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Milton Exemplified in Lycidas
One of the things John Milton is best known for is his intertwining of nature and
religion into one cohesive personal statement. I believe the piece that best exemplifies
this ability is Lycidas. Lycidas is full of natural images of gardens, grass and earth that
are combined with images of religion in mourning of the dead Lycidas. Lycidas also
comes off as very personal to Milton with his carefully constructed syntax and
lamentation. I think the lines that best express this are lines 37- 51. These lines have
various images of flowers and plants that are being overgrown and being killed because
Lycidas is no longer there to tend to them. In this essay I will pick apart the lines and
show how they exemplify Milton’s style starting with his use of images. I will also
discuss the form of the poem and its personal connection to Milton. All together this will
show that this selection is the best of expression of Milton.
In his poem Lycidas Milton mixes imagery of nature, water and the Shepherd to
convey his message. In the selection I have chosen you can get a sense of how the images
inter play with each other to create one idea about the greatness of the title character
Lycidas.
But O the heavy change, now thou art gone,
Now thou art gon, and never must return!
Thee Shepherd, thee the Woods, and desert Caves,
With wilde Thyme and the gadding Vine o'regrown
And all their echoes mourn. (Milton 37-41)
Now that Lycidas is gone everything has changed. Milton calls Lycidas a Shepherd a
religious reference connected to natural references of woods, caves, wild thyme and
vines. In a religious context a Shepherd was a person who led their flock of sheep to
water, an allegory for Jesus Christ being the shepherd of his people leading them out of
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sin and into heaven. Many religious prayers start of with “The Lord is my Shepherd and
Hollowed be thy name.” Milton is calling Lycidas a holy shepherd that leads a religious
flock. The natural images of woods, caves, wild thyme and vines signify the nature or
area that was under Lycidas’ care. Now that Lycidas is gone nature is gadding, meaning
wandering and unruly and the vines are overgrown. Since Lycidas is not there to take care
of his area, the people are starting to wander form their religion and they are growing
unruly with no one there to guide them. Nature is now mourning the loss of Lycidas and
the sound of their mourning is echoing.
The intertwining of nature and religion convey the idea that the people are lost
without Lycidas to guide them. The next section of the selection gives a similar idea with
new imagery. “The Willows, and the Hazel Copses green, Shall now no more be seen,
Fanning their joyous Leaves to thy soft lays” (Milton 42-44). The once vibrantly green
colored trees and plants are dying out, they “shall now no more be seen” because Lycidas
is not there to tend them. They will no longer fan their joyous leaves because there is no
longer anything to be joyous about. Their joy has died with Lycidas. It’s more
lamentation and mourning of the death of their Shepherd.
The next selection is slightly different from the ones before it but still very much
in mourning. The next selection explicitly talks about the destruction of some of the
plants of nature because Lycidas is no longer around.
As
killing
as
the
Canker
to
the
Rose,
Or Taint-worm to the weanling Herds that graze,
Or Frost to Flowers, that their gay wardrobe wear,
When
first
the
White-thorn
blows;
Such, Lycidas, thy loss to Shepherds ear. (Milton 45-49)
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This section talks about various elements that are killing the plants, the canker, a garden
pest, is killing the rose, the taint-worm is killing the young vegetation, and ice is killing
the flowers. Lycidas is no longer there to protect the plants from their enemies. He is no
longer there to protect his religious followers against those that would destroy them.
Milton then uses a metaphoric connection to express the loss of Lycidas. Just as these
elements are killing the plant life “Such, Lycidas, they loss to Shepherds ear” meaning
Lycidas is a loss to the shepherds cause. Milton is comparing the loss of Lycidas to the
pest now coming to destroy nature.
The last two lines of the selection not only highlight Lycidas’ loss to nature but
highlight what could be Milton’s personal feelings on the death of Lycidas. “Where were
ye Nymphs when the remorseless deep, Clos'd o're the head of your lov'd Lycidas”
(Milton 51-52). Milton is asking where the nymphs, the other watchers of nature, were
when Lycidas was dying. Where were they when the darkness came over Lycidas
forever? Milton phrases the question as an attack on the Nymphs and possibly other
people who didn’t help Lycidas. Why weren’t the Nymphs there with Lycidas if they
loved him so? By using “lov’d Lycidas” as the last two words of the sentence, it comes
across more as an attack then a lamentation. Had those words been in the beginning of
the sentence, it would have a mourning sound instead of attack.
Lycidas is thought to be about the death of Milton’s personal friend Edward King,
who died at a very young age and was an up and coming clergyman. If Lycidas is King
than Milton had so much faith in what he thought King would have been able to do and is
so distraught by his early demise that is expressed as a monody. The poem switches from
lamentation to anger at various points. Milton mourns and expresses that everything
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Lycidas (King) was working for is dying now that he is gone. Then Milton becomes
angry that no one was able to save Lycidas. I really enjoy the way Milton describes
Lycidas’ life because it highlights everything that could be highlighted after a person’s
death, commemorates all the good they’ve done, but also mentions all the pain that will
come from their passing. Milton creates a beautiful visual and a personal connection that
his readers can relate to. Milton does this to not only show how great Lycidas was but to
show a mixture of nature and church.
The mixing of nature and religion is one of the things Milton does best. Milton is
fixated on nature and how it plays in religion at a time when nature was thought of as
sinful by the Anglican Church. Milton battles this connotation by showing that nature and
religion can be one in the same. That’s why he calls Lycidas a shepherd and describes his
work almost in terms of what a gardener might do. Lycidas is tending to this garden, this
religious flock of his and now that he’s gone this garden grows unruly. Milton’s use of
nature such as roses, vines, willows, and hazels bring in a variety of different plants just
like there are a variety of different people in a religion. However, they have one shepherd
who they turn to for guidance and for help to grow and prosper. This is Milton’s message
and a strong theme in his style of writing, the unification of church and nature.
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Work Cited:
Milton, John. Complete Poems and Major Prose ed. With Notes and Introduction, Merritt
Y. Hughes. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing, 2003.