1695. villatic. Of the farmhouse. Pliny's villaticas alites.

Richardson cited

1696. cloudless thunder. Thunder out of a clear sky. 1699. self-begotten bird. The phoenix, that dying, produced from its ashes a successor; there being no other of its kind in the world. 1066

1700. embost. Embosked, hidden in the woods.

1702. holocaust. A whole burnt-offering.

1703. The simile may end with line 1702, in which case this line is spoken of 'Virtue'; or it may end with this line. teemed. Produced; a participle.

1704. revives. The subject of the verb is ' Virtue,' 1697. 1706. her. Virtue's.

1707. A secular bird. As a secular bird, as a phœnix. 'Secular' here means living for centuries.'

1709. quit. Acquitted. Cf. 509.

1713. Caphtor. Crete, whence the Philistines were said to have come. Cf. Amos ix. 7; Deut. ii. 23.

1727. lavers. Cf. Comus 838, note, p. 248.

1728. with what speed. With all possible speed. 1730-3. Cf. Judges xvi. 31.

1737. legend. Narrative,

1746. dispose. Disposal.

1749. hide his face. Percival notes that the scriptural" use of this expression commonly indicates God's displeasure.

1751. in place. Appropriately, fittingly. We use the opposite expression out of place' for an ill-timed remark, etc.

1755. acquist. Acquisition.

QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS.

The following questions and comments are added with some diffidence, for a good teacher is in no need of suggestions regarding the kind of questions to be put to a class. It is hoped, however, that the questions may help to encourage the student to think about what he is studying. As their main purpose is to arouse intellectual curiosity, the questions will be found, at times, to be such as will admit of no easy and definitive answer. To such ques

tions it is not assumed that the student's answers will possess critical value, but the time spent in coming to a conclusion will not be wasted. The questions are obviously not exhaustive: those asked at first are not repeated, for the teacher may readily frame similar questions for every poem. In the main, the order of difficulty is observed.

PSALMS CXIV. AND CXXXVI.

Compare these paraphrases with the psalms themselves, noting the changes which Milton made.

Which opinion do you prefer:-Masson's statement (Life, vol. I. p♣97) that the verses ‘have some poetic merit. They are clear, firmly-worded, and harmonious'; or, the statement that they are good rhetoric rather than good poetry? In the first edition of Masson's Life, I. p. 67, the statement ran: 'have real poetic merit.' Was the change judicious?

Milton's youthful imagination shows itself in the adjectives (why in the adjectives?) so liberally sprinkled through the paraphrases. Some of the adjectives are

much better than others: point out those that seem to you apt.

ON THE DEATH OF A FAIR INFANT.

Note on this poem and elsewhere constructions unlike those that are familiar to us. E. g. l. 1. no sooner blown but blasted '; 1. 2. 'Summer's chief honour, if thou hadst outlasted'; 1. 5. 'amorous on '; 1. 6. 'thought to kiss'; l. 13. 'long-uncoupled bed'; 1. 48. and thou some goddess fled'; 1. 66. To slake his wrath whom sin hath made our foe.'

What feelings may be looked for in an elegiac poem? To what extent are they present here? Cf. the comment on Lycidas, p. 328.

Is Milton's choice of words felicitous or only careful? Does his rather frequent use of double adjectives like 'swift-rushing'. signify anything? Milton employs in Lycidas 8-9 a repetition nearly like that in this poem 25-26: which repetition is the more effective? What do the last two lines of the poem mean?

AT A VACATION EXERCISE.

In this early essay in English verse Milton has ranged from grave to gay. The chief interest is not a poetical one, after all, although there is at least one passage of sound and good poetry in it. In what other ways is the poem interesting? What passage is good poetry? Observe that Milton holds to the couplet effect: that is, after most of the couplets there is a pause in sense, indicated by a punctuation mark. In only four or five cases does the sense proceed without break to the next couplet. This latter phenomenon is called enjambement, or a run-over,' or 'flow-over,' line. It also occurs, of course, within the couplet. What would be the effect if such run-over lines occurred more frequently? Read a page or two of Keats's Endymion to see what that effect is.

Can any conclusion as to Milton's sense of humor be drawn from this poem? his conception of poetry? the kind of subjects that appealed to him? It is important to note (why?) that Milton not only regards the English language as needing no apology, but also recognizes its fitness for a great theme.

ODE ON THE NATIVITY.

What is the effect of beginning with the four introductory stanzas, instead of immediately with the Hymn? The beginning of the Hymn carries out a pretty fancy rather than a very deep or serious thought; and the fancy itself has a slight incongruity. Nature, in awe, doffs her gaudy trim, and then, in guilty shame, pleads for a covering of innocence; as if the poet had first thought of earth's bareness as the appropriate laying aside of all ornament, and then, as an afterthought growing out of the figure in 1. 35-36, had regarded the same bareness as a revelation of earth's sin. This is to look at the lines more curiously, doubtless, than Milton intended, and yet some stanzas (e. g., stanza xiii.) bear the test better than do others. Milton's early poems contain figures whose power ranges from loftiness to far-fetched triviality,-conceits, we call figures of the latter kind. Can you tell, in this ode, where Milton seems to be writing in the deepest earnestness and where he is dealing lightly with a pleasant fancy? Is such variation a blemish or an added interest? How much of the poem deals with the scene of the Nativity itself? Milton is evidently inspired by the farreaching significance of the birth of Christ: wherein is this significance shown to be? In other words, what aspects of the subject chiefly attract Milton? What other aspects might he have treated? 1. 7. Does 'with' belong with work,' or 'peace'? 47. Why 'olive green'? 50. Why amorous'? 52. Allusion to what historical fact?

108. Happier 'than what? 143-4, note (p. 190). Was the change a good one?

UPON THE CIRCUMCISION.

Is the rather self-contained and intellectual tone of this poem due to the absence of feeling or the repression of feeling? or is neither explanation adequate? Are the two stanzas of equal interest to you? The first five lines of stanza i. seem to have more charm than the next four lines: is this your opinion? 1. 17. For' implies a reason: trace the progress of thought that makes the reason (what is it?) adequate. 21. 'great covenant': what covenant?

THE PASSION.

One may, respectfully enough, agree with Milton that the poem is a failure. Its incongruous mixture of sacred and profane, serious and fanciful, leaves an unpleasant impression on the reader. There are certain mechanical virtues to admire in it. The verse flows smoothly, the words sound well, the expression is clear and compact. 1. 6-7. Explain the appropriateness of the figure. 29-35. This stanza is possibly the sort of thing that Milton was ' nothing satisfied with.' What is the trouble with it?

MAY MORNING.

Note the change of metre which follows the change from the description to the invocation. Note, too, the happy simplicity of the words. Is the ending abrupt?

ON SHAKESPEAR.

It is always interesting to know what one great poet thought of another; and although the Milton who wrote these lines was by no means a great poet at the time, the lines remain as almost the only word of his on his greater