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14485

31.30

MILTON'S LYCIDAS

FRUIT
14485,31,30

HARVARD COLLEGE

LIBRARY

VERI
TAS

FROM THE LIBRARY OF

George Lyman Kittredge

GURNEY PROFESSOR
OF ENGLISH LITERATURE
1917-1941
 DAS
LYCI

BY

JOHN MILTON

EDITED BY

JOHN PHELPS FRUIT , PH.D. (LEIPSIC )

N. LONG PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH , BETHEL COLLEGE
RUSSELLVILLE , KENTUCKY

BOSTON , U.S.A. , AND LONDON

GINN & COMPANY , PUBLISHERS

The Athenæum Press

1897
14485.31.30

HARVARD
UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY
APR 9 1952

COPYRIGHT, 1897
BY JOHN PHELPS FRUIT
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
 LYCIDAS .

In this monody the author bewails a learned

friend unfortunately drowned in his passage from

Chester on the Irish Seas, 1637 ; and, by occasion,
foretells the ruin of our corrupted clergy, then in
their height .
1
 PREFACE .

WHY is it thought necessary to edit the English

Classics, after the manner of the Ancient, with copious
notes ? As a rule there are few things told in the

notes appended to many editions that the average

student could not, with a little diligence, find out for
himself ; he merely needs to be put in the way of find
ing them out. To clear the way of obstacles is to fore
stall the very discipline that develops independent
investigation. There is no surer way of making
mental parasites than that of having everything served
up in delectable notes. A boy with a nut only needs
something with which to crack it in order to get at
the kernel . With histories, dictionaries, and encyclo
pædias to be found in every community, the student
can do for himself almost everything that is usually
done for him in the way of notes.
There is that, on the other hand, which the student
cannot do for himself, and which is not taken into
account in the usual manner of editing our English
masterpieces, namely, the Art. Do you claim this to
vi PREFACE.

be the implied duty of the teacher and no concern of

the editor's ? Perhaps ; but it is astonishing how
great is the number of teachers who hold the naturally
preconceived opinion that the notes explain all that
does not lie on the surface. In such instances what
becomes of the significance of, say, Lycidas, in its
relation to the inner life of the Puritan Age ? Does
the student get any conception of the workmanship of
the creative imagination ? Not until he finds his way
into the workshop of the artist's soul, and through an
interpretation that re-creates a masterpiece can he
understand the kind of study or work that exalts.
For all which reasons, instead of notes, find sugges
tions and suggestive questions . The aim is to arouse
the spirit of inquiry, and, in a general way, to direct
the student to its gratification. Some of the questions
may appear to be obviously simple, but alertness of
mind must be cultivated . Some may seem too difficult ;
ce
Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp,
Or what's a heaven for ? "

With access to the Encyclopædia Britannica, a

Classical Dictionary, Unabridged Dictionaries , text

books on Rhetoric , - all everywhere accessible , —
and two or three other books procurable at small cost,
the student is equipped , and with ordinary diligence
and some activity of thought he can find satisfactory
 PREFACE. vií

answers to all the questions. References are made to

books, articles, and chapters, and not to pages and
paragraphs, in order to compass breadth in search .
It is not contended that these questions exhaust
what is to be found in Lycidas ; they merely suggest
some things to look for, in the finding of which other
riches will be gathered.
A verse translation of the Epitaph on Bion is
appended for comparative study.
 INTRODUCTORY.

For poetry is the blossom and the fragrancy

of all human knowledge, human thoughts, human
passions, emotions, language. - COLERIDGE .

"Milton's life is a drama in three acts." What

are the three periods and how characterized ? In
which was Lycidas composed ? Read carefully
the other poems of this period.
Milton has been styled " the last of the Eliza
bethans ." Distinguish in L'Allegro and Il Pen
seroso what is prominently Elizabethan . Is it in
theme or manner or in both ? In what lines does
he take his farewell of what may properly be
called the Elizabethan element ? Did he not write
Comus after this ? In what is it less distinctively
Elizabethan than L'Allegro and Il Penseroso ?
Read " Puritan England " in Green's Short His
tory of the English People.
What was the effect of the Bible on literature
and on the character of the people ? What was
the "temper of the Puritan gentleman " ? How
X INTRODUCTORY.

was Milton a complete type of Puritanism ? Who

of the Elizabethans was his master ? What of
the royal despotism of James and the conduct of
Charles ? What of the fate of Wentworth, Laud,
and Charles ?
The conflict between the old Cavalier world,
the years of gaiety and festivity of a splendid and
pleasure-loving court, and the new Puritan world
into which love and pleasure were not to enter,
this conflict which was commencing in the social
life of England is also begun in Milton's own
-
breast, and is reflected in Lycidas. — PATTISON.

In Lycidas ( 1637) we have reached the high

water mark of English poesy and of Milton's own
production. A period of a century and a half
was to elapse before poetry in England seemed ,
in Wordsworth's Ode on Immortality ( 1807) , to be
rising again towards the level of inspiration which
it had once attained in Lycidas. And in the de
velopment of the Miltonic genius this wonderful
dirge marks the culminating point . - PATTISON.
This piece, unmatched in the whole range of
English poetry and never again equaled by Milton
himself, leaves all criticism behind. Indeed, so
high is the poetic note here reached that the com
mon ear fails to catch it . Lycidas is the touch
stone of taste ; the eighteenth-century criticism
could not make anything of it . — PATTISON.
 INTRODUCTORÝ. xi

Read the articles " Pastoral " and " Renais

sance " in Ency. Brit.
What is meant by saying that the pastoral is
the growth of humanism at the Renaissance ?
What did Vergil do in the realm of the pastoral ?
Differentiate the terms eclogue, georgic, bucolic,
idyl, pastoral. Who is " the father of Idyllic
Poetry " ? Read " Biographical Notice of The
ocritus " in The Idylls of Theocritus, Bion, and
Moschus (Bohn). Who undertook to introduce
the Pastoral into English ? (Arber's Eng. Reprints,
No. 30.) . Was, and is, the pastoral dramatic ?
How did it, in Italy, grow into the opera ? What
led Spenser to compose the Shepherd's Calendar ?
Who was his master ? After what did Sir Philip
Sidney pattern his Arcadia ? What made it more
popular than the Shepherd's Calendar ? What is
the principal pastoral drama in our language ?
Who wrote the last and most interesting bucolic
drama in Great Britain ?

Like L'Allegro and Il Penseroso, Lycidas is

laid out on the lines of the pastoral fiction ; like
them it offers exquisite touches of idealized rural
life. - PATTISON.
ee
What is the difference between a pastoral

fiction " and a genuine pastoral ? Is Moschus'

Epitaph on Bion a pastoral fiction ? What rela
tion did Bion sustain to Moschus that the latter
xii INTRODUCTORY.

should embalm his memory in immortal verse ?

For what five masterpieces of English elegiac
verse has this lament been the model ? Who are
the poets and their poet friends ?
 PREFATORY TO THE TEXT.

In his Idyl VII Theocritus has Simichidas to

narrate the celebration of the Thalysia at the
house of Phrasidamus and Antigenes . In relat
ing his journey thither in company with two
friends, he tells how they fell in with Lycidas, a
goat-herd of known poetic talent, who, being asked
to join them in an effort to while away the tedium
of the walk by reciting pastorals, sang his love
for the boy Ageanax, beginning :

" To Mytilene sails my heart-dear love ;

Safe be the way and fair the voyage prove."

The song ended, Lycidas presents Simichidas

with a crook and turns away in another direction .
Read Epitaph on Bion in Appendix ; read Shelley's
translations " From Moschus."
While Milton took Moschus's poem on Bion for
his model , name several reasons for his going
to the " Thalysia " of Theocritus for the title
Lycidas ?
xiv PREFATORY TO THE TEXT.

Read Pattison's Life of Milton (English Men

of Letters) ; Pattison's " John Milton " in Ward's
English Poets, v. ii ; Masson's " Milton " in Ency.
Brit.

What was the occasion of his writing Lycidas ?

For what other dearer friend did he pour out his
heart in elegy ? What does the title of that
poem indicate as to friendship ? In what is the
passion and fervor of it said to differ from that of
Lycidas ? Read Lycidas carefully.

Explain the propriety of calling Lycidas a mon

ody. Is it at the same time a monologue ? Is
there anything dramatic in a monologue ? In
what guise does Milton lament his friend ? What
two words in the epilogue designate this char
acter ? Note if the whole poem is delivered in
this character ?

See a new book, Practical Rhetoric, by Prof.

J. D. Quackenbos, written from the æsthetic
standpoint ; read Part I, " The Esthetic Basis of
Rhetorical Principles . " Also another new book,
Interpretation of Literature, by Professor Craw
shaw ; read Part I, " What is Literature, etc. ? "

We begin the study of the text upon the sup

position that the poem is a piece of literary art ;
 PREFATORY TO THE TEXT. XV
W

that it is, in other words, an organic whole in

which there is not only interdependence of parts,
but a harmony among the parts and a complete
ness of the whole that ministers to the pleasur
able sense of the beautiful.

The aim is to get into the brain of the poet, in

order to trace the growth of the poem in his soul .
To think as he thought and to feel as he felt
while creating this matchless lyric is to partici
pate in the exalted pleasure of the artist under
inspiration .
But how are we to study this poem ? Ruskin,
in Sesame and Lilies, tells , in these words : " And
therefore, first of all, I tell you earnestly and
authoritatively (I know I am right in this), you
must get into the habit of looking intensely at
words , and assuring yourself of their meaning, syl
lable by syllable, nay, letter by letter. For though
it is only by reason of the opposition of letters in
the function of signs that the study of books is
called ' literature, ' and that a man versed in it is
called, by the consent of nations, a man of letters ,
instead of a man of books or of words, you may
yet connect with that accidental nomenclature
―
this real fact, that you might read all the books
in the British Museum (if you could live long
enough) and remain an utterly illiterate,' un
educated person ; but that if you read ten pages
xvi PREFATORY TO THE TEXT.

of a good book, letter by letter, - that is to say,

with real accuracy, you are for evermore in
some measure an educated person. The entire
difference between education and non-education
(as regards the merely intellectual part of it) con
sists in this accuracy. A well-educated gentleman
may not know many languages, may not be able
to speak any but his own, may have read very
few books. But whatever language he knows he
knows precisely ; whatever word he pronounces
he pronounces rightly ; above all, he is learned in
the peerage of words ; knows the words of true
descent and ancient blood at a glance from words.
of modern canaille ; remembers all their ancestry,
their intermarriages, distant relationships, and the
extent to which they were admitted and offices
they held among the national noblesse of words
at any time and in any country."
 LYCIDAS .

Yet once more, O ye Laurels, and once more,

Ye Myrtles brown, with Ivy never sere,
I come to pluck your berries harsh and crude,
And with forc'd fingers rude

In lines 1-5 is the picture of the poet about to pluck

' laurels,' ' myrtles, ' and ' ivy, ' for a coronal. What classical
associations has the laurel, the myrtle, and the ivy ? (See
Cl. Dict. " Apollo " ; " Venus " ; " Bacchus." Also Gayley's
The Classic Myths in English Literature, wherein are to
be found excellent reproductions of ancient masterpieces
and noted examples of modern painting and sculpture used
as illustrations .)
If he would not crown himself, of what is the wreath a
symbol ? What does he mean thereby to say?
Quote the lines at the close of Il Penseroso expressing
the poet's determination to abandon poetry until a ripening
time. What had then become his ideal of the true poet?
Does the expression ' Yet once more' mean that Lycidas
is the second poem written since that decision ? What is that
other poem, and did an ' occasion ' ' compel ' him to write it ?
Any reason for ' laurels, ' ' myrtles, ' ' ivy ' beginning with
capitals? Why call myrtles brown ? It is an evergreen,
2 LYCIDAS.

Shatter your leaves before the mellowing year. 5

Bitter constraint, and sad occasion dear
Compels me to disturb your season due ;

The myrtle and the ivy are both evergreen, yet brown stands
in contrast with never sere. How ?
t
Does Shatter your leaves before the mellowing year '
imply that the laurel, the myrtle, and the ivy drop their
leaves ? Does brown harmonize with this idea ? Does
never sere harmonize ? Why do we not feel the force of
this inaccuracy as to facts ? Note all along if we are not
more interested in the details and variety of emotional
effects than in the details of facts. You may scatter, but
can you ' shatter ' leaves before the mellowing year ? Ex
plain why ' shatter ' is a better word than scatter. Study
the word ' pluck' in comparison with some of its synonyms
in order to ascertain its peculiar fitness for the sentiment of
lines 1-5. Is it picturesque ? How does ' pluck ' harmonize
with ' forced fingers rude ' ? Is ' rude ' suggestive of the
character assumed by the poet in the poem ?
What is the mental picture in the mellowing year ' ?
The picture in before the mellowing year ' ?
What are the facts as to the ' berries ' of these plants and
vines ? Why not say fruit instead of ' berries, ' and foliage
instead of leaves ' ? What is the peculiar force of placing
a noun between two adjectives, as in ' forced fingers rude ' ?
Keep account of the times this arrangement occurs in
Lycidas.
What was the picture before the poet's mind's-eye as he
penned lines 1-5 ?
What do lines 6-14 explain in detail ? What word in
1-5 furnishes the cue for lines 6-14 ? What word in 6-14
takes it up ? Are the words ' bitter ' and ' constraint ' con
nected in thought with any two words in 1-5 ?
 LYCIDAS. 3

For Lycidas is dead, dead ere his prime,

Young Lycidas, and hath not left his peer.
Who would not sing for Lycidas ? he knew 10

The terms, pluck berries,' ' shatter leaves,' ' mellowing

year ' are repeated in ' disturb your season due.' Why?
For transition ? Do lines 1-5 form an integral part to be
articulated to 6-14 ? What ideas (that is, mental pictures)
are condensed and repeated in ' disturb ' ? Is C season due '
a less general term than ' mellowing year ' ? What was the
sad occasion ? Who was Lycidas ?
Note the progress in emotion in ' For Lycidas is dead, —
dead ere his prime, -
— young Lycidas.' Analyze the move
ment in feeling. Is this a key to the emotional element of
the poem ? ' And hath not left his peer,' in what respects ?
Does the poem tell ? What is the implied answer to ' Who
would not sing for Lycidas ' ? How many besides Milton
sang for Lycidas ?
Was Lycidas a poet ? What expressions recognize the
fact ? What did he write ? In build the lofty rhyme,'
what is the meaning of ' rhyme ' ? Do ' build ' and ' lofty '
indicate the nature of King's verse ? What do we know of
Edward King from other sources ?
To what does ' watery bier ' allude ? Study the etymology
"
of bier. What is the idea presented in ' welter to the parch
ing winds ' ? Where is the rhyme to correspond with
' wind '? Note the same absence in line 1 , and in others
throughout the poem. Do the words ' float ' and ' welter '
suggest inconsistent ideas ? What previous word suggests
' tear '? How can a tear be ' melodious ' ? Seeing that
' melodious tear ' does not offend our taste, justify its use on
rhetorical grounds .
Analyze the emotion of lines 1-14 . What makes the
conflict ? What reconciles it ? Analyze your own emotions
 LYCIDAS.

Himself to sing, and build the lofty rhyme.

He must not float upon his watery bier
Unwept, and welter to the parching wind
Without the meed of some melodious tear.

in reading these lines. Do you find more pleasure in the

music of the verse, or more in the play of the visualizing
power of the mind's-eye ? Are not the Ear and the Eye
preeminently the two sense-organs of Art ?
Study the rhythm of single lines, as, ' I come to pluck your
berries harsh and crude.' Note how effortless it is to pro
nounce this series of words. In the pronunciation of ' I ' ,
note that the vocal organs are in the proper position for the
easiest transition to the next syllable or word, ' come.'
' Come ' leaves the organs in the most natural position to
pronounce ' to,' and ' to ' prepares for the easy pronuncia
tion of pluck, ' and ' pluck ' for ' your, ' and so on. This
nice adaptation is an appeal to the ear —the ear of the
imagination ; it is the music of verse, when vocalized.
Music, the accompaniment of pictures !
The next step, perhaps, is to give attention to the vowel
and the consonantal elements of the verse. For an example,
' Shatter your leaves before the mellowing year,' with the
vowels left out, would present some such a frame as this,
' Sh-t-t-r y-r l-v-s b-f-r th m-ll-ng y-r.' Then study the vowel
elements alone. There is often lurking in the mere conso
nantal or vowel elements as arranged by Milton indescribable
effects. His imagination was so vivid and his ear so
attuned, that his onomatopoetic effects are felt all the more
pleasurably for being sometimes a little recondite.
What is a good topical title for lines 1-14 ? A good sub
title for lines 1-5 , and for lines 6-14 ?
 LYCIDAS. 5

Begin then, Sisters of the Sacred Well, 15

That from beneath the seat of Jove doth spring,
Begin, and somewhat loudly sweep the string.
Hence with denial vain and coy excuse :
So may some gentle Muse

