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L'Allegro
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26 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1947
1 person is currently reading
81 people want to read
About the author
John Milton
3,742 books2,231 followersPeople best know John Milton, English scholar, for
Paradise Lost
, the epic poem of 1667 and an account of fall of humanity from grace.
Beelzebub, one fallen angel in Paradise Lost, of John Milton, lay in power next to Satan.
Belial, one fallen angel, rebelled against God in Paradise Lost of John Milton.
John Milton, polemicist, man of letters, served the civil Commonwealth under Oliver Cromwell. He wrote in blank verse at a time of religious flux and political upheaval.
Prose of John Milton reflects deep personal convictions, a passion for freedom and self-determination, and the urgent issues and political turbulence of his day. He wrote in Latin, Greek, and Italian and achieved international renown within his lifetime, and his celebrated Areopagitica (1644) in condemnation of censorship before publication among most influential and impassioned defenses of free speech and the press of history.
William Hayley in biography of 1796 called and generally regarded John Milton, the "greatest ... author," "as one of the preeminent writers in the ... language," though since his death, critical reception oscillated often on his republicanism in the centuries. Samuel Johnson praised, "with respect to design may claim the first place, and with respect to performance, the second, among the productions of the ... mind," though he, a Tory and recipient of royal patronage, described politics of Milton, an "acrimonious and surly republican."
Because of his republicanism, centuries of British partisanship subjected John Milton.
Beelzebub, one fallen angel in Paradise Lost, of John Milton, lay in power next to Satan.
Belial, one fallen angel, rebelled against God in Paradise Lost of John Milton.
John Milton, polemicist, man of letters, served the civil Commonwealth under Oliver Cromwell. He wrote in blank verse at a time of religious flux and political upheaval.
Prose of John Milton reflects deep personal convictions, a passion for freedom and self-determination, and the urgent issues and political turbulence of his day. He wrote in Latin, Greek, and Italian and achieved international renown within his lifetime, and his celebrated Areopagitica (1644) in condemnation of censorship before publication among most influential and impassioned defenses of free speech and the press of history.
William Hayley in biography of 1796 called and generally regarded John Milton, the "greatest ... author," "as one of the preeminent writers in the ... language," though since his death, critical reception oscillated often on his republicanism in the centuries. Samuel Johnson praised, "with respect to design may claim the first place, and with respect to performance, the second, among the productions of the ... mind," though he, a Tory and recipient of royal patronage, described politics of Milton, an "acrimonious and surly republican."
Because of his republicanism, centuries of British partisanship subjected John Milton.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
April 1, 2024
In undergrad, I had to take a course on Milton where we read and analyzed Paradise Lost the whole semester. This was in 2012, and I’ve had a one sided beef with him ever since 😭 In 2024, after reading this beautiful, joyful poem I am now willing to end the beef. Please clap.
July 18, 2017
The rhyming scheme is good and even impressive in points, but the poem itself is rather easily forgettable.
February 9, 2023
L' Allegro is among the easiest of the works of Milton, but even the approach of this appealing and admired idyll is greatly over-weighted with Milton's erudition.
References and insinuations to classical literature and mythology, over and above to the Biblical myth and legend flourish.
There are references to Cerberus, the three-headed dog guarding the gate of the hell, Euphrosyne, Bacchus, Zephyr, Venus and Aurora. The poet has also referred to the dramatists, like Shakespeare and Ben Jonson, and to Orpheus, the grand Greek musician.
It was because, of this complicated style that Dr. Johnson said of Milton's poetry, "We read it as a task or excruciating duty and we are delighted when it is over and we lay aside the book without regret."
The remark applies to some coverage to the present poem as well.
Not only does Milton make use of existing mythology, but he also creates fresh myths when it suits his purpose to do so.
The parentage of Melancholy in Cerberus and Midnight is entirely created by Milton's imagination. He traces out the parentage of Mirth in Venus and: Bacchus or Zephyr and Aurora. He also personifies notions like Jest, Jollity, etc.
Often he makes use of long sentences and stanzas, which must be followed with labour and deliberation.
For example, lines 32-68 form one long sentence, and the meanings become clear only after a careful and attentive reading, repeated twice or thrice.
It should also be noted that the style of the lyric is more sensuous and pictorial than is usual with Milton.
The singing lark coming to his: window to bid good morning, the strutting cock, the labouring clouds resting on the breasts of mountains, meadows trim with daisies, are all vibrant and aesthetic pictures drawn with the pen.
Appropriate exercise of personifications, similes and metaphors impart an outstanding charisma and vibrancy to Milton's account of the pleasures of the Cheerful man.
Thus we have,
Sport, that wrinkled care derides
And Laughter holding both his sides….
a passage in which the abstract has been personified and the gain in force and vividness is tremendous. Effective use of alliteration, as in, "Whispering winds", "barren breast", "Dappled dawn", etc. and of resonant proper tame, enables to the poet to impart music and tune to the poem.
In a nutshell, the style of the lyric is not only gorgeous, but full of the charms, which spring from the use of right words in the right places. It possesses the quality of verbal felicity which imprints fine poetry charismatically on the memory.
That is why so many of the lines of the poem are commonly quoted and have passed into the currency of everyday speech. "Ben Jonson's learned tock","Sweetest Shakespeare, Fancy's Child', are only two examples cited impartially.
References and insinuations to classical literature and mythology, over and above to the Biblical myth and legend flourish.
There are references to Cerberus, the three-headed dog guarding the gate of the hell, Euphrosyne, Bacchus, Zephyr, Venus and Aurora. The poet has also referred to the dramatists, like Shakespeare and Ben Jonson, and to Orpheus, the grand Greek musician.
It was because, of this complicated style that Dr. Johnson said of Milton's poetry, "We read it as a task or excruciating duty and we are delighted when it is over and we lay aside the book without regret."
The remark applies to some coverage to the present poem as well.
Not only does Milton make use of existing mythology, but he also creates fresh myths when it suits his purpose to do so.
The parentage of Melancholy in Cerberus and Midnight is entirely created by Milton's imagination. He traces out the parentage of Mirth in Venus and: Bacchus or Zephyr and Aurora. He also personifies notions like Jest, Jollity, etc.
Often he makes use of long sentences and stanzas, which must be followed with labour and deliberation.
For example, lines 32-68 form one long sentence, and the meanings become clear only after a careful and attentive reading, repeated twice or thrice.
It should also be noted that the style of the lyric is more sensuous and pictorial than is usual with Milton.
The singing lark coming to his: window to bid good morning, the strutting cock, the labouring clouds resting on the breasts of mountains, meadows trim with daisies, are all vibrant and aesthetic pictures drawn with the pen.
Appropriate exercise of personifications, similes and metaphors impart an outstanding charisma and vibrancy to Milton's account of the pleasures of the Cheerful man.
Thus we have,
Sport, that wrinkled care derides
And Laughter holding both his sides….
a passage in which the abstract has been personified and the gain in force and vividness is tremendous. Effective use of alliteration, as in, "Whispering winds", "barren breast", "Dappled dawn", etc. and of resonant proper tame, enables to the poet to impart music and tune to the poem.
In a nutshell, the style of the lyric is not only gorgeous, but full of the charms, which spring from the use of right words in the right places. It possesses the quality of verbal felicity which imprints fine poetry charismatically on the memory.
That is why so many of the lines of the poem are commonly quoted and have passed into the currency of everyday speech. "Ben Jonson's learned tock","Sweetest Shakespeare, Fancy's Child', are only two examples cited impartially.
August 8, 2019
You've got to be good to write a poem about being unbelievably happy without being annoying and Milton is good.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews