John milton poems analysis
John keats poems.
Literary Theory and Criticism
By NASRULLAH MAMBROLon •
John Milton had known Edward King at Cambridge and wrote Lycidas(1638) as an elegy for his friend’s death.
When word arrived that King had drowned in the Irish Sea returning to Dublin in 1637, his many friends were strongly moved.
John milton poems analysis
They combined their poems to honor their fallen friend, Milton terming his piece a Monody in which he “bewails” the loss of his friend. He also puts his elegy to political use, employing it to foretell “the ruine of our corrupted Clergy then in their height.” The collection adds little personal information regarding King, other than that he had proved a decent scholar who had chosen to serve the church.
That choice allowed Milton to characterize King in his pastoral as a good shepherd caring for his sheep, the familiar biblical analogy that applied to Christ.
Milton begins the elegy in the traditional praise mode, calling on Myrtles and Laurels, traditional plants used