Picture the singer in these lines as first reluctant, then as

constrained, and next as decided. With this picture before
the mind, explain how lines 15-22 constitute the next logical
step in the evolution of the poem. What is the need for
an invocation ? What is the force of ' then ' ? Why begin
the invocation with ' Begin ' ? Why address the whole
sisterhood of Muses ? Does the naming of the Muses
' Sisters ' have any connection in thought with ' seat of
Jove '? What was the ' seat of Jove '? Is there any special
significance in saying ' sacred well ' ? Quote the familiar
lines beginning ' A little learning is a dangerous,' etc. (See
Cl. Dict. " Musæ .")
Imagine the picture before Milton's mind while writing
the first three lines of the invocation . How can ' sweep the
string ' mean to make music ? Think of the word ' sweep '
by itself, and then of ' string.' What common words !
Yet note the alchemical power of the rhetorician in ' sweep
the string.' Force of ' the ' in ' sweep the string ' ?
What is the picture correspondent to ' Hence with denial
vain and coy excuse ' ? Meaning of ' hence ' ? Are lines
19-22 addressed to the Muses ? What kind of relation
syntactical and logical do they sustain to line 18 ? Do they
not form a soliloquizing strain within the monody ? Is it a
sort of prayer? Is it an appropriate part, though paren
thethical, of the invocation ? In what sense is Muse ' used ?
Force of ' gentle ' ? Do the words ' lucky ' and ' urn ' have any
suggestion the one of the other ? Why does not ' destin'd
6 LYCIDAS.

With lucky words favor my destin'd urn, 20

And, as he passes, turn
And bid fair peace be to my sable shroud !

For we were nurs'd upon the self-same hill,

Fed the same flock, by fountain, shade, and rill ;
Together both, ere the high lawns appear'd 25
Under the opening eyelids of the Morn,

urn ' suggest cremation to the modern reader ? Is there

not a literal incongruity between ' destin'd urn ' and ' sable
shroud '? What is the picture in as he passes, turn '?
Should we interpret ' and ' in line 22 by to, and read :
'And as he passes, turn
To bid fair peace ' etc.,
or read thus :
'And (may he), as he passes, turn
And bid fair peace,' etc.?
This aside strain begins with ' So may,' etc. What is
the antecedent correlative idea that is left unexpressed ?
What punctuation mark should come after ' sable shroud ' ?
To determine if lines 23-36 should be included under the
same topic as lines 19-22, note carefully the contents of
23-36. Is there in them anything that can remotely belong
to the invocation ?
Does ' for ' connect 23-36 immediately with the preced
ing ? Study the uses of ' for ' as a conjunction to decide if
15-22 should form a distinct paragraph ? What topical
name should the paragraph have ? What subheads ? Are
lines 1-22 given in the guise of a shepherd or in the poet's
own person ? Does not the pastoral strain begin with line
23 ? With what line does it end ? If lines 186-193 be
called the epilogue, how should we name lines 1-22 ?
 LYCIDAS. 7

We drove a-field, and both together heard

What time the gray-fly winds her sultry horn,
Batt'ning our flocks with the fresh dews of night,
Oft till the star that rose at ev'ning bright 30
Towards Heav'ns descent had slop'd his wester
ing wheel,
Meanwhile the rural ditties were not mute,
Temper'd to th' oaten flute,
Rough Satyrs danc'd and Fauns with clov'n heel
From the glad sound would not be absent long, 35
And old Damotas lov'd to hear our song.

Does ' we ' in ' For we were nurs'd ' etc., arise out of the
idea in the implied antecedent clause of ' So may some ' etc. ?
Who are · we '? What character does the poet assume for
them both ? Are lines 23-36 allegorical ? What do they
tell ? Meaning of ' nurs'd ' ? How does he describe morn
ing, noon, and night ? Picture ' Under the opening eyelids
of the Morn.' How soon did they drive their flocks a-field ?
Force of a in ' a-field ' ? What is the ' gray-fly ' ? Has she
a 'horn '? Is the ' horn ' itself ' sultry ' ? Explain, rhetori
cally, the use of these words. What connective is under
stood before ' batt'ning '? How do the dews of night
batten the flocks ? What ' star ' ? Does this star rise in
the evening ? Why did he say that the star rose at evening ?
What mythological allusion in ' Heav'ns descent ' and
' westering wheel ' ? Significance of sloped ' in the allusion?
What are ' rural ditties ' ? Etymology of ' ditty '? Whose
' ditties ' ? What is meant by ' were not mute ' ? What is
an ' oaten flute ' ? Force of ' temper'd ' ? To whom does
' Satyrs ' and ' Fauns ' refer ? Any suggestion of Greek and
Latin pastoral poetry in these two names ? Who was old
8 LYCIDAS.

But O the heavy change, now thou art gone,

Now thou art gone, and never must return !
Thee, Shepherd, thee the woods, and desert caves
With wild thyme and the gadding vine o'ergrown 40
And all their echoes mourn .
The willows and the hazel copses green
Shall now no more be seen

Fanning their joyous leaves to thy soft lays.

Damotas '? Why ' old '? Note the growth of definiteness
from ' were not mute ' to ' glad sound.' Did Milton write
anything before leaving Cambridge ? What two sorts of
reminiscences make up lines 23–36 ? How would you entitle
this paragraph ?
What one word, an adjective, is the key to the emotion in
these lines and prepares for the transition ? Rhetorically,
how does the theme of 23-46 stand related to 37-49 ? Is
' But ' the appropriate connective ? Why? What is the
key-word, an adjective, of the transition ? Why should
lines 37 and 38 be an exclamation ? Force ofNow ' ?
Significance of ' must ' ? What is the figure of speech that
takes the form of an address as in Thee, Shepherd,' etc. ?
What is the imagined situation and position of Lycidas
during this address ? Does the preceding paragraph as a
whole, appropriately call for this figure ? What does it
indicate as to the emotion of the singer ? Where resides
the force in saying inanimate nature mourns Lycidas ? Is
it in contrast with anything in the preceding topic ? Force
of desert ' in ' desert caves '? Do C desert caves and
' echoes ' suggest each other ? When did the ' caves ' be
come ' desert ' and ' o'ergrown ' ? For what were caves
used ? What is the story of Echo ? How do the voiceless
' willows and hazel copses green ' mourn Lycidas ? What
 LYCIDAS.

As killing as the canker to the rose, 45

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.

Where were ye, Nymphs, when the remorse

less deep 50
Clos'd o'er the head of your lov'd Lycidas ?

need of ' green ' following ' hazel copses ' ? Imagine the
situation in which Milton could feel that the woods and
caves mourned Lycidas.
Study the three similes in which the ' loss of Lycidas to
shepherds' ear ' is expressed . Is King's age kept in mind ?
The rose ' is mentioned first and flowers ' third ; does the
word flowers ' exclude ' rose ' ? Do the earlier flowers of
spring wear a gayer ' wardrobe ' ? Does the mention of the
early flowers symbolize a climax in sentiment? What is the
'white thorn ' ? In what particular is the death of Lycidas
a loss ' to shepherds' ear ' ? How is the harmony of thought
in the paragraph shown in the expressions ' desert caves,'
' echoes,' and ' to shepherds' ear ' ? Trace the course of
emotion in the preceding and in this paragraph. Imagine
the mind-state at the close of the paragraph . Formulate a
title for the paragraph with proper subdivisions .
In the preceding division, is there an element of despair ?
How much of hope ? Recovering from such a mental strain,
what would, naturally, be the first inquiry ? Who, or what,
wrought the desolation ? In addressing the Nymphs , what
is the supposed situation ? ( See line 151. ) Why do the
Nymphs come first in the train ? Why say to the Nymphs
'your lov'd Lycidas ' ? Why are the Druids styled ' your
10 LYCIDAS.

For neither were ye playing on the steep

Where your old bards, the famous Druids, lie,
Nor on the shaggy top of Mona high,
Nor yet where Deva spreads her wizard stream . 55
Ay me ! I fondly dream !
Had ye been there for what could that have
done ?
What could the Muse herself that Orpheus bore,
The Muse herself, for her enchanting son.
Whom universal Nature did lament, 60
When by the rout that made the hideous roar
His gory visage down the stream was sent ,
Down the swift Hebrus to the Lesbian shore ?

old bards '? Were they poets ? For what were the Druids
' famous '? What ' steep ' ? Is ' shaggy top ' a description
of Mona ? Why ' shaggy ' ? What are some of the tradi
tions that justify the Deva's being called the ' wizard
stream '? What is meant by the ' Deva spreads, ' etc. ?
What suggested these localities to the poet ? Describe the
mind-play that is suddenly interrupted by ' Ay me !'
Meaning of fondly '? " Complete the expression ' Had ye
been there ,' so that the force of ' for ' as a connective
may be seen. If any, what punctuation mark after ' dream ' ?
What is the abrupt passing from one construction to another
in the same sentence called in rhetoric ? What is the feel
ing indicated by this break ? The story of Orpheus ?
(" Orpheus and Eurydice " in Gayley's Cl. Myths.) His
mother ? Why ' enchanting ' ? What is meant by ' universal
Nature '? How did ' universal Nature ' lament Orpheus ?
What was the ' rout ' ? What, the hideous roar ' ? Find a
description of the Bacchanalian orgies ? What besides his
 LYCIDAS. 11

Alas ! what boots it with uncessant care

To tend the homely slighted shepherds ' trade, 65
And strictly meditate the thankless Muse ?
Were it not better done, as others use,
To sport with Amaryllis in the shade,
Or with the tangles of Neæra's hair ?
Fame is the spur that the clear spirit doth raise 70

' gory visage ' is said to have washed ashore at Lesbos ?

