The Annotated Milton: Complete English Poems (165 page)
Read The Annotated Milton: Complete English Poems Online
Authors: John Milton,Burton Raffel
Tags: #Fiction, #General, #Literary Collections, #Poetry, #Classics, #English; Irish; Scottish; Welsh, #English poetry
THREE CENTURIES OF AMERICAN POETRY
, edited by Allen Mandelbaum, (Trade) 978-0-553-37518-3, (Hardcover) 978-0-553-10250-5
JOHN MILTON
was born on December 9, 1608. A brilliant scholar, he received his B.A. and M.A. from Christ’s College, Cambridge, and began writing poetry. Instead of entering the ministry, he retired to his father’s country house and for the next five years read day and night, devouring most of the existing written works in English, Greek, Latin, and Italian. During this period he wrote the masque
Comus
(1634) and “Lycidas” (1637), an elegy memorializing a college classmate. In 1638 he went on a tour of Europe, spending most of his time in Italy. He returned home prematurely because of the religious unrest in England and began writing tracts that branded him a radical. In 1642 he married Mary Powell, a seventeen-year-old girl. Within six weeks, she returned to her parents’ home, and Milton wrote a series of angry pamphlets advocating divorce on the grounds of incompatibility. Eventually, she returned and bore him four children, three of whom survived. By 1651 Milton’s poor eyesight failed completely, leaving him blind. After his wife’s death, he remarried, only to have his second wife die some months after childbirth. His third marriage, to Elizabeth Minshull, was a longer and happier one. At the Restoration, Milton narrowly escaped execution because of his politics, but was left impoverished. Now he returned to writing poetry and created the masterpieces for which he will be forever remembered, beginning with
Paradise Lost
(1667). He followed this epic with
Paradise Regained
and
Samson Agonistes
(jointly published in 1671). Milton died in 1674. Along with Chaucer and Shakespeare, Milton is one of the true giants of our language.
THE ANNOTATED MILTON
A Bantam Book
PUBLISHING HISTORY
Bantam Classic edition published September 1999
Bantam Classic reissue / December 2008
Published by
Bantam Dell
A Division of Random House, Inc.
New York, New York
All rights reserved
Translation copyright © 1999 by Burton Raffel
Bantam Books and the rooster colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.
eISBN: 978-0-553-90582-3
v1.0
FOOTNOTES
3
Italian: Galileo
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4
practical scientist, learned man
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5
discover, make known
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6
spotted, patchy
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7
admiral’s ship, flagship
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8
straight slender stick
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9
difficult, troublesome
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11
11
beat/shone strongly
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12
covered, roofed
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13
talked idly, lied about
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14
steeply, perpendicularly
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15
fortifications placed on top of walls
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16
directly overhead
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17
unpolished, rough
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19
reeds, pipes, flutes
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21
extended across
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22
pulled around him
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23
Terah = Abraham’s father
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25
i.e., the sea saw the strength of the Almighty’s hand
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29
always, forever
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31
streams, brooks
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33
widely, at large
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34
destroy, kill, overcome
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35
brightly colored
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36
greatness, power, dignity
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37
cruel, terrible, savage [adjective]
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38
the Hebrew people
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40
brown-skinned
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42
the Amorites, pre-Israelite dwellers in Canaan
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43
Amorite king, and an exceedingly large man
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44
excessively bold, daring
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46
to sing, celebrate in song
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49
color vermilion
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50
the north wind (Aquilo = “eagle”)
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52
rough, coarse, violent
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53
Orythia, daughter of the king of Athens
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54
affected injuriously
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55
i.e., unless he too wedded some fair one
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57
maturity, old age
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58
frisky, sportive
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59
carriage, chariot
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61
shamed, disgraced
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62
unknowing, unwitting
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64
Zephyr, the west wind, also loved Hyacinth, and in revenge caused a quoit (iron ring thrown at a peg in the ground) thrown by Apollo to swerve, hit, and kill Hyacinth
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65
Eurotas = Laconian river; strand = bank, shore
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66
shallowly dug? or an in-ground grave rather than a properly elevated tomb structure?
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67
explain, clarify
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69
creature, being
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70
benefit, behalf
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71
appropriate, proper
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72
Astraea (“starry maiden”), goddess of justice and the last god to leave the earth
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74
travel quickly
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75
dirty, repulsive
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77
i.e., in the preceding part, which is a pun-filled “Prolusion”
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78
obvious, bare, plain
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80
boxes, chests
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81
thoroughly, all over
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82
Zeus and Hera’s daughter; cupbearer to the gods
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84
old woman, grandmother
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85
see Homer’s
Odyssey
8:499ff.
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86
within the boundary
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87
an academic pun: predicament = (1) term used in Aristotelian rhetoric, (2) Milton’s difficulty with his “wand’ring muse”
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89
unlucky, disastrous, dreadful
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91
prophetess, fortune-teller, witch
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93
outdistance, surpass
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94
attribute, quality, nature
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95
one George Rivers (or his brother, Nizell) played the part of Relation
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97
on the border of England and Scotland
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98
the Don, in Yorkshire
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99
trente
= “thirty,” in French, and the Trent takes its name therefrom
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100
see the story of the river nymph Sabrina in
Comus,
lines 824ff.
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101
the river runs past Newcastle, proverbial for its coal
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102
i.e., is supposedly named for a Scythian chief who drowned in that river
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103
the Thames, which runs past various royal castles
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104
crime, fault, penalty
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105
unbearable, intolerable
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106
was accustomed
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107
residence/offices of a sovereign
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108
style, talent
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109
effect, accomplish
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111
the horses pulling the sun god’s chariot
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112
impression, stamp
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113
the three Magi/wise men
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114
come before [
pre
= before,
venir
= come]
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115
poorly, shabbily
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