]

Themes and Interpretation

Core Themes

L'Allegro opens with a vehement rejection of Melancholy, portrayed as a monstrous offspring of Cerberus and midnight, confined to unholy realms, thereby establishing joy as a liberating force from passive gloom.^[13] This dismissal in the opening lines—"Hence, loathed Melancholy"—sets the tone for celebrating mirth as an active, social joy embodied by the goddess Euphrosyne, invoked as "heart-easing Mirth" who brings jest, youth, and harmonious liberty.^[13] Unlike stagnant sorrow, this mirth inspires lively engagement with the world, associating with figures like Venus and Bacchus to foster communal laughter and pleasure.^[1] The poem idealizes rural harmony, transforming everyday countryside toil into sources of delight, where the lark's song at dawn and the ploughman's wholesome labor evoke a vibrant, sunlit pastoral life.^[13] Scenes of milkmaids dancing and shepherds piping under "winding vales and foaming floods" present nature not as burdensome but as a joyful symphony, blending human activity with the environment's rhythms.^[13] This vision underscores a carpe diem ethos, urging embrace of present pleasures through sensory immersion in the landscape, as in the "mountain nymph, sweet Liberty," who guides the speaker to relish these immediate, unreproved delights.^[12] Urban revels extend this communal joy, depicting city life as a hub of shared festivities where "tower'd cities" hum with the energy of knights, ladies, and masques, integrating social bonds with artistic expression.^[13] The speaker envisions evenings filled with nut-brown ale, fairy tales, and theatrical wonders by Shakespeare and Jonson, emphasizing friendship and collective merriment as vital to fulfillment.^[1] Such depictions promote a carpe diem spirit that values transient social and cultural experiences, from village sports to poetic verse, as pathways to heartening connection.^[12] At its core, L'Allegro reflects humanist optimism by weaving learning and leisure into a unified pursuit of elevated pleasure, where "towers" symbolize knowledge harmonized with mirthful pursuits like music and literature.^[13] This integration, drawn from classical traditions of Euphrosyne as a source of poetic inspiration, portrays human potential as thriving in balanced, affirmative engagement with both intellect and sensory joy.^[20] The poem thus advocates a life where optimism banishes care, allowing the soul to "pierce" immortal verse amid Lydian airs, affirming joy's role in personal and communal enrichment.^[13]

Contrast with Il Penseroso

L'Allegro and Il Penseroso exhibit a parallel structure that underscores their status as companion pieces, both composed in iambic tetrameter couplets, creating a rhythmic symmetry that mirrors their thematic interplay.^[29]^[25] While L'Allegro comprises 152 lines and Il Penseroso extends to 176 lines, their overall form progresses through invocations, descriptive passages, and concluding appeals, fostering a dialogic relationship.^[25]^[30] Notably, L'Allegro moves outward from personal mirth to expansive scenes of nature and society, whereas Il Penseroso turns inward toward solitary contemplation, reflecting contrasting psychological journeys.^[27] Thematically, the poems embody opposition between mirth and melancholy, with L'Allegro celebrating active, daylight pleasures such as rural dances and urban festivities, in contrast to Il Penseroso's embrace of reflective night and intellectual pursuits like stargazing and scholarly reading.^[20] This duality extends to social versus solitary joys, where L'Allegro evokes communal revelry amid "towers and battlements" under the sun, while Il Penseroso seeks quietude in "gowned" seclusion beneath the moon.^[29] A specific inversion highlights this dialogic effect: L'Allegro opens by banishing "loathed Melancholy," born of infernal depths, whereas Il Penseroso invokes the "divinest Melancholy" as a serene, celestial figure, directly countering the rejection.^[2]^[31] Despite these oppositions, shared elements bind the poems, including their invocation style—each begins with a ten-line prelude rejecting the other's presiding spirit—and pastoral roots drawn from classical and Renaissance traditions, blending rural idylls with mythological allusions.^[20] Both culminate in visionary bliss, as the speakers pledge to "live" with their chosen deity, suggesting a harmonious resolution beyond mere contrast.^[27] Published together in Milton's 1645 collection Poems, they were likely designed as a pair to explore the balanced facets of human experience, though Milton provided no explicit commentary on their intent.^[26]