(Cl. Dict. " Lesbos. ") Name the Greek poets whose
home was Lesbos ? Any connection in thought between
Orpheus and the literature of Lesbos ? Is the Hebrus
' swift ' ? If not, what makes ' swift ' an appropriate word
at this place ? Describe the current of emotion in the
paragraph. Realize vividly the state of mind in lines 50-55.
Why could not the Nymphs have saved Lycidas, had they
been there ? What philosophical doctrine is indicated in
the latter portion of the paragraph ? Describe the feeling
that is favorable to this line of thought. What title and
subtitles would you give to this paragraph ?
How does the emotion indicated in ' Alas ! ' line 64, differ
P
from that expressed by Ay me ! ' line 56 ? Study the
prefix un in ' uncessant.' Why incessant now? Does the
word ' tend ' have, specially, an idyllic significance ? In
what sense is ' trade ' used ? Is ' homely ' an apt word ?
Meaning of slighted ' ? Significance of ' meditate ' ?
What does the thankless Muse ' indicate as to the success
of poetry in England at Milton's time ? Was the social
condition of England favorable to poetry? Any significance
in the names ' Amaryllis ' and ' Neæra ' ? Lines 67-69
suggest what system of philosophy ? Meaning of ' as others
use '? Describe the play of fancy suggested by ' tangles of
Neæra's hair ' ? What is the course of thought that results
127
LYCIDAS.

(That last infirmity of noble mind)

To scorn delights, and live laborious days ;
But the fair guerdon when we hope to find,
And think to burst out into sudden blaze,
Comes the blind fury with the abhorred shears, 75
And slits the thin- spun life . But not the praise,
Phoebus repli'd, and touch'd my trembling ears ;

in the homily on ' Fame ' ? Is ' clear ' more expressive in
the connection than ' pure ' ? Why? Object of ' doth
raise '? Describe the imagined scene from which the figure
in the spur that . . . doth raise ' is derived. Etymology
of ' fame ' ? In what sense is fame ' that last infirmity of
noble mind ' ? Why is line 71 in parentheses ? Has ' To
scorn delights ' any connection in thought with lines 67–69 ?
Has live laborious days ' any connection by suggestion
with lines 64-66 ? Why are these ideas repeated in the
reverse order of that in which they were originally suggested ?
Force of But ' in ' But the fair,' etc. ? Etymology of
' guerdon ' ? How are the two ideas of ' fame ' and ' hope '
related ? What is the fact from which the figure ' to burst
out into sudden blaze ' is derived ? Who are the Furies?
Their offices ? Name the Fates and their duties. Was
there a blind Fury ' ? Explain how the blind Fury '
expresses Milton's thought and feeling at this point better
than the blind Fate.' Is there a peculiar fitness in using
' slit ' with ' thin-spun '? In the phrase ' But not the praise,'
what is understood ? What will not happen to the ' praise ' ?
What is the idea in ' touch'd my trembling ears ' ? What
false idea of fame and its rewards does Phoebus correct ?
Is ' praise ' a portion of fame's reward ? Why is Phoebus
appropriately the correcter of the false notion ? What
aspect of Lycidas ' death suggested ' Phoebus ' ? Is the idea
 LYCIDAS. 13

Fame is no plant that grows on mortal soil,

Nor in the glistering foil
Set off to th' world , nor in broad Rumor lies, 80
But lives and spreads aloft by those pure eyes,
And perfect witness of all-judging Jove ;
As he pronounces lastly on each deed,
Of so much fame in Heav'n expect thy meed.

O fountain Arethuse, and thou honor'd flood, 85

Smooth-sliding Mincius, crown'd with vocal
reeds,
That strain I heard was of a higher mood ;

of P Phoebus ' in the connection in keeping with the philo

sophical sentiment of the paragraph ? Describe the classical
imagery under which the sentiments are expressed. What
element of fame is emphasized in saying it is no plant that
grows on mortal soil ' ? What is the picture to the mind in
fame is not set off, in glistering foil, to the world ' ? To
what is fame likened ? What is a ' foil ' ? Does the ' foil '
* glister ’ ? How ? What does P broad Rumor ' mean ?
·
Etymology of Rumor ' ? With what does the expression
' lives and spreads ' stand in contrast, in the preceding lines ?
' Aloft ' is the antithesis of what ? By those pure eyes '
means what, and is in contrast with what ? Is ' all-judging
Jove ' a pagan divinity ? Significance of ' all-judging '?
Who is Phoebus, then ? What is true fame ? What is the
doctrine of life set forth in lines 64-76 ? With what system
in contrast in lines 76-84 ? What is the theme of these
lines ? Subtitles ?
Show that this moralizing paragraph is a logical step in
the evolution of the poem. What is the perplexity in mind
that Phœbus' lofty strain solves ?
14 LYCIDAS.

But now my oat proceeds ,

And listens to the herald of the sea
That came in Neptune's plea. 90
He ask'd the waves, and ask'd the felon winds,
What hard mishap hath doom'd this gentle
swain ?
And question'd every gust of rugged wings
That blows from off each beaked promontory;
They knew not of his story, 95
And sage Hippotades their answer brings :

How does the poet return from his digression in this

paragraph ? What ' strain was of a higher mood ' ? ' Of a
higher mood ' than what other strain ? What is the mood
of that strain ' ? Is it the contrast that recalls him to his
proper theme ? Story of Arethuse ? (Gayley's Cl. Myths,
p. 142, " Arethusa and Alpheus. ") Read Shelley's Are
P
thusa. Why is the Mincius an honored flood ' ? In what
sense Icrowned with vocal reeds '? Does vocal reeds "
·
suggest pastoral poetry ? What two sources for pastoral
poetry do the names Arethuse and Mincius suggest ? Mean
ing of But now my oat proceeds ' ? Proceeds with what ?
At what line does the digression first faintly begin ? What
was asked of the Nymphs ? Does ' And listens to the Her
ald of the sea ' resume the same thought ? Who is the
Herald of the sea ' ? (See " Triton, " Cl. Dict.) Mean
ing of ' coming in Neptune's plea ' ? Coming to what place ?
What does he ask the waves ' and ' winds '? Is it in the
form of a direct question ? What tense would hath
doomed ' be in for indirect discourse ? Imagine ' gust of
rugged wings ' from ' beaked promontory.' Are ' wings '
and beaked ' connected in thought?
Who is Hippotades ? (Gayley's Cl. Myths, p. 526.)
 LYCIDAS. 15

That not a blast was from his dungeon stray'd,

The air was calm , and on the level brine
Sleek Panope with all her sisters play'd.
It was that fatal and perfidious bark 100
Built in th' eclipse, and rigg'd with curses dark,
That sunk so low that sacred head of thine.

Next Camus, reverend sire, went footing slow,

His mantle hairy and his bonnet sedge

Propriety of his answering for the winds ? Why called

' sage '? Tell the story of the winds confined in their
dungeon cave. Difference between ' gust ' and ' blast ' ?
For what does level brine ' stand ? Does level brine '
connect itself in thought with the air was calm ' ? Who
were Panope and her sisters ? Why ' sleek ' ? How does
'bark ' mean boat? Why ' perfidious ' ? Superstitions
·
about eclipses ? Meaning of rigged with curses dark ' ?
Why was Lycidas' head ' sacred ' ? Is this decision as to
the cause of Lycidas' death a logical outcome of the pre
vious speculations and inquiries thereon ? Trace the flow
of feeling and thought that leads to this conclusion . Topical
name for this paragraph ?
What is · Camus ' ? Who is · Camus ' ? ९ Next ' after
whom ? Why called ' sire ' ? What is the propriety of
mentioning ' fountain Arethuse ' first, and then ' Camus ' as
' sire '? What means ' footing slow ' ? What makes his
' hairy mantle ' ? His bonnet sedge ' ? Why use the word.
' bonnet ' ? Is Christ College feminine ? Is the river Cam
masculine ? Does the gender of the personification here
used come from the institution represented in the allegory
or from the object that is used representatively ? What is
the idea in inwrought with figures dim ' ? What figure on
16 LYCIDAS.

