The Annotated Milton: Complete English Poems (166 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
118
reverential wonder
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119
laid aside, taken away, taken off
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120
brilliant, fine
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122
joyful, lively, lustful
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123
forehead, face
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124
corrupted, foul, filthy, stained [adjective]
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125
abashed, ashamed
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126
forerunner (advance person)
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127
with hook/scythelike protrusions? a hook-shaped chariot?
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128
respectful, reverential
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129
hushed, silent
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131
the morning star,
not
(in this usage) Satan
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134
moment, instant
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135
simple, humble
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136
gripped, seized, charmed (the “stringèd noise” took “all their souls in blissful rapture”)
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139
prepared, dressed
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140
inexpressible
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141
rolling, tossing, tumbling
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142
full of moral blemishes/defects
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143
suffering, mourning
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144
houses, tents
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146
delicate, gauzy texture
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147
meeting of a deliberative council [trisyllabic]
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148
fearful, awe-inspiring
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149
narrower, tighter
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150
wrathful, indignant
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151
lashes, brandishes, whips
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152
prognosticate
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154
prompts, animates
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155
silver-leafed?
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156
local spirit (pagan)
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157
Roman household and hearth gods
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158
Roman priests
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159
odd, strange
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161
spiritual/divine being
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162
mountain/Phoenician sun god
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163
followers of Baal
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164
Phoenician moon goddess
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166
Ammon, Egyptian god with the head of a ram
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168
Phoenician Adonis
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169
deity associated with Baal
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170
into which babies were thrown, as sacrifices to Moloch
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171
animal-like/shaped
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172
Egyptian earth goddess, horned like a cow
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173
Egyptian sun god, Isis’ son
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174
son of Orus, dog/ jackal-headed
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175
chief of the Egyptian gods, portrayed as a black bull
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176
see line 220, below
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177
percussion instrument, tambourinelike
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178
songs of praise/gladness
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181
hundred-headed fire-breathing giant, a serpent below the waist
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184
separate, individual
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186
labyrinth (as in a fairy ring?)
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187
long and wearisome (used in a jocund rather than literal sense)
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188
youngest-born/produced
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189
i.e., wearing gleaming body armor
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190
ready to be useful [four syllables, first and third accented]
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191
once, formerly, some time ago
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192
to sing in counterpoint
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193
fasten upon, clutch, take hold of
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194
gravest, most severe
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195
peril, danger, risk
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196
creature, being
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197
temporary dwelling, place, abode
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198
put up with, endure
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199
Phoebus Apollo, god of (among other things) poetry
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200
Marco Girolamo Vida’s
Christiad
; he was a native of Cremona
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204
Jerusalem (Shalem = ancient Semitic god)
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205
anxiously thoughtful
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207
mood? seizure?
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209
i.e., as in prayer
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210
mass of stone
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211
mark, engrave
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213
vivid, fresh, brightly gay
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214
letters of the alphabet
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215
i.e., infections being carried by some germlike agent, the poet’s tears of sorrow, like a sort of sickly semen, spawn “a race of mourners” on that which carries water down on men, namely, a cloud
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216
forerunner (literally)
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217
attiring, arraying
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218
valley, hollow
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219
Sonnets 2–6, written in Italian, are not here included
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220
arranged by compositional order rather than chronologically; dates of composition are, as usual, indicated with the title of each poem
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222
gracious, favorably inclined
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224
soon/soon enough (opportunely)
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225
barbarous, ignorant
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226
the cuckoo, linked to sexual jealousy/betrayal
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227
retinue, attendants
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228
ingenious, cunning, tricky
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229
speed, impetus
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230
are invested with
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231
yet? always?
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232
equal, proportionate
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235
[trisyllabic]
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236
luck, fortuitous circumstance
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237
In October 1642, during the early days of England’s civil war, the royalist army almost reached London; Milton’s house lay just outside the city walls
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238
Milton himself
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240
noble, honorable, gentlemanly
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242
Alexander the Great: Emathia was a Macedonian province
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243
Pindar, Greek poet
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244
music: in Athenian Greece, the chorus referred to in the next footnote would have been sung
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245
Euripides: a chorus from the play is said to have persuaded the Spartans not to sack Athens, in 404
B.C.
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246
the lady is unknown
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247
“I will rise now, and go about the city in the streets, and in the broad ways I will seek him” (Song of Solomon 3:2)
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248
conspicuously
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249
“And Jesus…said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things. But one good thing is needful, and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:41–42); see also Ruth 1:8–18
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250
are arrogant, presumptuous
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251
gnaw, wear away at
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252
compassion, pity
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254
follows, waits upon
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255
Lady Margaret, daughter of the Earl of Marlborough
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256
Marlborough died four days after King Charles dissolved his third Parliament, in 1629
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257
Philip of Macedon’s defeat of Thebes and Athens in 338
B.C
.
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