Lycidas

Quiz — Lycidas by John Milton

1. Recall – Form & Tradition: What literary form does Lycidas belong to, and which two classical poets are identified as the founding figures of that tradition?

1. Recall – Context: Who is the real person mourned in Lycidas, what was his connection to Milton, and how did he die?

1. Recall – Opening Imagery: What two plants does Milton reference at the opening of the poem, and what do they traditionally symbolize?

1. Recall – Speaker: Who is the "uncouth swain" introduced in the poem's closing coda, and what does this figure represent?

1. Comprehension – Central Question: What is the philosophical dilemma Milton identifies as the emotional and intellectual core of Lycidas? In your own words, explain the tension it creates.

1. Comprehension – Tonal Shift: Trace the movement of tone across Lycidas in three stages. What emotion or attitude dominates each stage, and what triggers the final resolution?

1. Comprehension – St. Peter's Speech: Why does the figure of St. Peter appear in the poem, and what is the target of his criticism? How does this section connect to the historical context in which Milton wrote?

1. Analysis – Symbolism of Water: The sea plays a dual symbolic role in Lycidas. Identify both roles and explain how this duality contributes to the poem's movement from grief toward consolation.

1. Analysis – Phoebus/Apollo: When the god Phoebus speaks in the poem, he redirects the argument about fame. Explain the distinction he draws and why this moment is considered the first genuine counter to despair in the poem.

1. Analysis – Closing Image: What do "fresh woods and pastures new" symbolize at the end of Lycidas, and how does the shift to the unnamed shepherd-narrator in the coda reinforce the poem's ultimate resolution?

Answer Key

1. Lycidas belongs to the pastoral elegy tradition, which traces back to Theocritus and Virgil, in which poets and the deceased are portrayed as shepherds.

1. The person mourned is Edward King, a fellow student at Christ's College, Cambridge. He drowned in the Irish Sea in August 1637 when his ship sank.

1. Milton references the laurel and the myrtle, classical plants associated with poetry and mourning, respectively. Picking them before they are fully mature signals his anxiety about assuming the elegist's role prematurely.

1. The "uncouth swain" is an unnamed shepherd-poet in the closing coda who represents Milton himself — young, still rough or unpolished, yet ready to move forward after processing his grief.

1. The central dilemma is: what is the value of devoting one's life to poetry and virtue if fate can cut a person down before they fulfil their potential? This creates tension between the effort of a dedicated life and the apparent randomness of early death.

1. The tone moves through three stages: (1) reluctant sorrow at the opening; (2) genuine anguish and anger, especially in the critique of the corrupt clergy; and (3) luminous resolution and hope, triggered by the vision of Lycidas reborn in heaven.

1. St. Peter appears to deliver a fierce attack on corrupt and lazy clergy — priests who pursue their roles for financial gain and social status rather than genuine faith. This connects to Milton's historical context: Archbishop Laud's Church of England was persecuting Puritan dissenters, and Milton's Puritan sympathies fuel the anger in this passage.

1. The sea acts first as a destroyer — the literal cause of King's death — and then, through Christian imagery, as a place of passage and rebirth. This duality mirrors the poem's arc: destruction gives way to transformation, underpinning the shift from grief to consolation.

1. Phoebus draws a distinction between earthly fame, which death can erase, and heavenly fame, which endures eternally. This is the poem's first truly convincing answer to despair because it relocates the value of a virtuous life outside the reach of mortality.

1. "Fresh woods and pastures new" symbolize renewal and the beginning of a new chapter — the poet has worked through grief and is ready to move forward. The coda's shift to the unnamed shepherd-narrator frames the entire elegy as a completed act of mourning, showing that grief has been processed and life can continue.