Il Penseroso| by John Milton| part-1| meg01
Channel: ENGLISH IN HINDI
Date: 2020-06-28

Speaker or Narrator, and Point of View

A person, probably a poet, dedicated to living a life of contemplation
#Form and Meter

Both “L’Allegro” and "Il Penseroso” begin with ten-line introductions in which the rhyme scheme (abbacddeec) resembles the Italian sonnet (abbaabbacdeede) and the line lengths (alternating between 6 and 10 syllables) resemble the Italian canzone (alternating between 7 and 11 syllables). The poems that follow the introductions are written in couplets, with 8-syllable lines, but Milton frequently breaks his own form by interjecting 7-syllable lines. He distorts the form less in "Il Penseroso" than “L’Allegro,” which makes “Il Penseroso” feel smoother and more controlled, formally echoing the speaker’s call to walk with “even step.”
#Metaphors and Similes
"Come pensive nun, devout and pure"

Milton describes Melancholy as a nun to emphasize her purity. Though she is not literally a nun, she is like a nun in that she is "devout and pure."
#Alliteration and Assonance
"Or if the air will not permit 
Some still removed place will fit" 
Repetition of /i/ sounds
"In sage and solemn tunes have sung" 
Repetition of /s/ sounds
#Genre
Classical debate, classical hymn, ode

Setting
The poem moves from the forest, to a tower, to a church.
#Tone
The tone is sober and studied. It can be described through almost any of the adjectives the speaker applies to Melancholy.
#Protagonist and Antagonist
"Il Penseroso" only has a loose narrative, but to the extent it has a protagonist and antagonist, the protagonist is the speaker, and the antagonist is "vain deluding Joys," or the argument of "L'Allegro."
#Allusions
"Or call up him that left half told 
The story of Cambuscan bold, 
Of Camball, and of Algarsife, 
And who had Canace to wife, 
That own'd the virtuous ring and glass"
In these lines, the speaker alludes to "The Squire's Tale," one of the stories in Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales." It's an interesting choice, because "The Squire's Tale" is one of the stories Chaucer famously leaves unfinished. Before the Squire can finish telling his tale, the Franklin interrupts him and begins his own story. The conflict between the two characters mirrors the tension between "L'Allegro" and "Il Penseroso." As in "Canterbury Tales," Milton's speakers are giving speeches about who they are, while simultaneously trying to cut the other down. 

Personification
"While Cynthia checks her dragon’s yolk”
Cynthia is another name for the moon. Milton depicts her, as she is frequently personified, as a woman pulled through the sky by a fleet of harnessed dragons.
Il Penseroso Themes
Debate
Milton uses “Il Penseroso” and "L'Allegro" to make two specific arguments, and also to explore what it means to make an argument in the first place. Together, the poems model the speeches students were taught to make at Cambridge, where they proved their ability in rhetoric debate. 
Self-Development
Scholars who argue that "L'Allegro" and "Il Penseroso" chart the story of one person progressing from youth to old age have pointed out that the speaker in “Il Penseroso” is more aware of himself than the speaker in “L’Allegro." The speaker in "L'Allegro" mentions himself so infrequently that it’s often difficult to figure out where he fits into the scenes he describes. The speaker in “Il Penseroso,” by contrast, returns to his position in the world again and again. The implication is that the life of contemplation leads you to a more concrete sense of self, a better-developed point of view.
Solitude and Companionship
Unlike the speaker in “L’Allegro,” the speaker in “Il Penseroso" is always alone. It’s only in the final lines of the poem, when music flows from a church, that he finds companions, and even then we don’t see actual people: we only know they are there from the music. If the speaker in “Il Penseroso” has relationships, they’re with the people he encounters in the books he reads every day.
Self-Development
Scholars who argue that "L'Allegro" and "Il Penseroso" chart the story of one person progressing from youth to old age have pointed out that the speaker in “Il Penseroso” is more aware of himself than the speaker in “L’Allegro." The speaker in "L'Allegro" mentions himself so infrequently that it’s often difficult to figure out where he fits into the scenes he describes. The speaker in “Il Penseroso,” by contrast, returns to his position in the world again and again. The implication is that the life of contemplation leads you to a more concrete sense of self, a better-developed point of view.
Solitude and Companionship
Unlike the speaker in “L’Allegro,” the speaker in “Il Penseroso" is always alone. It’s only in the final lines of the poem, when music flows from a church, that he finds companions, and even then we don’t see actual people: we only know they are there from the music. If the speaker in “Il Penseroso” has relationships, they’re with the people he encounters in the books he reads every day.