Good folk, for gold or hire, But help me to a crier; For my poor heart is run astray After two eyes that passed this way. O yes, O yes, O yes, If there be any man In town or country can And by these marks I will you show But having got this haunt,2 I fear For God's sake, walking by the way, 20 If you my heart do see, Either impound it for a stray Or send it back to me. LOVE GEORGE HERBERT [This poem expresses the experience of a penitent Christian, whose soul is conceived of as a guest in the house of Divine Love. The second and third stanzas are a dialogue between guest and Host.] Love bade me welcome; yet my soul drew back, Guilty of dust and sin. But quick-eyed Love, observing me grow slack From my first entrance in, Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning If I lack'd anything. "A guest," I answered, "worthy to be here:" Love said, "You shall be he." "I, the unkind, ungrateful? Ah, my dear, L'ALLEGRO JOHN MILTON [The title means "The Cheerful Man," as opposed to the subject of the companion poem, "Il Penseroso," "The Sober (Reflective) Man.' From line 11 to the end the theme may be said to be Mirth, personified in Euphrosyne.] Hence, loathed Melancholy, Of Cerberus1 and blackest midnight born In Stygian cave forlorn, 'Mongst horrid shapes, and shrieks, and sights unholy! Find out some uncouth cell Where brooding Darkness spreads his jealous wings And the night raven sings; There, under ebon shades and lowbrowed rocks As ragged as thy locks, In dark Cimmerian desert2 ever dwell. But come, thou goddess fair and free, In heaven yclept3 Euphrosyne, And by men, heart-easing Mirth, Whom lovely Venus, at a birth With two sister Graces more, To ivy-crownèd Bacchus bore: Or whether (as some sager sing) The frolic wind that breathes the spring, Zephyr, with Aurora" playing As he met her once a-Maying, There, on beds of violets ble, 20 And fresh-blown roses washed in dew, Quips and cranks6 and wanton wiles, On the light fantastic toe; I Cerberus. The monster-guard of the gates of the Stygian under-world (Hades). 2 Cimmerian desert. Near Hades, supposed to be always hidden in mist. 3 yclept. Called. 4 sager. More wisely. 5 Zephyr with Aurora. 20 If goodness lead him not, yet weariness May toss him to my breast." (1633) Dawn. The West Wind with the 40 50 And in thy right hand lead with thee Whilst the landscape round it meas Basks at the fire his hairy strength. In weeds12 of peace high triumphs hold 120 With store of ladies, whose bright eyes 9 She. The girl who tells the fairy stories; the following "he" is another narrator. 10 friar's lantern. The will-o'-the-wisp light. II goblin. Robin Goodfellow, who it was said would work for any who would set for him a bowl of cream. 12 weeds. Garments. 13 influence. Like that supposed to proceed from the stars. 14 Hymen. God of marriage. 15 mask. A musical pageant-play. Such sights as youthful poets dream Such as the meeting soul may pierce In notes with many a winding bout3 Of linked sweetness long drawn out, With wanton heed and giddy cunning, The melting voice through mazes running, 142 Untwisting all the chains that tie From golden slumber on a bed IL PENSEROSO JOHN MILTON 150 Yet thou art higher far descended: His daughter she (in Saturn's reign Whilst yet there was no fear of Jove. 30 40 All in a robe of darkest grain14 49 9 pensioners. Followers. Morpheus was god of dreams. 10 Memnon. An ancient king of Ethiopia. 11 Ethiop queen. Cassiopeia. 12 Vesta. Goddess of the hearth. 13 Saturn. A god who reigned in Mt. Iaa, Crete, but was dispossessed by his son Jove. 14 grain. Dye. 16 cypress-lawn. A thin crape. 17 decent. Modest. 15 stole. Scarf. Sweet bird, that shunn'st the noise of folly, Most musical, most melancholy! 71 Thee, chauntress, oft the woods among Or the bellman's drowsy charm 80 To bless the doors from nightly harm.? The spirit of Plato, to unfold What worlds or what vast regions hold And of11 those demons that are found With the Attic boy22 to hunt, But kerchieft in a comely cloud, Where the rude axe with heavèd stroke 12 consent. Agreement. 13 Stories told in tragedies by Eschylus and Sophocles. 14 buskined. Tragic (the buskin being the symbol of tragedy as the sock was of comedy). 15 Musaus. A Greek poet. 16 See note on L'Allegro, line 150. 17 The reference is to Chaucer's unfinished "Squire's Tale." 18 virtuous. Powerful (magically). 19 This may refer to Spenser's Faerie Queene. 20 civil-suited. Plainly dressed (like a civilian). 21 frounced. Curled. 22 Allic boy. Cephalus,loved by Aurora, goddess of morning. 23 Sylvan. A forest god. |