John Milton’s “How Soon Hath Time” is a poem that distinguishes between different meanings of time, both literally and in relation to God. Milton explores the significance of time from the perspective of himself, as a poet. He alludes to Calvinism, a doctrine shared with many others during the time period, in his acceptance of time as a way to step closer spiritually to God as he ages. Additionally, the text suggests that patience is a virtue that will heal Milton’s poetic powers through God. Outside of the direct text, the rhyme scheme and capitalization, as part of the structure of the poem also highlights time’s benefits. In “How Soon Hath Time”, John Milton makes use of double meaning in symbolism and the structure of the Petrarchan sonnet to illustrate that the passage of time is something to be accepted. Milton uses multiple objects or ideas to symbolize time in the hopes of illuminating that time passing is something one should accept, especially for the advancement of careers. For example, Milton uses a bird to represent time in the following lines, “Stol’n on his wing my three and twentieth year! / My hasting days fly on with full career” (Milton, 2-3). Milton portrays the bird as robbing, just like time is robbing the speaker’s life. However, the word “career” has a double meaning. It could be defined as a profession or speed. Time is taking away the speaker’s life quickly, but is also taking his career as a poet, into motion. Although the speaker seems to express pessimism, through words like “thief” or “Stol’n”, in the first few lines, he later admits that progressing through a period of time is necessary for the “Taskmaster”, or God, to allow him to become a better poet. Thus, Milton’s comparison of time to a bird s... ... middle of paper ... ...et accepts time passing in order to reach the more powerful God towards the end of the sonnet. Milton’s use of double meaning and his additions or modifications to the structure of the poem portray the poet’s surrendering to time and his respect for its path to God. The poet’s reference to God as a “Taskmaster” serves to highlight the context of its use in the parable “Matthew 20.1-16” in which a vineyard keeper would pay and treat the workers equally, whether they have been employed for a long duration of time or if they are newcomers. In relation to the poem, the poet’s path to God and God’s attempt at the betterment of an individual are equal in every person’s case, no matter how much he has achieved in his life. The only solution to God and Heaven is through time, and so the poet accepts time passing in light of his description of that it is a thief of life.
... its mysteries. References to time and transience fill these verses. Intervening with the many allusions to nature we see constant movement and change; “since there is no more to taste… Father we pick our last / fruits of the temporal.” But this time the approach is less seeking, more slow and uncommitted, reflecting the calmness and control acquired by experience.
Ever hear of the phrase “carpe diem”? It is a common Latin phrase meaning “seize the day” or in plain English, make the most of the time you have. This phrase is very well portrayed in Robert Herrick’s most popular poem “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time”. Herrick was an established poet in the mid-1900’s who lacked ambition but wrote remarkable poems. He was a graduate from Cambridge University, which took him seven years to complete, and a member of Ben Jonson’s circle of young friends (Herrick 380). Herrick was later appointed a priest at the parish of Dean Prior, in Devonshire. He carried this title at Dean Prior until he died at the age of 83 (Herrick 380). His education, unique living style, and his friends, all greatly influenced his extraordinary poems. In Herrick’s poem he describes carpe diem by using vivid words and images and by connecting the meaning and theme to personal feelings.
Great works of literature have been written throughout history. However, The Divine Comedy and Paradise Lost have the inept ability to stir the soul and cause a person to examine and re-examine their life. The brilliant descriptions, use of imagery, metaphor and simile give a person a vivid picture of the creation of man and the possibilities for life in the hereafter. This is done, as a person is able to see, full circle, from the beginning of time to the end of time, the consequences of turning away from God. The ability to see a life full circle is apparent through the examination of both of these poems. Although written many years ago, the morals and principles that they convey ring very true for people in this century as well as times yet to come.
Robert Herrick’s poem “Corinna’s going a Maying” at its surface is a love poem from a young man to his lover asking her to come with him to celebrate the festival and activities that surround the famous May Day. But on a deeper examination of the poem’s core is a lesson about exploring and experiencing our days before they fly by “as fast away as do’s the Sunne”(61). Within the last stanza (lines 57-70) the apprehension towards time is used to persuade Corinna to experience life before it begins “decaying” like time always does (69).
Throughout the text of Milton’s Paradise Lost, we can see many instances of binary relationships connecting separate conceptual ideas. The construction of "authorship" in the poem exists as a good example of just such a relationship. This theme incorporates two very different ideas in the poem, and is central to the understanding of issues concerning the creation and use of power.
...e meaning of this quote, which is saying that time flies by and there is nothing that can stop it or change anything along the way. The repetition of the mention of fountains enforced the idea of fate very well.
Critics of the Romantic Period have claimed that John Milton was unconsciously allied with the forces of evil. In Paradise Lost Milton’s accounts of “Devils & Hell” are much more elaborate and awe inspiring than those of “Angels & God.” Hell and Satan are portrayed extensively whereas the reader is given brief and inconclusive glimpses of Heaven. The apparent dichotomy is explained by William Blake: “The reason Milton wrote in fetters when he wrote of Angels & Gods, and at liberty when of Devils & Hell, is because he was a true Poet and of the Devil’s Party without knowing it.”
