Read The Complete Poetry of John Milton Online
Authors: John Milton
Tags: #English; Irish; Scottish; Welsh, #Poetry, #European
(
May 1630
)
1
Venus.
2
the beautiful youth Ganymede.
3
He was drawn into a spring by the water nymphs who were enamored of his beauty.
4
When he killed the dragon of Delphi, Apollo boasted his archery greater than Cupid’s, and so was smitten with unrequited love for Daphne.
5
The successful Parthian method of fighting was to turn one’s horse as if in flight after each arrow was discharged.
6
Cydon in southern Crete was noted for its archers.
7
Cephalus, who accidentally killed Procris.
8
The hunter Orion’s pursuit of the Pleiades caused them and him to be turned into constellations.
9
perhaps Theseus, whose marriages to Ariadne, Hippolyta, and Phaedra ended unhappily. Theseus was well known as the only one who stood by Hercules after he had killed his wife and children.
10
The attribute of Aesculapius was the snake, a symbol of rejuvenescence and thus of healing.
11
Juno.
12
Vulcan.
13
A seer, Amphiaraus foreknew his death in the conflict with the Seven against Thebes.
Hæc ego mente olim lævâ, studioque supino
Nequitiæ posui vana trophæa meæ.
Scilicet abreptum sic me malus impulit error,
Indocilisque ætas prava magistra fuit.
5
Donec Socraticos umbrosa Academia rivos
Præbuit, admissum dedocuitque jugum.
Protinus extinctis ex illo tempore flammis,
Cincta rigent multo pectora nostra gelu.
Unde suis frigus metuit puer ipse Sagittis,
10
Et Diomedéam
2
vim timet ipsa Venus.
I with foolish mind and heedless zeal formerly / erected these idle monuments to my wantonness. / Undoubtedly mischievous error impelled me, thus carried off, / and my ignorant youth was a perverse teacher, / until the shady Academy proffered its Socratic streams [5] / and untaught the admitted yoke. / Directly, with the flames from that time extinct, / my encircled breast congealed with ice, / from which the boy himself dreaded frigidity for his arrows, / and Venus herself is afraid of my Diomedean
2
strength. [10]
(
1630 ?
)
1
The study of Plato and his Academy moved Milton to disavow, probably not seriously, the affectation of some of his early verse. The “monuments to my wantonness” are therefore perhaps the various poems in Latin and English dealing with awakening amorousness, although usually only
El.
7 is suggested.
2
The Greek warrior Diomedes wounded Venus during the Trojan War after she tried to protect Aeneas (
Iliad
, V, 334–46).
Now the bright morning Star, Dayes harbinger,
Comes dancing from the East, and leads with her
The Flowry
May
, who from her green lap throws
The yellow Cowslip, and the pale Primrose.
5
Hail bounteous
May
that dost inspire
Mirth and youth, and warm desire,
Woods and Groves are of thy dressing,
Hill and Dale doth boast thy blessing.
Thus we salute thee with our early Song,
10
And welcom thee, and wish thee long.
(
May 1630 ?
)
1
The song itself, ll. 5-8, is in the meter of
Epitaph on the Marchioness, L’Allegro
, and
Il Penseroso.
O Nightingale, that on yon bloomy Spray
Warbl’st at eeve, when all the Woods are still,
2
Thou with fresh hope the Lovers heart dost fill,
While the jolly hours lead on propitious
May;
5
Thy liquid notes that close the eye of Day,
First heard before the shallow Cuccoo’s bill
Portend success in love; O if
Jove’s
will
Have linkt that amorous power to thy soft lay,
Now timely sing, ere the rude Bird of Hate
10
Foretell my hopeles doom in som Grove nigh:
As thou from yeer to yeer hast sung too late
For my relief; yet hadst no reason why.
Whether the Muse, or Love call thee his mate,
Both them I serve, and of their train am I.
(
May 1630 ?
)
1
In the immediate background is the lyric
The Cuckoo and the Nightingale
, probably by Thomas Clanvowe though attributed to Chaucer in Milton’s day.
2
Compare
El.
5, 25-26.
Donna leggiadra, il cui bel nome honora
L’herbosa val di Rheno, e il nobil varco,
1
Ben è colui d’ogni valore scarco
Qual tuo spirto gentil non innamora,
5
Che dolcemente mostrasi di fuora
De’ suoi atti soavi giamai parco,
E i don’, che son d’amor saette ed arco,
Là onde l’alta tua virtu s’infiora.