Inwrought with figures dim, and on the edge 105

Like to that sanguine flower inscrib'd with woe.
Ah! who hath reft (quoth he) my dearest pledge ?
Last came, and last did go,
The pilot of the Galilean lake ;
Two massy keys he bore of metals twain IIO
(The golden opes, the iron shuts amain) ;
He shook his miter'd locks, and stern bespake :
How well could I have spar'd for thee, young
Swain,
Anon of such as for their bellies' sake
Creep, and intrude, and climb into the fold ? 115

the edge ? Story of Hyacinthus ? (Gayley's Cl. Myths, p.

120, Cl. Dict.) What is the ' sanguine flower,' and how
' inscribed with woe ' ? See Shelley's translations " From
Moschus." Is this dress of Camus entirely appropriate ?
In what sense was Lycidas Camus' ' pledge ' ? Who was
the ' Pilot of Galilean Lake ' ? Why come ' last ' ? What
does he represent ? Why? Whence comes the notion
that St. Peter had two keys, the one ' gold, ' the other ' iron ' ?
C
What is the idea in ' the golden one opes ' ? In the iron
shuts amain ' ? Opens what ? Shuts what ? Force of
' amain ' ? Imagine the picture in line 112. Meaning of
' mitered ' ? How, then, can ' locks ' be ' mitered ' ? Study
the word ' bespake. '
What significance has this speech with reference to the
condition of the church ? (See Green's History. Read
Ruskin in Sesame and Lilies on this passage.) What
phases of character attributed to the clergy are indicated
in the words ' creep,' ' intrude,' and ' climb.' Do these
words describe actions which are the effects of motives set
 LYCIDAS. 17

Of other care they little reck'ning make

Than how to scramble at the shearers' feast,
And shove away the worthy bidden guest ;
Blind mouths ! that scarce themselves know
how to hold
A sheep-hook, or have learn'd aught else the
least I20
That to the faithful herdsman's art belongs !
What recks it them ? What need they ? they
are sped ;
And when they list their lean and flashy songs.
Grate on their scrannel pipes of wretched straw ;
The hungry sheep look up, and are not fed , 125
But swoln with wind, and the rank mist they
draw,
Rot inwardly, and foul contagion spread ;
Besides what the grim wolf with privy paw

forth in ' for their bellies' sake ' ? Etymology of ' Enow ' ?
What was the ' shearers' feast ' ? Meaning of to ' scramble ' ?
Who is the worthy bidden guest ' ? What is meant by
' Blind mouths ' ? Whose ' mouths ' ? How can mouths '
be blind ? Study the force of this figure. How little do
they know of the herdsman's art ? Do ' sheep-hook ' and
' herdman ' connect themselves in thought ? Meaning of
' recks ' ? Of ' sped ' ? Of ' list ' ? What are ' lean and
flashy songs '? Is line 124 onomatopoetic ? What feeling
is suggested by ' grate ' ? By ' scrannel ' ? Why ' wretched
straw '? Meaning of straw '? Who are the hungry
sheep '? What is it to draw ' rank mist ' ? Signification of
' Rot inwardly, and foul contagion spread ' ? What is the
18 LYCIDAS.

Daily devours apace, and nothing said ;

But that two-handed engine at the door 130
Stands ready to smite once, and smite no more .

Return, Alpheus, the dread voice is past

That shrunk thy streams ; return , Sicilian Muse ,
And call the vales, and bid them hither cast
Their bells, and flowrets of a thousand hues . 135
Ye valleys low, where the mild whispers use

' grim wolf ' ? How with ' privy paw ' ? What does ' de
vours ' mean in the connection ? Why was ' nothing said ' ?
What was the ' two-handed engine ' ? Whom did it ' smite ' ?
What part did Milton take in the strife ? In this paragraph
what two mourners came ? In what character did the first
come and his speech ? In what character did the second
come and his speech ? In what lines was the last prophetic ?
Title and subtitles of this paragraph ?
What is the peculiar significance of ' Return ' ? What
connection has ' Alpheus ' with ' Arethuse ' ? Was the pas
toral muse present before this ? What lines suggest her
presence ? Was he with her ? What drove him (or her ?)
away ? What was the · dread voice ' ? How did it shrink
' thy streams '? Who is understood to be the ' Sicilian
Muse ' ? How do lines 134-5 stand related to lines 136–
151 ? Does ' vales ' present a more indefinite picture than
the word ' valleys ' ?
' Hither ' means where to ? What connection of thought
calls for the diminutive flowrets ' ? Picture the general
impression of Their bells, and flowrets of a thousand
hues ' ? Note the description of ' valleys.' What is the
' swart star '? Its effects ? How must the valley appear
if this star · sparely looks ' upon it ? Does the word ' low '
 LYCIDAS. 19

Of shades, and wanton winds, and gushing

brooks,
On whose fresh lap the swart star sparely looks ,
Throw hither all your quaint enamelled eyes ,
That on the green turf suck the honey'd
showers, 140
And purple all the ground with vernal flowers .
Bring the rathe primrose that forsaken dies,
The tufted crow-toe, and pale jessamine,
The white pink, and the pansy freak'd with jet,
The glowing violet, 145
The musk-rose, and the well-attir'd woodbine,

express it fully ? What makes the fresh lap ' ? What

word personifies valleys ? What word indicates the sex of
the personification ? Force of use ' ? How is mild whis
pers ' connected in thought with ' shades, ' ' wanton winds,'
and ' gushing brooks ' ? Describe wanton winds.' Why
' throw hither all ' ? What are enamelled eyes ' ? Study
the vividness of this expression. What suggests the word
' enamel ' ? Note the picture of ' green turf ' as a foil to
' enamelled eyes ' ? How do ' eyes ' ' suck ' the ' showers ' ?
In what sense are ' showers''honeyed ' ? What is meant
by ' purple the ground ' ? Why with ' vernal flowers ' ? Are
lines 136-141 a specification of lines 134-5 ? Of what lines
are 142-151 a further specification ?
Study this piece of flower painting in detail. ( Read Rus
kin's criticism of this passage in Modern Painters, part III ,
sec. ii, ch . iii. ) Note the epithet that describes the several
flowers in order to appreciate the color of the piece. Why
does not the bringing together of flowers that bloom at dif
ferent seasons of the year offend our taste ? What are the
20 LYCIDAS.

With cowslips wan that hang the pensive head,

And every flower that sad embroidery wears ;
Bid Amaranthus all his beauty shed,
And daffodillies fill their cups with tears, 150
To strew the laureat hearse where Lycid lies,
For, so to interpose a little ease,
Let our frail thoughts dally with false surmise,
Ay me! whilst thee the shores and sounding seas
Wash far away, where ere thy bones are hurl'd, 155
Whether beyond the stormy Hebrides,
Where thou perhaps, under the whelming tide,
Visit'st the bottom of the monstrous world,

flowers that ' sad embroidery wears ' ? Why should ' Ama
ranthus shed his beauty ' ? Etymology of ' daffodillies ' ?
Why ' laureat ' ? Meaning of ' hearse ' ? Force of ' for ' ?
Of ' so '? What has been the · false surmise ' ? What is,
perhaps, the truth as expressed in lines 154-162 ? How
must shores ' be construed in connection with ' wash ' ?
' Stormy Hebrides ' ? What suggestion in ' whelming tide ' ?
Meaning of ' monstrous world ' ? What are ' moist vows ' ?
Relate the १ fable of Bellerus old .' What is the ' guarded
mount'? The tradition of the vision ' ? What of ' Naman
cos ' and ' Bayona ' ? Meaning of ' hold ' ? What ' angel ' ?
Why ' look homeward ' ? Force of the allusion ? Why
address the dolphins ' ? How does the story of Arion fur
nish the suggestion for this line ? (Cl. Dict., " Arion. ")
Name this paragraph .
What suggests the strain of joy in 165-185 ? What
expression similar to ' wat'ry floor ' already used ? What is
the 'day-star ' ? Meaning of drooping head ' ? Force of
' tricks ' ? What is ' new-spangled ore ' ? Picture Flames
 LYCIDAS. 21

Or whether thou to our moist vows denied

Sleep'st by the fable of Bellerus old, 160
Where the great vision of the guarded mount
Looks toward Namancos and Bayona's hold ;
Look homeward, angel, now, and melt with ruth ;
And, O ye Dolphins, waft the hapless youth .

