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
The Annotated Milton: Complete English Poems (169 page)
520
attention, care
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521
whirling, intoxicated
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522
skill, craft
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523
legendary poet/musician
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525
Elysian Fields/Elysium = legendary island of the blessed
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527
lord of the underworld
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528
Orpheus had won her right to live again, provided he not look back at her as she followed him up into the world of the living. He finally did look back, at her urgent request, and she disappeared forever [four syllables, second and fourth accented]
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529
The reference is to Marlowe’s “Passionate Shepherd” see also lines 37–40, above
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530
(in Italian) thoughtful, serious, grave
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531
help, assist
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532
resolved, determined
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534
foolish, credulous, idiotic
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536
minute particle (of dust)
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537
hirelings, mercenaries, tools, creatures
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538
son of Hypnos (Sleep), and god of dreams
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539
reach, light upon
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540
a handsome Ethiopian prince; his sister’s name is Himera—but the allusion remains obscure
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542
Cassiopeia, queen of Ethiopia, boasted that Andromeda, her daughter, was more beautiful than the Nereids, who responded by turning Andromeda into a constellation [“Ethiope” = bisyllable—i.e., first syllable stressed, second syllable elided]
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543
virgin daughter of Saturn (Chronos) and goddess of the hearth
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544
in Crete? where Jove (Zeus) lived—and plotted against Saturn (Chronos)
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545
priestess of a pagan deity
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546
sober, grave, serious, reserved
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548
sable-colored: black
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549
mantlelike vestment, worn over the shoulders
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550
fine linen fabric; unlike most linens, cypress lawn is black
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552
usual, habitual, customary
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553
to communicate/hold intercourse with
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554
transported, carried away, enraptured
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555
steadfast, firm, grave, serious
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557
glance, look
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558
i.e., her eyes
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559
with equal firmness
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561
fasting (abstinence from food)
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564
well-ordered
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565
“the Cherub Contemplation” (line 54, below)
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566
Ezekiel’s vision of a heavenly chariot: see Ezekiel 10:1–2 and 9–22
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567
[five syllables, first, third, and fifth accented]
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568
summon (with a whisper)
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570
the nightingale
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571
mood, manner
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572
moon goddess
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573
curbs, restrains
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574
yoke = wooden device for coupling more than one horse or other dray animal to one vehicle
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575
singer (the nightingale)
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576
solicit, entreat
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577
not by lawn cutting but by sheep nibbling
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578
a piece/patch of ground, usually small
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579
deep mournful tone
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581
remote, secluded
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583
the night watchman/town crier
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585
the constellation Ursa Major (“Great Bear”), which never sets
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586
Hermes Trismegistus (“thrice great Hermes”), third-century Neoplatonist
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587
Plato’s spirit is assumed, here, to now reside in a planetary sphere: Plato argued that great men’s souls do in fact so ascend after their bodies die
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590
corner, outlying/remote region
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591
a being intermediate between god and man: an inferior deity
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592
accord, agreement
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593
brilliant, showy
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594
scepter = ornamental rod/wand
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595
rich purple cloth
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596
of which Oedipus was king
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597
i.e., Agamemnon, Orestes, Electra, Iphigenia
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598
high thick-soled boots worn in tragedies, as opposed to the “sock” (low slipper) worn in comedies
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599
mythical Greek poet, said to have been taught by Orpheus
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600
Geoffrey Chaucer, “Squire’s Tale” (in
Canterbury Tales
): the first two parts were finished, but we have only the first two lines of part three
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601
[three syllables, first and third accented]
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603
not ironic, but a reference to Spenser, one of Milton’s favorite poets, who (in Book IV, canto 2, of
The Fairie Queene
) added allegory to the tale Chaucer left unfinished
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606
decked, adorned
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607
pleated, curled
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608
Cephalus, husband of Procris, trapped in an ultimately fatal human-deity triangle when Eos (“dawn”) fell in love with him
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609
god of forests
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610
harsh, violent, rugged
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611
lifted, raised
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612
frequently visited place
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613
shelter, covering
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614
unhallowed, polluted, alien
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615
glaringly bright
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616
company? harmony?
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617
tutelary god/spirit
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619
bounds [noun]
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620
arched, vaulted
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621
“massily” [adverb]
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622
ornamented with scenes (“stories”) from history, legend, etc.
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623
made, ordered, arrayed
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624
resounding, sounding forth
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627
catch sight of
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628
Leto, a Titan, mother of twins, Apollo and Artemis, whose father is Zeus
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629
the Great Mother [trisyllabic, first and third syllables accented]
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630
i.e., give her any further competitive advantage
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631
gentlemanly, noble, high-born, aristocratic
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632
shepherds, rustics
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633
Arcadia: region of Greece which Virgil’s
Eclogues
made the traditional locale of the pastoral ideal
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634
river, stream
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635
river that fell in love with the nymph Arethusa and, after Diana transformed her into a fountain, flowed under the sea to reach her
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636
buskin halfboot
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637
generous, noble, honorable
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639
skillful, dainty, pretty, elegant
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640
profuse, extravagant, sportive, fanciful
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641
noxious, harmful
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642
blighting, infectious
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644
crossing, traversing (the sky)
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646
ulcerative, decaying
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648
hunting horn
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651
potent, powerful
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