Quando tu vaga parli, o lieta canti
10
Che mover possa duro alpestre legno,
Guardi ciascun a gli occhi, ed a gli orecchi
L’entrata, chi di te si truova indegno;
Gratia sola di sù gli vaglia, inanti
Che’l disio amoroso al cuor s’invecchi.
Charming lady, she whose beautiful name honors / the verdant valley of Reno, and the illustrious ford,
1
/ justly is he of every worth discharged / whom your noble soul does not inspire with love, / for it sweetly shows itself from without, [5] / in its gentle acts never sparing, / and the gifts which are the arrows and bow of Love, / there where your high virtue flowers. / When you so sweetly speak or gaily sing / that its power stirs the obdurate alpine wood, [10] / let everyone who finds himself unworthy of you / guard the entrance to the eyes and to the ears; / grace alone from above enables him to withstand / the amorous desire which would lodge itself in his heart.
(
1630 ?
)
1
As Smart showed, the lady is one Aemilia, the name of the Italian province through which flow the Reno and the Rubicon with its famous ford. Her family name and relationship to Milton remain unknown.
Qual in colle aspro, al’ imbrunir di sera,
L’avezza giovinetta pastorella
Va bagnando l’herbetta strana e bella
Che mal si spande a disusata spera,
5
Fuor di sua natía alma primavera,
Così Amor meco insù la lingua snella
Desta il fior novo di strania favella,
Mentre io di te, vezzosamente altera,
Canto, dal mio buon popol non inteso,
10
E’l bel Tamigi cangio col bel Arno.
1
Amor lo volse, ed io a l’altrui peso
Seppi ch’Amor cosa mai volse indarno.
Deh! foss’il mio cuor lento e’l duro seno
A chi pianta dal ciel si buon terreno.
As on a rugged mountain at the darkening of evening, / the accustomed youthful shepherdess / goes watering the alien and beautiful little plant / that hardly spreads forth in that strange clime, / away from its native, nourishing spring, [5] / so Love on my alert tongue / awakens the new flower of foreign speech / while I sing of you, gracefully noble lady, / by my good countrymen not understood, / and the fair Thames change with the fair Arno.
1
[10] / Love willed it, and I at the expense of others / know that Love never willed anything in vain. / Oh! were my sluggish heart and hard breast / as good soil for him who plants from heaven.
(
1630 ?
)
1
that is, exchange English for Italian. The Arno flows through the province of Tuscany, whose dialect had become standard Italian.
Ridonsi donne e giovani amorosi
M’accostandosi attorno, e perche scrivi,
Perche tu scrivi in lingua ignota e strana
Verseggiando d’amor, e come t’osi?
5
Dinne, se la tua speme sia mai vana,
E de’ pensieri lo miglior t’arrivi;
Così mi van burlando, altri rivi,
Altri lidi t’aspettan, ed altre onde
Nelle cui verdi sponde
10
Spuntati ad hor, ad hor a la tua chioma
L’immortal guiderdon d’eterne frondi.
Perche alle spalle tue soverchia soma?
Canzon, dirotti, e tu per me rispondi.
Dice mia Donna, e’l suo dir è il mio cuore,
15
Questa è lingua di cui si vanta Amore.
Scoffing, amorous maidens and young men / mill about me, so, “Why write, / why do you write in a language unknown and strange / versifying of love, and how do you dare? / Speak, if your hope is never to be vain, [5] / and of your designs the best is to come to you”; / thus they go ridiculing me, “Other rivers, / other shores await you, and other seas, / on whose green banks / is bursting forth at any hour for your crown [10] / the immortal guerdon of eternal leaves. / Why on your shoulders the excessive burden?” /
Canzone, I will tell you, and you for me will reply. / My lady says, and her word is my heart, / “This is the language of which Love boasts.” [15]
(
1630 ?
)
1
a fully rhymed stanza repeated several times, followed by a shorter concluding stanza called the
commiato;
obviously, Milton has used the term loosely.
Diodati, e te’l dirò con maraviglia,
Quel ritroso io, eh’amor spreggiar soléa
E de’ suoi lacci spesso mi ridéa
Già caddi, ov’huom dabben talhor s’impiglia.
5
Nè treccie d’oro, nè guancia vermiglia
M’abbaglian sì, ma sotto nova idea
Pellegrina bellezza che’l cuor bea,
Portamenti alti honesti, e nelle ciglia
Quel sereno fulgor d’amabil nero,
10
Parole adorne di lingua più d’una,
E’l cantar che di mezzo l’hemispero
Traviar ben può la faticosa Luna,
E degli occhi suoi avventa sì gran fuoco
Che l’incerar gli orecchi mi fia poco.
1