Weep no more, woful shepherds, weep no

more, 165
For Lycidas your sorrow is not dead ,
Sunk though he be beneath the wat'ry floor;
So sinks the day-star in the ocean bed ,

in the forehead of the morning sky.' What suggests ' Him

that walk'd the waves ' ? What ' other groves and other
streams ' ? What is the picture in Milton's mind while
writing ' With nectar pure his oozy locks he laves ' ? What
' nuptial song '? What ' saints entertain him ' ? What are
the sweet societies ' ? In what lines does Milton employ
Bible imagery ? Lines 165-181 express the consolation for
Lycidas' death, with the command to weep no more.'
Lycidas becomes the Genius of what shore ' ? Is this
Christian imagery ? Title of this paragraph ?
In what character has this song been sung? Significance
of singing to oaks and rills ' ? Note the picture of ' morn '
P
with ' sandals gray.' What is meant by tender stops ' ?
Of what is quills ' a synonym ? Meaning of various
P
quills '? What is eager thought ' descriptive of? Why
' warbling his Doric lay ' ? Was this a day's work ? What
is the picture in ' twitching his mantle ' ? Why ' blue ' ?
What significance, in regard to Milton , does ' to fresh woods
and pastures new ' have ? How is this last paragraph
related to the poem proper ? How name it ?
22 LYCIDAS.

And yet anon repairs his drooping head,

And tricks his beams, and with new-spangled
ore 170
Flames in the forehead of the morning sky.
So Lycidas sunk low, but mounted high,
Through the dear might of Him that walk'd
the waves ,
Where other groves and other streams along,
With nectar pure his oozy locks he laves, 175
And hears the unexpressive nuptial song

If to our English race an inadequate sense for perfection

of work is a real danger, if the discipline of respect for a high
and flawless excellence is peculiarly needed by us, Milton is,
of all our gifted men, the best lesson, the most salutary
influence. In the sure and flawless perfection of his rhythm
and diction he is as admirable as Virgil or Dante, and in
this respect he is unique amongst us. No one else in
English literature and art possesses the like distinction .
MATTHEW ARNOLD .

These are merely questions here and there for the

student. So far from undertaking to suggest an exhaustive
study, the intention has been to suggest the inexhaustible
ness of a work of art. If these questions suggest a thousand
others that might be asked , the purpose of this work is
accomplished.
It is evident that with almost every line questions of
punctuation , spelling, rhyme, meter, rhythm arise. Cole
ridge says : " In the truly great poets . . . there is a reason
assignable, not only for every word, but for the position of
every word." Suppose you undertake to assign a reason
for every word and its position in Lycidas !
 LYCIDAS. 23

In the blest kingdoms meek of Joy and Love.

There entertain him all the saints above
In solemn troops and sweet societies,
That sing, and singing in their glory move, 180
And wipe the tears forever from his eyes .
Now, Lycidas, the shepherds weep no more ;
Henceforth thou art the Genius of the shore,
In thy large recompense, and shalt be good
To all that wander in that perilous flood. 185

After studying a true poem, which is an organic whole,

as the anatomist does the human body, to find the function
and interdependence of its parts, it is then eminently profit
able to put it off at a distance from you, so as to look at it
as an individual whole. You then get general character
istics, and can account for them.

Glance at Lycidas as consisting of three parts : Prologue,

Song, Epilogue.
In the Prologue we have the poet himself announcing the
theme of his song ; in the Song, in the guise of a shepherd ,
he is a mourner beside the bier of Lycidas ; in the Epilogue
we have his leave-taking.

In spite of the inaccuracies as to details of facts, and the

mixture of imagery taken from Classic, Celtic, and Christian
sources, there is such an abounding sense of pleasure and
satisfaction that the emotion overbears all other considera
tions. Poetry is the language of the feelings, and a true
poem is addressed primarily to the feelings. The aim is
not to instruct so much as to move. Consider the quality
of the emotion as expressed in the Prologue and Epilogue ;
then determine if it is of a kind with that of the Song.
24 LYCIDAS.

Thus sang the uncouth swain to th' oaks

and rills ,
While the still morn went out with sandals gray ;
He touch'd the tender stops of various quills,
With eager thought warbling his Doric lay ;
And now the sun had stretch'd out all the hills, 190
And now was dropt into the western bay ;
At last he rose and twitch'd his mantle blue ;
To-morrow to fresh woods and pastures new.

Does Milton make more of King as a poet than is deserved ?

Does the Song show deep personal sorrow ? What does
the outburst against the corrupt Clergy indicate ?
What abandons us to the poem's current of emotion ?
Evidently the faultless rhythm . Note the kinds and grades
of emotion through which we are borne along to a complete
consolation for Lycidas' death .
 APPENDIX .

THE EPITAPH OF BION, A LOVING HERDSMAN.

YE mountain valleys, pitifully groan !

Rivers and Dorian springs, for Bion weep !
Ye plants, drop tears ! ye groves, lamenting moan !
Exhale your life, wan flowers ; your blushes deep
In grief, anemonies and roses, steep !
In softest murmurs, Hyacinth, prolong
The sad, sad woe thy lettered petals keep ;
Our minstrel sings no more his friends among
Sicilian Muses ! now begin the doleful song.

Ye nightingales, that 'mid thick leaves let loose 10

The gushing gurgle of your sorrow, tell
The fountains of Sicilian Arethuse
That Bion is no more ; with Bion fell
The song, the music of the Dorian shell.
Ye swans of Strymon, now your banks along
Your plaintive throats with melting dirges swell
For him who sang, like you, the mournful song ;
Discourse of Bion's death the Thracian nymphs among ;

The Dorian Orpheus, tell them all, is dead.

His herds the song and darling herdsman miss, 20
And oaks, beneath whose shade he propt his head ;
26 APPENDIX.

Oblivion's ditty now he sings for Dis ;

The melancholy mountain silent is ;
His pining cows no longer wish to feed,
But mourn for him ; Apollo wept, I wis,
For thee, sweet Bion, and in mourning weed
The brotherhood of Fauns, and all the Satyr breed.

The tears by Naiads shed are brimful bourns ;

Afflicted Pan thy stifled music rues ;
Lorn Echo, ' mid her rocks thy silence mourns, 30
Nor with her mimic tones thy voice renews ;
The flowers their bloom, the trees their fruitage lose ;
No more their milk the drooping ewes supply ;
The bees to press their honey now refuse ;
What need to gather it and lay it by
When thy own honey-lip, my Bion, thine is dry?

Sicilian Muses, lead the doleful chaunt !

Not so much near the shore the dolphin moans ;
Nor so much wails within her rocky haunt
The nightingale ; nor on their mountain thrones 40
The swallows utter such lugubrious tones ;
Nor so much Cëyx wailed for Halcyon,
Whose song the blue wave, where he perished , owns ;
Nor in the valley, neighbor to the sun,
The funeral birds so wail their Memnon's tomb upon

And these moan, wail, and weep their Bion dead.

The nightingales and swallows whom he taught,
For him their elegiac sadness shed ;
And all the birds contagious sorrow caught ;
The sylvan realm was all with grief distraught. 50
 APPENDIX. 27

Who, bold of heart, will play on Bion's reed,

Fresh from his lip, yet with his breathing fraught ?
For still among the reeds does Echo feed
On Bion's minstrelsy. Pan only may succeed

To Bion's pipe ; to him I make the gift ;

But lest he second seem, e'en Pan may fear
The pipe of Bion to his mouth to lift.
For thee sweet Galatea drops the tear,
And thy dear song regrets, which sitting near
She fondly listed ; ever did she flee 60
The Cyclops and his song ; but far more dear
Thy song and sight than her own native sea ;
On the deserted sands, the nymph, without her fee,

Now sits and weeps, or, weeping, tends thy herd .

Away with Bion all the muse-gifts flew, —
The chirping kisses breathed at every word ;
Around thy tomb the Loves their playmate rue ;
Thee Cypris loved more than the kiss she drew
And breathed upon her dying paramour.
Most musical of rivers ! now renew 70
Thy plaintive murmurs ; Meles, now deplore
Another son of song, as thou didst wail of yore

That sweet, sweet mouth of dear Calliope ;

The threne, 't is said, thy waves for Homer spun
With saddest music filled with refluent sea ;
Now, melting, wail and weep another son ;
Both loved of fountains — that of Helicon
Gave Melesigenes his pleasant draught ;
To this sweet Arethuse did Bion run,
28 APPENDIX.