Reception and Legacy

Early Critical Reception

Upon its publication in the 1645 volume Poems, Milton's L'Allegro received limited critical notice, overshadowed by the English Civil War and failing to generate significant immediate interest, with many copies remaining unsold for years and no reprints until 1673.^[32] The Latin Poemata section is prefaced by unsolicited tributes in Latin from several of Milton's continental acquaintances, including Italian scholars and poets such as Carlo Dati and Antonio Francini whom he met during his 1638–39 tour, praising the youthful vigor and promise evident in his early verse, though none specifically addressed L'Allegro itself.^[9] This muted response reflected the era's political turmoil, which diverted attention from minor poetry, leaving the work to attract only a handful of judicious readers who appreciated its lively pastoral elements.^[33] By the 18th century, L'Allegro gained substantial popularity, frequently anthologized in collections like The Bee (1715) and Miscellany Poems (1716), and emerging as a model for English pastoral poetry with its vivid celebration of mirth and nature.^[32] Poets such as Thomas Gray alluded to and imitated its structure and imagery, as seen in his Progress of Poesy (1757), which echoes lines from L'Allegro in evoking Shakespeare's "native wood-notes wild," while William Shenstone drew on its octosyllabic couplets and rural enthusiasm in works like The School-Mistress (1742), contributing to the mid-century revival of Milton's minor poems.^[34]^[35] Samuel Johnson, in his 1779 Lives of the Poets, highlighted the poem's stylistic merits, describing how ideas of dignity were embodied "in verse so easy and familiar," though he critiqued its occasional lack of human interest compared to classical models like Virgil. During the Romantic period, L'Allegro inspired visual and poetic responses that emphasized its natural enthusiasm; William Blake created a series of twelve watercolors around 1816–1820 to illustrate the poem and its companion Il Penseroso, capturing its themes of joy through ethereal, imaginative depictions of rural and mythical scenes.^[36] William Wordsworth expressed admiration for Milton's early works, valuing their "manly and dignified" tone and the enthusiastic portrayal of nature in L'Allegro, which influenced his own octosyllabic poems like An Evening Walk (1793) with its borrowed structure and invocation of pastoral delight.^[32]^[37] Victorian critics often praised L'Allegro for its moral balance when paired with Il Penseroso, viewing the duo as a harmonious exploration of mirth and contemplation that complemented Milton's ethical depth, though many regarded it as lighter and less profound than his epics like Paradise Lost.^[32] This perception positioned the poem as a charming youthful exercise, sidelined amid growing focus on Milton's theological prose and grander narratives, yet still appreciated for its accessible celebration of everyday joys.^[33]

Later Interpretations and Adaptations

In the twentieth century, New Criticism approaches highlighted the inherent ambiguities in L'Allegro's portrayal of joy, emphasizing how Milton's vivid imagery and rhythmic variations create tensions between unbridled mirth and underlying restraint, as seen in the poem's metrical diversity that invites multiple interpretive layers.^[24] Postmodern interpretations, such as those in Herman Rapaport's analysis, deconstruct the pastoral ideal in L'Allegro as an escapist fantasy that masks Milton's republican commitments, revealing how the poem's celebration of harmonious nature and social revelry subtly critiques the political disruptions of his era through ironic juxtapositions of leisure and ideological tension.^[38] The poem's cultural legacy extends to environmental literature, where its pastoral depictions of harmonious rural life have influenced modern eco-critical discussions on humanity's bond with nature, as explored in interdisciplinary studies linking Milton's landscapes to broader ecological themes.^[39] Excerpts from L'Allegro appear in contemporary adaptations like the 2015 PBS film of Mark Morris's choreography, which integrates Milton's lines on mirth and nature into a dynamic exploration of joy and contemplation.^[40] Key musical adaptations include George Frideric Handel's 1740 oratorio L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato, which expands Milton's companion poems by adding a voice of moderation to balance mirth and melancholy through interleaved arias and choruses.^[5] Charles Villiers Stanford's Symphony No. 5 in D major, Op. 56 (L'Allegro ed il Pensieroso), composed in 1894 and premiered in 1895, musically interprets the poems' contrasting moods across four movements, blending lyrical pastoralism with dramatic intensity.^[41] In the twenty-first century, digital editions have revitalized access to L'Allegro, such as the Project Gutenberg version, enabling interactive scholarly analysis and broader dissemination.^[42] Eco-criticism has further connected the poem to climate themes, viewing its pastoral revival as a lens for examining sustainable human-nature relations amid contemporary environmental crises, with imagery of fertile fields and seasonal cycles underscoring ecological interdependence.^[43]

