A Note on Milton's “Lycidas”*

Milton's “Lycidas” has been called the perfect poem. Critics of literature agree that the beauty of language, the richness of imagery, the intricate and yet easy-flowing rhyme scheme, the subtle use of alliteration, make it one of the treasured possessions of our language. It is also of perfect length, still short enough to be committed to memory. Some of the lines belong to the most often quoted in English literature.

Its author, John Milton, was one of those highly gifted and at the same time studious youths whose future seems to be assured. His parents were fully conscious of having produced a beautiful child of genius. So he was given every opportunity of developing his gifts. Indeed his father must have regarded him as an extension and a fulfilment of himself. For the older Milton was a man of parts, who wrote music for the viols and sacred and secular pieces for voices, as well as being devoted to poetry. He had been forced by outer circumstances into the uncongenial profession of scrivener, akin to our modern solicitor, in which profession, however, he was highly successful, becoming a wealthy man. He delighted in his elder son's talents, encouraged and fostered them. It is said that John wrote poetry at the age of ten, that he studied late into the night — much to the detriment of his health and especially to his eyesight — and that, while burning the midnight oil, he had one of the maids sit up with him. He was also given a tutor, a Scotsman named Young, from whom he learned his languages, Hebrew in particular