And from her urn the glowing rapture quaft ; 80

Blest was the bard who sang how Helen bloomed and
laught :

On Thetis' mighty son his descant ran,

And Menelaus ; but our Bion chose
Not arms and tears to sing, but Love and Pan ;
While browsed his herd, his gushing music rose ;
He milked his kine, did pipes of reeds compose,
Taught how to kiss, and fondled in his breast
Young Love and Cypris pleased. For Bion flows
In every glorious land a grief confest :
Ascra for her own bard, wise Hesiod, less exprest : 90

Boeotian Hylæ mourned for Pindar less ;

Teos regretted less her minstrel hoar,
And Mytelene her sweet poetess ;
Nor for Alcæus Lesbos suffered more ;
Nor lovely Paros did so much deplore
Her own Archilochus. Breathing her fire
Into her sons of song, from shore to shore,
For thee the Pastoral Muse attunes her lyre
To woeful utterance of passionate desire.

Sicelidas, the famous Samian star, 100

And he with smiling eye and radiant face,
Cydonian Lycidas, renowned afar,
Lament thee ; where quick Hales runs his race,
Philetus wails ; Theocritus, the grace
Of Syracuse, thee mourns ; nor these among
Am I remiss Ausonian wreaths to place
Around thy tomb to me doth it belong
To chaunt for thee from whom I learnt the Dorian song.
 APPENDIX. 29

Me with thy minstrel skill as proper heir

Others thou didst endow with thine estate. 110
Alas ! alas ! when in a garden fair
Mallows, crisp dill, or parsley yields to fate,
These with another year regerminate ;
But when of mortal life the bloom and crown,
The wise, the good, the valiant, and the great
Succumb to death, in hollow earth shut down
We sleep - forever sleep - forever lie unknown.

Thus art thou pent, while frogs may croak at will ;

I envy not their croak. Thee poison slew ―-
How kept it in thy mouth its nature ill ? I20
If thou didst speak, what cruel wretch could brew
The draught? He did, of course, thy song eschew.
But justice all o'ertakes. My tears fast flow
For thee, my friend ! Could I, like Orpheus true,
Odysseus, or Alcides, pass below
To gloomy Tartarus, how quickly would I go

To see, and, haply, hear thee sing for Dis !

But in the Nymph's ear warble evermore,
My dearest friend ! thy sweetest harmonies :
For whilom, on her own Etnæan shore, 130
She sang wild snatches of the Dorian lore.
Nor will thy singing unrewarded be ;
Thee to thy mountain haunts she will restore,
As she gave Orpheus his Eurydice.
Could I charm Dis with songs, I, too, would sing for
thee.
Transl. of REV. J. BANKS.
 BOOKS USEFUL TO STUDENTS OF

ENGLISH LITERATURE .

Arnold's English Literature. 558 pages. Price, $ 1.50.

Baker's Plot-Book of Some Elizabethan Plays. In press.
Baldwin's Inflection and Syntax of Malory's Morte d'Arthur.
Browne's Shakspere's Versification. 34 pages. Price, 25 cts.
Corson's Primer of English Verse. 232 pages. Price , $ 1.00.
Emery's Notes on English Literature. 152 pages. Price, $ 1.00.
Garnett's Selections in English Prose from Elizabeth to Victoria. 701
pages. Price, $ 1.50.
Gayley's Classic Myths in English Literature. 540 pages. Price, $ 1.50.
Gayley's Introduction to Study of Literary Criticism. In press.
Gummere's Handbook of Poetics. 250 pages. Price, $ 1.00.
Hudson's Life, Art, and Characters of Shakespeare. 2 vols. 1003 pages.
Price, $4.00.
Hudson's Classical English Reader. 467 pages. Price, $ 1.00.
Hudson's Text-Book of Prose. 648 pages. Price, $ 1.25.
Hudson's Text-Book of Poetry. 704 pages. Price, $ 1.25.
Hudson's Essays on English Studies in Shakespeare, etc. 118 pages.
Price, 25 cts.
Lee's Graphic Chart of English Literature. 25 cts.
Minto's Manual of English Prose Literature. 566 pages. Price, $ 1.50.
Minto's Characteristics of the English Poets. (From Chaucer to Shirley.)
382 pages. Price, $ 1.50.
Montgomery's Heroic Ballads. Poems of War and Patriotism . Edited
with Notes by D. H. Montgomery. 319 pages. Boards, 40 cts.;
Cloth, 50 cts.
Phelps's Beginnings of the English Romantic Movement. 192 pages.
Price, $ 1.00.
Sherman's Analytics of Literature. 468 pages. Price, $ 1.25 .
Smith's Synopsis of English and American Literature. 125 pages. Price,
80 cts.
Thayer's Best Elizabethan Plays. 611 pages. Price, $ 1.25.
Thom's Shakespeare and Chaucer Examinations . 346 pages. Price, $ 1.00.
White's Philosophy of American Literature. 66 pages. Price, 30 cts.
Winchester's Five Short Courses of Reading in English Literature.
99 pages. Price, 40 cents .
Wylie's Studies in the Evolution of English Criticism. 212 pages.
Price, $ 1.00.

Descriptive Circulars of these books sent postpaid to any address.

GINN & COMPANY, Publishers, Boston, New York, and Chicago.

 HUDSON'S SHAKESPEARE

For School and Home Use.

BY HENRY N. HUDSON, LL.D.,

Author of "The Life, Art, and Characters of Shakespeare,"
Editor of " The Harvard Shakespeare," etc.

Revised and enlarged Editions of twenty -three Plays. Carefully expurgated,

with explanatory Notes at the bottom of the page, and critical Notes at
the end of each volume. One play in each volume.
Square 16mo. Varying in size from 128 to 253 pages. Mailing price of each :
cloth, 50 cents ; paper, 35 cents. Introduction price, cloth, 45 cents ;
paper, 30 cents. Per set (in box), $ 12.00. (To teachers, $ 10.00.)

Why is Hudson's Shakespeare the standard in a majority of the best

schools where the greatest attention is paid to this subject ? Because
Dr. Hudson was the ablest Shakespearean scholar America has ever
known. His introductions to the plays of Shakespeare are well worth
the price of the volume. He makes the characters almost living flesh
and blood, and creates a great interest on the part of the student and a
love for Shakespeare's works, without which no special progress can be
made. Whoever can command the interest of the pupil in a great
author or his works is the person who renders the greatest service.
The list of plays in Hudson's School Shakespeare is as follows :

A Midsummer Night's Dream. Henry the Fourth, Part I. Macbeth.

The Merchant of Venice. Henry the Fourth, Part II. Antony and Cleopatra.
Much Ado about Nothing. Henry the Fifth. Othello.
As You Like It. Henry the Eighth. Cymbeline.
The Tempest. Romeo and Juliet. Coriolanus.
King John. Julius Cæsar. Twelfth Night.
Richard the Second. Hamlet. The Winter's Tale.
Richard the Third. King Lear.

C. T. Winchester, Professor of Eng Hiram Corson, Professor of English

lish Literature, Wesleyan University: Literature, Cornell University : I con
The notes and comments in the school sider them altogether excellent. The
edition are admirably fitted to the need of notes give all the aid needed for an under
the student, removing his difficulties by standing of the text, without waste and
stimulating his interest and quickening his distraction of the student's mind . The
perception. introductory matter to the several plays is
especially worthy of approbation.

We invite correspondence with all who are interested in the

study of Shakespeare in the class-room.

GINN & COMPANY , Publishers ,

Boston. New York. Chicago. Atlanta. Dallas.
J
1
 THE BORROWER WILL BE CHARGED
AN OVERDUE FEE IF THIS BOOK IS
NOT RETURNED TO THE LIBRARY
ON OR BEFORE THE LAST DATE
STAMPED BELOW. NON - RECEIPT OF
OVERDUE NOTICES DOES NOT
EXEMPT THE BORROWER FROM
OVERDUE FEES.

CANCELLED

DEC-6,1988

28438733

F
14485.31.30
Lycidas
Widener /Library 003374996

3 2044 086 759 560

 APPENDIX. 27

Who, bold of heart, will play on Bion's reed,

Fresh from his lip, yet with his breathing fraught?
For still among the reeds does Echo feed
On Bion's minstrelsy. Pan only may succeed

To Bion's pipe ; to him I make the gift ;

But lest he second seem, e'en Pan may fear
The pipe of Bion to his mouth to lift.
For thee sweet Galatea drops the tear,
And thy dear song regrets, which sitting near
She fondly listed ; ever did she flee 60
The Cyclops and his song ; but far more dear
Thy song and sight than her own native sea ;
On the deserted sands, the nymph, without her fee,

Now sits and weeps, or, weeping, tends thy herd.