References

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L'Allegro Summary & Analysis by John Milton - LitCharts
“L'Allegro” is one half of a two-part poetic project in which John Milton examines two possible attitudes toward life: one of active cheer and one of ...
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L'Allegro | RPO - Representative Poetry Online
1 Hence loathed Melancholy, 2 Of Cerberus, and blackest Midnight born, 3 In Stygian cave forlorn, 4 'Mongst horrid shapes, and shrieks, and sights unholy;<|control11|><|separator|>
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[PDF] L'Allegro - Il Penseroso : Pre-Election Poems - Loyola eCommons
The following arguments are derived from the text of the poems: 1) the spirit of k'Allegro is different from und op- posed to that of 11 Pens~rosoJ 2) the ...Missing: analysis | Show results with:analysis<|control11|><|separator|>
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[PDF] Milton, “L'Allegro” and “Il Penseroso”: summaries
Graceful, urbane, evocatively descriptive, and technically virtuoso, these two poems have exerted an enormous influence on later English poetry. L'Allegro (“The ...Missing: scholarly | Show results with:scholarly
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Handel's L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato - Boston Baroque
English oratorio in three parts. Words adapted by Charles Jennens from John Milton First performance: London, February 27, 1740 ...
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Poems of Mr. John Milton, both English and Latin, compos'd at ...
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L'Allegro: Introduction - The John Milton Reading Room
First published in 1645, the two poems complement each other structurally and contain images which are in specific dialogue with one another.Missing: anonymous Moseley date
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L'Allegro by FROST, William Edward
L'Allegro and Il Penseroso date from about 1630 and are in Milton's early lyrical style. Themes from John Milton's oeuvre achieved great popularity during ...
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[PDF] L'Allegro John Milton (1645) HEnce loathed Melancholy Of ...
HEnce loathed Melancholy. Of Cerberus, and blackest midnight born,. In Stygian Cave forlorn. 'Mongst horrid shapes, and shreiks, and sights unholy,.
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L'Allegro: Text - The John Milton Reading Room
Lap me in soft Lydian Aires, Married to immortal verse, Such as the meeting soul may pierce In notes, with many a winding bout Of lincked sweetnes long drawn ...
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John Milton | The Poetry Foundation
In 1645 he published his first volume of poetry, Poems of Mr. John Milton , Both English and Latin, much of which was written before he was twenty years old.
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It seems he was a bit of an outsider. He was nicknamed the 'Lady of Christ's' for his effeminate ways and youthful looks, and was in his turn scornful of the ...
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The Metaphysical Milton (1625-1631) - jstor
to the probable date of composition for L'Allegro and //Penseroso.25. Prior to matriculating at Cambridge he had written no poetry of dis- tinction; it was ...
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Another significant source that Milton uses in his pastoral poetry is Eclogues. Roman poet Vergil follows in the tradition of Theocritus, and Milton adapts the ...
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[PDF] the pastoral elegy in literature, painting, and music: from theocritus ...
Mar 1, 2023 · Virgil used the Idylls of Theocritus as a template for his Eclogues in 1st century Rome, and Milton drew on both ancient poets to mourn the loss ...
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“L'Allegro” and “Il Penseroso”: Classical Tradition and Renaissance ...
Oct 23, 2020 · Because Mirth is the Grace Euphrosyne and Melancholy, as I argue, is the Muse Urania, goddesses associated in antiquity and in the Renaissance ...<|separator|>
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Milton's Ideal Day: Its Development as a Pastoral Theme - jstor