Living in a period of important religious and cultural flux, John Milton's poetry reflects the many influences he found both in history and in the contemporary world. With a vast knowledge of literature from the classical world of Greek and Roman culture, Milton often looked back to more ancient times as a means of enriching his works. At other times, however, he relies on his strong Christian beliefs for creating spiritually compelling themes and deeply religious imagery. Despite the seemingly conflicting nature of these two polarized sources of inspiration, Milton somehow found a way of bridging the gap between a pagan and a Christian world, often weaving them together into one overpowering story. The pastoral elegy Lycidas, written after the death of a fellow student at Cambridge, exemplifies this mastery over ancient and contemporary traditions in its transition from a pagan to a Christian context. Opening the poem in a setting rich with mythological figures and scenery, then deliberately moving into a distinctly Christian setting, Milton touches upon two personally relevant issues: poetry and Christian redemption. In this way, Lycidas both addresses the subject of being a poet in a life doomed by death and at the same time shows the triumphant glory of a Christian life, one in which even the demise of the poet himself holds brighter promises of eternal heavenly joy.
In conclusion, Paradise Lost can be seen through a historically contextual lens that allows us to see the parallels between Milton’s life and experiences during the reign of Charles I, and the predominant themes in his epic poem. Many of the themes in Paradise Lost, from the broader situational occurrences to the behavior of individual character’s and their attitudes toward the situations in which they find themselves can be seen as directly influenced by Milton’s time as a Parliamentarian in 17th century England.
Milton returned to England about 1641 when the political and religious affairs were very disturbing to many. He started to apply his work in practice for that one great work like Paradise Lost when penning the Sonnets. Not every sonnet is identical but they can be difficult in interpretation, styles, word use, and so forth. The purpose of this paper is to analyze Milton’s Sonnet 8 (ca 1642), “Captain or Colonel.” This will be done by explaining the type of theme and then separating the sonnet into three sections: lines 1-4, 5-8, and 9-14 for a better understanding of how Milton used the development of ongoing events to present problems with a mystical resolution.
In the opening lines of Paradise Lost, Milton wastes no time conveying to his readers what his purpose in writing the epic is. He writes in the beginning that he intends to “assert Eternal Providence, / and justifie the wayes of God to men” (I. 25-26). What exactly does this mean though? In order to be able to clearly judge and evaluate what these lines imply, it is important that one understands what exactly Milton’s thoughts we regarding “Eternal Providence” and the “wayes of God”. Stemming from this idea, it is important to also realize how the idea of free will intertwines with the omniscience of God. For Milton, God’s omniscient did not constrain the free will of Adam and Eve. However, this idea presents the reader with a paradoxical situation that Milton as an author was fully aware of. Paradise Lost presents the reader with eternal providence and free will as being part and parcel of each other, neither constrains the other, and it is these two aspects, along with that of knowledge that lay the groundwork in understanding Paradise Lost.
...undending sense of time “the slow clock ticking” she conscious of the unusual slowness of time. The poem ends by Mariana addressing God 'Oh God, that I were dead', here we have an ironic reference to Measure for Measure, indeed in the play Duke Vincentio diguised as a fiar reunites the two lovers.
Throughout Paradise Lost, Milton uses various tools of the epic to convey a traditional and very popular Biblical story. He adds his own touches to make it more of an epic and to set forth new insights into God's ways and the temptations we all face. Through his uses of love, war, heroism, and allusion, Milton crafted an epic; through his references to the Bible and his selection of Christ as the hero, he set forth a beautifully religious Renaissance work. He masterfully combined these two techniques to create a beautiful story capable of withstanding the test of time and touching its readers for centuries.
The regularity with which Milton frequently conforms to principles of epic structure make his occasional (but nevertheless fundamental) variations on the epic tradition all the more striking by contrast. The most important departures from epic decorum--the rejection of a martial theme, and the choice of an argument that emphasizes the hero's transgression and defeat instead of celebrating his virtues and triumphs--are paradoxically conditioned by concern for the ethical and religious decorum of the epic genre. On the whole, Milton has retained the formal motifs and devices of the heroic poem but has invested them with Christian matter and meaning. In this sense his epic is . . . something of a "pseudomorph"--retaining the form of classical epic but replacing its values and contents with Judeo-Christian correlatives. (Epic and Tragic Structure . . . 20)
... is romantic and at ease, but he turns brisk and honest as time disintegrates. This image becomes crystal clear with words and phrases such as, "heart", "beauty", "youthful hue sits on thy skin", "our sweetness", "virginity", "breast", and "pleasures". All of these words provide the reader with an illustration of the man's desires. The use of imagery permits the author to fully describe the necessity of time, and allows the reader to visualize the thoughts and feelings that the characters experience.