Away with Bion all the muse-gifts flew, -
The chirping kisses breathed at every word ;
Around thy tomb the Loves their playmate rue ;
Thee Cypris loved more than the kiss she drew
And breathed upon her dying paramour.
Most musical of rivers ! now renew 70
Thy plaintive murmurs ; Meles, now deplore
Another son of song, as thou didst wail of yore

That sweet, sweet mouth of dear Calliope ;

The threne, 't is said, thy waves for Homer spun
With saddest music filled with refluent sea ;
Now, melting, wail and weep another son ;
Both loved of fountains ―――― that of Helicon
Gave Melesigenes his pleasant draught ;
To this sweet Arethuse did Bion run,
28 APPENDIX.

And from her urn the glowing rapture quaft ; 80

Blest was the bard who sang how Helen bloomed and
laught :

On Thetis' mighty son his descant ran ,

And Menelaus ; but our Bion chose
Not arms and tears to sing, but Love and Pan ;
While browsed his herd, his gushing music rose ;
He milked his kine, did pipes of reeds compose,
Taught how to kiss, and fondled in his breast
Young Love and Cypris pleased. For Bion flows
In every glorious land a grief confest :
Ascra for her own bard, wise Hesiod , less exprest : 90

Baotian Hylæ mourned for Pindar less ;

Teos regretted less her minstrel hoar,
And Mytelene her sweet poetess ;
Nor for Alcæus Lesbos suffered more ;
Nor lovely Paros did so much deplore
Her own Archilochus. Breathing her fire
Into her sons of song, from shore to shore ,
For thee the Pastoral Muse attunes her lyre
To woeful utterance of passionate desire.

Sicelidas, the famous Samian star, 100

And he with smiling eye and radiant face,
Cydonian Lycidas, renowned afar,
Lament thee ; where quick Hales runs his race,
Philetus wails ; Theocritus , the grace
Of Syracuse, thee mourns ; nor these among
Am I remiss Ausonian wreaths to place
Around thy tomb : to me doth it belong
To chaunt for thee from whom I learnt the Dorian song.
 APPENDIX. 29

Me with thy minstrel skill as proper heir

Others thou didst endow with thine estate. 110
Alas ! alas ! when in a garden fair
Mallows, crisp dill, or parsley yields to fate,
These with another year regerminate ;
But when of mortal life the bloom and crown,
The wise, the good, the valiant, and the great
Succumb to death, in hollow earth shut down
We sleep ― forever sleep - forever lie unknown.

Thus art thou pent, while frogs may croak at will ;

I envy not their croak. Thee poison slew ―――――
-
How kept it in thy mouth its nature ill ? I20
If thou didst speak, what cruel wretch could brew
The draught? He did, of course, thy song eschew.
But justice all o'ertakes. My tears fast flow
For thee, my friend ! Could I, like Orpheus true,
Odysseus, or Alcides, pass below
To gloomy Tartarus, how quickly would I go

To see, and, haply, hear thee sing for Dis !

But in the Nymph's ear warble evermore ,
My dearest friend ! thy sweetest harmonies :
For whilom, on her own Etnæan shore, 130
She sang wild snatches of the Dorian lore.
Nor will thy singing unrewarded be ;
Thee to thy mountain haunts she will restore,
As she gave Orpheus his Eurydice.
Could I charm Dis with songs, I, too, would sing for
thee.
Transl. of REV. J. BANKS.
 BOOKS USEFUL TO STUDENTS OF

ENGLISH LITERATURE .

Arnold's English Literature. 558 pages. Price, $1.50.

Baker's Plot-Book of Some Elizabethan Plays. In press.
Baldwin's Inflection and Syntax of Malory's Morte d'Arthur.
Browne's Shakspere's Versification. 34 pages. Price, 25 cts.
Corson's Primer of English Verse. 232 pages. Price , $ 1.00.
Emery's Notes on English Literature. 152 pages. Price, $ 1.00.
Garnett's Selections in English Prose from Elizabeth to Victoria. 701
pages. Price, $ 1.50.
Gayley's Classic Myths in English Literature. 540 pages. Price, $ 1.50.
Gayley's Introduction to Study of Literary Criticism. In press.
Gummere's Handbook of Poetics. 250 pages. Price, $ 1.00.
Hudson's Life, Art, and Characters of Shakespeare. 2 vols. 1003 pages.
Price, $4.00.
Hudson's Classical English Reader. 467 pages. Price, $ 1.00.
Hudson's Text-Book of Prose. 648 pages. Price, $ 1.25.
Hudson's Text-Book of Poetry . 704 pages. Price, $ 1.25.
Hudson's Essays on English Studies in Shakespeare, etc. 118 pages.
Price, 25 cts.
Lee's Graphic Chart of English Literature. 25 cts.
Minto's Manual of English Prose Literature . 566 pages. Price, $ 1.50.
Minto's Characteristics of the English Poets. (From Chaucer to Shirley.)
382 pages. Price, $ 1.50.
Montgomery's Heroic Ballads. Poems of War and Patriotism. Edited
with Notes by D. H. Montgomery. 319 pages. Boards, 40 cts.;
Cloth, 50 cts.
Phelps's Beginnings of the English Romantic Movement. 192 pages.
Price, $ 1.00.
Sherman's Analytics of Literature. 468 pages. Price, $ 1.25 .
Smith's Synopsis of English and American Literature. 125 pages. Price,
80 cts.
Thayer's Best Elizabethan Plays . 611 pages. Price, $ 1.25.
Thom's Shakespeare and Chaucer Examinations. 346 pages. Price, $1.00.
White's Philosophy of American Literature. 66 pages. Price, 30 cts.
Winchester's Five Short Courses of Reading in English Literature.
99 pages. Price, 40 cents.
Wylie's Studies in the Evolution of English Criticism. 212 pages.
Price, $ 1.00.

Descriptive Circulars ofthese books sent postpaid to any address.

GINN & COMPANY, Publishers, Boston, New York, and Chicago.

 HUDSON'S SHAKESPEARE

For School and Home Use.

BY HENRY N. HUDSON, LL.D.,

Author of"The Life, Art, and Characters of Shakespeare,"
Editor of " The Harvard Shakespeare," etc.

Revised and enlarged Editions of twenty-three Plays. Carefully expurgated,

with explanatory Notes at the bottom of the page, and critical Notes at
the end of each volume. One play in each volume.
Square 16mo. Varying in size from 128 to 253 pages. Mailing price of each :
cloth, 50 cents ; paper, 35 cents. Introduction price, cloth, 45 cents ;
paper, 30 cents. Per set (in box) , $12.00. (To teachers, $ 10.00. )

Why is Hudson's Shakespeare the standard in a majority of the best

schools where the greatest attention is paid to this subject ? Because
Dr. Hudson was the ablest Shakespearean scholar America has ever
known. His introductions to the plays of Shakespeare are well worth
the price of the volume. He makes the characters almost living flesh
and blood, and creates a great interest on the part of the student and a
love for Shakespeare's works, without which no special progress can be
made. Whoever can command the interest of the pupil in a great
author or his works is the person who renders the greatest service.
The list of plays in Hudson's School Shakespeare is as follows :

A Midsummer Night's Dream. Henry the Fourth, Part I. Macbeth.

The Merchant of Venice. Henry the Fourth, Part II. Antony and Cleopatra.
Much Ado about Nothing . Henry the Fifth. Othello.
As You Like It. Henry the Eighth. Cymbeline.
The Tempest. Romeo and Juliet. Coriolanus.
King John. Julius Cæsar. Twelfth Night.
Richard the Second. Hamlet. The Winter's Tale.
Richard the Third. King Lear.

C. T. Winchester, Professor of Eng Hiram Corson, Professor of English

lish Literature, Wesleyan University: Literature, Cornell University : I con
The notes and comments in the school sider them altogether excellent. The
edition are admirably fitted to the need of notes give all the aid needed for an under
the student, removing his difficulties by standing of the text, without waste and
stimulating his interest and quickening his distraction of the student's mind. The
perception. introductory matter to the several plays is
especially worthy of approbation.

We invite correspondence with all who are interested in the

study of Shakespeare in the class-room.

GINN & COMPANY , Publishers ,

Boston. New York. Chicago. Atlanta. Dallas .
 THE BORROWER WILL BE CHARGED
AN OVERDUE FEE IF THIS BOOK IS
NOT RETURNED TO THE LIBRARY
ON OR BEFORE THE LAST DATE
STAMPED BELOW. NON - RECEIPT OF
OVERDUE NOTICES DOES NOT
EXEMPT THE BORROWER FROM
OVERDUE FEES.

CANCELLED
LOUD

DEO 6,1988

28438738

F
14485.31.30
Lycidas /
Widener Library 003374996

3 2044 086 759 560

10 ways