Forsythe's work. The combination of the themes is exemplified ton's poems, where the "come-live-witb-me" motive furnishes t for the account of an ideal day.
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So the prosodic structure of the lines from Comus is shattered if one creates in pentameters the kind of prosodic variation which Milton practises in the.<|control11|><|separator|>
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L'Allegro | The Poetry Foundation
Hence loathed Melancholy, Of Cerberus, and blackest Midnight born, In Stygian cave forlorn, 'Mongst horrid shapes, and shrieks, and sights unholy.
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The date of composition of the twin lyrics,' L' Allegro' and 'Il Penseroso' remains uncertain. Ascribed by D Masson to the beginning of the Horton period, (ie.
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Here we would like to discuss three of his greatest poems namely Lycidas, L'Allegro and Li Penseroso in order to analyse his greatness as a poet. Is poetic ...
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John Milton's “L'Allegro” is a 152-line lyric poem. As such, it deals with strong emotions and possesses a musicality that gives it song-like qualities.Missing: triplets structure cycle
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[30]
Il Penseroso | The Poetry Foundation
Come pensive nun, devout and pure, Sober, stedfast, and demure, All in a robe of darkest grain, Flowing with majestic train, And sable stole of cypress lawn.
[31]
Il Penseroso | RPO - Representative Poetry Online
1 Hence vain deluding Joys, 2 The brood of Folly without father bred, 3 How little you bested, 4 Or fill the fixed mind with all your toys;
[32]
https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1477492/1/Roberta%20Klimt%20Full%20thesis%20post%20corrections%20e-version.pdf
[33]
[PDF] John Milton's Influence on Poets, Writers and Composers of His ...
Sep 9, 2014 · It is known that Milton's reputation and influence was not as great in his lifetime as it was after his death. His poems of 1645 were hardly ...
[34]
Texts : Poems : The Progress of Poesy. A Pindaric Ode
also Milton, L'Allegro 133-4: 'Or sweetest Shakespear fancies childe, / Warble his native Wood-notes wilde.'" The Poems of Thomas Gray, William Collins ...
[35]
Read Chapter 5 No.5 - A History of English Romanticism in the ...
... Shenstone and Gray, Pindaric odes ad nauseam, with imitations of Spenser and Milton.[15]. To the increasing popularity of Milton's minor poetry is due the ...<|separator|>
[36]
V. Milton's L'Allegro and Il Penseroso | The Morgan Library & Museum
This drawing is the first of a series of twelve watercolors executed by Blake around 1816–20 as illustrations to L'Allegro and Il Penseroso, two poems by John ...Missing: Wordsworth admiration
[37]
Wordsworth's Poetry 1787-1814 on JSTOR
Its measure, octosyllabic couplets, is that of Milton's “L'Allegro” and “Il Penseroso”; from these poems Wordsworth also borrowed the opening exorcism and ...Missing: enthusiasm | Show results with:enthusiasm
[38]
Milton and the Postmodern: Rapaport, Herman - Amazon.com
Milton and the Postmodern [Rapaport, Herman] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping ... Book details. Print length. 280 pages. Language. English. Publisher. Univ of ...
[39]
[PDF] genre and ecology in the works of John Milton
This thesis adopts a combined interdisciplinary approach to the established practice of reading John. Milton ecocritically, arguing that there is a distinct ...
[40]
Mark Morris's Transcendent 'L'Allegro,' Captured on Film for PBS
Mar 25, 2015 · More even than many other pieces by Mr. Morris, “L'Allegro” is a subtle philosophical essay, a study of contrasting ways of living and thinking.
[41]
Stanford, Charles Villiers | Symphony No. 5 in D-Major Op. 56
In stockThe Fifth Symphony, titled “L'Allegro ed il Penseroso,” was written in 1894 and premiered on March 20, 1895 at the Queen's Hall in London in a Philharmonic ...
[42]
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/397
[43]
"L'Allegro" by John Milton: A Critical Analysis - english-studies.net
Dec 14, 2024 · The poem's personification of abstract concepts like Mirth and Melancholy, alongside its vivid descriptions of rustic scenes, theatrical ...