Minor Poems by Milton Part 17

434. Blue meagre hag. The _hag_ has the livid hue of hunger.

436. swart faery of the mine. A malignant demon dwelling under ground,--a gnome.

441. the huntress Dian. The powerful G.o.ddess Diana, or Artemis, twin sister of Apollo, was figured bearing a bow and arrows.

448. wise Minerva. Minerva, or Pallas Athene, is usually represented as wearing on her breast the aegis with a border of snakes and the Gorgon's head in the centre.

460-462. Note the different modes in begin and turns, where we should look for similar constructions.

487. The ellipsis of _we had_ is readily supplied. Draw and stand are infinitives.

494. Thyrsis, a stock shepherd-name. The spirit henceforth appears to his fellow-actors in the mask as the shepherd with whom they are familiar.

495-512. These lines express sudden emotion, and approximate lyric in character. Hence the rhyme.

508. How chance she is not. Supply the ellipsis.

517. Chimeras is here used vaguely in the plural to mean dangerous monsters.

526. With many murmurs mixed. The enchanter spoke or sang forms of incantation over his mixing and brewing. Recall Macbeth.

529. The word mintage has an interesting history. The human countenance is conceived as an imprint, like the characters on a coin.

530. Charactered in the face. The _noun character_ Milton p.r.o.nounces with accent on the first syllable, as does Shakespeare. Probably he also agrees with Shakespeare in p.r.o.nouncing the _verb_ with the accent on the second syllable, as this verse suggests.

531. crofts. The word is still in use in England, meaning a small farm.

540. by then the chewing flocks: by the time when, etc.

547. To meditate my rural minstrelsy: to play on my shepherd-pipe and to sing. To meditate the muse is a standard expression of the pastoral poets. See Lycidas 66.

552. What do we know was the cause of this unusual stop of sudden silence?

553-554. The cessation of the din gave to the steeds of sleep, and to people who were trying to sleep, relief from annoyance.

557-560. Be sure you understand the figure.

560. Still, in its very frequent sense, _always_.

562. Under the ribs of Death: in a skeleton.

575. such two; describing them.

586. Shall be unsaid for me: it is not necessary for me to make any change in my opinion to make it harmonize with this new aspect of affairs.

595. Gathered like sc.u.m, and settled to itself. The two metaphors thus combined make a rather strange mixture.

598. The pillared firmament. By the _firmament_ is usually understood the sphere of the fixed stars. How to introduce the conception of _pillars_ is not clear.

604. Acheron. See Par. Lost II 578.

605. The Harpies were monstrous birds with women's heads. Their doings are described aeneid III. The Hydra was a monster serpent with a hundred heads.

607. his purchase: his acquisition.

610. I love thy courage yet, though thou hast spoken most unwisely.

611. can do thee little stead: can avail thee but little.

617. utmost s.h.i.+fts: most carefully devised precautions.

620. Of small regard to see to: of very insignificant appearance.

621. A virtuous plant is a plant which has virtues, i.e. powers or qualities.

624. Which when I did. The modern English has lost the power of beginning a sentence thus, with two relatives.

626. scrip, a word in no way connected with _script_.

627. And show me simples of a thousand names. Compare Hamlet IV 7 145, "no cataplasm so rare, Collected from all simples that have virtue Under the moon."

634. Unknown and like esteemed: neither known nor esteemed.

635. Treads on it daily with his clouted shoon. See 2 Henry VI. IV 2 195,--"Spare none but such as go in clouted shoon," and Hamlet IV 5 26,--"By his c.o.c.kle hat and staff, And his sandal shoon."

636. The story of Hermes' giving Ulysses the Moly read in Odyssey X.

"Therewith the slayer of Argos gave me the plant that he had plucked from the ground, and he showed me the growth thereof. It was black at the root, but the flower was like to milk. Moly the G.o.ds call it, but it is hard for mortal men to dig; howbeit with the G.o.ds all things are possible."

638. He called it Haemony. _Haemony_ is a nonce-word of Milton's own coining. He may have derived it from a Greek word meaning _skilful_ or from another meaning _blood_.

640. mildew blast, or damp. _Blast_ is defined by Dr. Murray: "A sudden infection destructive to vegetable or animal life (formerly attributed to the blowing or breath of some malignant power, foul air, etc.)"; and _damp_: "An exhalation, a vapor or gas, of a noxious kind."

641. Or ghastly Furies' apparition: or the appearance of terrifying ghosts.

646. Entered the very lime-twigs of his spells. _Lime_ was a viscous substance, spread upon the twigs of trees and bushes to entangle the feet of birds. The figure is frequent in Shakespeare. See Hamlet III 3 68, "O limed soul, that, struggling to be free, Art more engaged."

657. apace: quickly.

In the stage directions, goes about means, makes a movement.

661. as Daphne was, Root-bound, that fled Apollo. The great G.o.d, Apollo, pursuing the nymph Daphne, Diana saved her by transforming her into a laurel tree.

672. this cordial julep. _Julep_ is a word of Persian origin, meaning rose-water. Note the poet's skill in culling words of delicious sound.

675. Not that Nepenthes which the wife of Thone In Egypt gave to Jove-born Helena. See Odyssey IV: "Then Helen, daughter of Zeus, cast a drug into the wine whereof they drank, a drug to lull all pain and anger, and bring forgetfulness of every sorrow.... Medicines of such virtue and so helpful had the daughter of Zeus, which Polyd.a.m.na, the wife of Thon, had given her, a woman of Egypt."

685. the unexempt condition: the condition from which no one is exempt.

695. These oughly-headed monsters. Perhaps by this peculiar spelling, _oughly_, Milton meant to add to the word _ugly_ a higher degree of ugliness.