The Annotated Milton: Complete English Poems (168 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
383
a candle—but Death extinguishes a person’s light
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385
decompose, die
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386
the indestructible stuff of which stars and other heavenly bodies are formed
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387
just as the stars revolve, so too did Hobson, back and forth, back and forth, back and forth….
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389
measures, assigns values to
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390
any mechanical contrivance/machine
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391
primary cause, which was movement
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392
at once—but also “straight” in the sense of no longer revolving
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393
one sense of the word “breathe,” as in “to take breath,” is “to rest”
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394
“term” = when college is in session, “vacation” = when college is not in session
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395
“drive the time away” as in “killing time”—but he was literally a “driver” (coachman)
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396
(1) brought to life, (2) made to go faster
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397
“fetch and carry” = common phraseology
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398
abolished, done away with—but also “put down” in the ground, buried
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399
i.e., six men will be required/used to carry him to his grave
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400
boredom, sorrow
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401
involving unconcern with time
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402
load = burden
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405
a form of torture
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406
transformed, like so many classical figures, into a star/constellation?
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407
the “date” of a document is the “time” assigned to it (by the calendar)
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408
i.e., as regular as the moon
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409
“wain” = wagon; “wane” = decrease
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410
written on his tomb, or as his funereal inscription generally, just as letters too have their “superscriptions,” or inside addresses
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411
hold/enclose the corpse of
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412
dead in childbirth, together with her child, in 1631, at age twenty-three
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413
Thomas, Viscount of Rock-Savage
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414
on her mother’s side, heir of Lord Darcy, Earl of Rivers
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415
counted, reckoned up
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419
she had been married at sixteen; at twenty-three she died
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420
cypress = a funereal wood, its branches and twigs a symbol of mourning
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421
born in 1629
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422
goddess of childbirth
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423
childbirth labor
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424
one of the three Fates, who cut the thread of life
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425
the child was dead before delivery
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426
a cutting from a plant/flower
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429
youth, rustic, lover
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431
springtime, like springtime
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432
predictive, warning
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433
the mountain where the Muses dwelled
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434
twigs/sprays used as wreaths
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436
the River Cam, for which Cambridge is named
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438
the child she bore was Benjamin
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439
happiness (in heaven)
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440
(in Italian) lively, cheerful, gay, merry
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441
monstrous dog, guardian of the entrance to Hades
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442
Styx = underground river across which Charon ferried the souls of the dead into Hades
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444
small, solitary chamber
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445
projecting cliff edges
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446
according to Homer, a people who live at the outer edge of the world and thus are in perpetual darkness
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447
named, called
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448
the three Graces are Agalia, Thalia, and Euphrosyne [four syllables, the second and fourth accented]
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450
jolly, lively, unresisting
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452
affable, graceful
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453
fanciful turns of speech, conceits
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454
sportive/cunning/amorous tricks
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455
nod of the head, signaling either assent or command
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456
goddess of youth [bisyllabic]
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457
frolic, diversion
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459
slow, listless
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461
“rear” as in “rear guard”: the image is military
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462
as in “haystack”
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463
brave, fierce, vigorous
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464
“struts his dames before” = struts in front of his lady folk
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466
in plain view, openly
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467
elevated, distinguished, of high rank
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468
display of high dignity/rank/wealth
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469
elaborate costumes/uniforms
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470
equipped, ordered
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473
reddish brown
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474
farmland ploughed and harrowed but left uncultivated for a period (usually a year)
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475
spotted, variegated
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476
indented parapets at the tops of walls
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477
i.e., some beautiful woman
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479
center of attraction
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480
Corydon and Thyrsis = prototypical names for characters in Greek pastorals
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481
leafy edible plants
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483
deft, dexterous
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485
abode, cottage
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487
bundles made after reaping (usually of grains)
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488
i.e., before harvest time (autumn)
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489
conduct, guide, show the way
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490
browned by exposure
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491
conical heaps of hay, in the fields/pastures
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493
free from care/doubt/worry
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495
small villages or groups of houses, having no church
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496
merry, joyful, light-hearted
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497
primitive three-stringed fiddle
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498
a principal fairy
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499
cakes, sweetmeats, dainties
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500
threshing tool: a wooden handle to which is tied a free-swinging clublike swingle (or “swipple”)
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502
beneficent goblin
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503
stuffed with food
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504
morning call
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506
public spectacle/festivity
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507
sufficient/abundant supply
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508
god of marriage
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509
orange-red/yellow
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511
splendor, magnificence
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512
Ben Jonson, 1572–1637, poet, dramatist, critic; friend/colleague of Shakespeare
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513
comedy (in which the actors wore low-heeled slippers, or “socks”)
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516
the Lydian (ancient Greek) mode (musical scale) was soft, often melancholy; air = melodies
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