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This volume gathers John Milton's finest early poems. 'L'Allegro' and 'Il Penseroso' are a matching pair describing a day spent by the cheerful man and by…
This volume gathers John Milton's finest early poems. 'L'Allegro' and 'Il Penseroso' are a matching pair describing a day spent by the cheerful man and by the thoughtful man, from the morning lark to the music of the night. Comus is a masque, a court entertainment, in which a virtuous lady lost in a wood resists the enchanter Comus. Lycidas is an elegy for a drowned college friend, Edward King, which becomes a meditation on early death, fame and the corruption of the Church.
Context and significance
Milton wrote these poems in his twenties, between about 1631 and 1637, long before Paradise Lost, and Lycidas is often called the greatest short poem in English. See Milton's life.
About the author
John Milton (1608–1674) was a London scholar-poet who wrote Lycidas and other early poems before devoting twenty years to politics. He wrote pamphlets defending divorce and the freedom of the press, in his famous Areopagitica, and served Cromwell's government as Latin secretary, losing his sight around 1652.
After the monarchy was restored he was briefly imprisoned and lucky to escape execution. Blind, poor and disappointed, he dictated Paradise Lost, published in 1667, followed by Paradise Regained and Samson Agonistes. He is often ranked second only to Shakespeare among English poets.