Crittenden press., 1907-01-10
Criticism on Mil
tons Minor Poems
BY MISS MAY TRAVIS

OF MARION nlBn SCHOOl Dec' IL.
Milton, the author of Paradise
Lost is so transcendently great that
be quit over shadows Milton, the
author of L'Allegro, II Penseroso,
Arcades, Comus, and, ,Laycidas. Yet
had the latter been all that he ever
wrote they would place HIM almost as
high as Shakespeare. After Melton
had completed his college course at
Cambridge he went to his fathers
at Horton and it was during his stay
Of six years here, that the Minor
Poems were written.
L'Allegro and II Penseroso were
written in 1888 and are a very beau
tiful reflection of Milton and his sur
roundings. They are masterpieces of
English literature which have few
equals and perhaps one superior in
the poems of Shakespeare. Each
piece is directly in contrast with the
other, yet each is necessary to COM
plete the thought. Garnett has said
that they ''may be in a sense regard
ed as one poem, whose theme is the
reasonable life.
Throughout L'Allegro, mirthful
though it is, there is an undertone
not of cheerfulness but of sadness
while in II Penseroso, the poem of
Melancholy, the is an undertone of
gayety. In these poems Milton
shows himself a cavalier in all save
his severe chastity. In them he de-
monstrates his belief in the close con-
nectiOn of seriousness and gayety of
heart.
As painter Of nature Milton
shows himself an artist of marvellous
skill. His method was that of the
time in which he lived, absolutely
true in broad effects, sometimes ILL
defined and even inaccurate in min
ute details" He displays a true
love of the beautiful in nature, though
he saw it so largely through books.
We see the
Meadows trim, with daisies pied, in
shallow brooks and rivers wide,
L'Allegro or In IL Penseroso the
"Arched walks of twilight groves,
and shadows brown that Sylvan
loves.
As plainly almost as if they were
really before our eyes.
Milton uses many classical illusions
in the poems, especially in the al
Penseroso, when understood, these
add greatly to the beauty Of the
poems; but when they are not, they
detract from our interest. Some
critics condemn Melton for this.
others commend him. A notable
feature in their use, is their blend
ing with the Christian religion and
the worship of the true God. This
makes thom even more difficult to un-
derstand.
Some critics have accused Melton
of inaccuracy in his mythology, be-
cause he does not follow the old ac-
cepted canons. This is not exactly
Just, however, for he did this not
through lack of knowlege, but for
the purposes of the poem. Thus he
makes Venus, the Goddess of Beauty
and Bacchus, the god of revelry and
wine, the parents of Mitth, while
melancholy is the daughter of Vesta,
the goddess of the home, and Satarn,
the duty of civilization. Certainly
no one can deny that in both cases
the genealogy is most appropriate.
In L'Allegro and II Peeseroso we
see the full soul of the complete man.
The true man has sympathy for every
thing that is pure and good, whether
1t be gay or grave in the whole life.
He would turn away not only from
the "vain deluding joys" of folly and
sin, but also from the 'Hloathed mel
anchOly of dark despair and unbelief.
There is a time Tor cheerfulness and
harmless mlrth as we'll aa for quiet
and retrospect.
"Never were ideas of such dignity |