MILTON'S LYCIDAS

Lycidas is one of the greatest pastoral elegies in the English language. It follows the glorious tradition of Greek elegiac pastoral poetry. Later it became a model for Shelley's 'Adonais' and Matthew Arnold's Thyrsis. European elegiac pastoral poetry begins with the works of the Sicilian poet, Theocritus His 'Elegy on Daphms' describes the beauty, the constancy in love and the ultimate death of a shepherd. Following his model Byron wrote 'Lament for Adonis' and Moschus his 'Elegy on Bion.' The pastoral elegy of these Greek poets was later taken up by Roman poets like Virgil, French poets like Marot and English poets like Spenser. Milton in writing the elegy on the death of his friend Edward King closely followed the conventions set up by the early practitioners. In fact 'Lycidas' embodies more than any other pastoral poem all the multifarious elements of pastoralism.

The invocation of the laurel and muses with which the poem opens fixes it immediately in the pastoral tradition. As pastoralism means shepherd life, the poet imagines himself to be a shepherd and he is mourning for another shepherd. (he poet explains the occasion for writing the poem and depicts his friend as dead before his prime. It is the sudden untimely end of a precious spirit that calls for Doric lays and 'oaten pipes.' Another important feature of the pastoral elegy is the practice of presenting a procession of mourners. In 'Lycidas' the principal mourners are three: the pastoral landscape with its shepherds representing poetry, the spirit of the river Cam representing scholarship and St. Peter representing religion. Again, in the pastoral tradition the poet reproaches the gods for not saving the dead man from disaster. The nymphs of the sea had not come to his rescue. But then the poet realizes that they could nave done nothing to avert the calamity. It was an ill-fated ship, built in an eclipse and tragedy was inevitable.

         Milton also employs the pastoral practice of depicting Nature as sharing the grief of the human world. The woods and hills, the caves and rivers are described as mourning for Lycidas. This convention of pathetic fallacy goes back to Theocritus and Bion. Again in the manner of these Sicilian pastoral poets Milton gives a list of flowers that are to be offered in honour of the dead-the rathe primrose, the pale gessamine, the glowing violet, the well-attired woodbine and a host of other summer flowers "to strew the laureate Herse where Lycid lies."

The famous digression in 'Lycidas' on Fame and the corrupt clergy are also in line with the pastoral tradition. Reflections on fickle Fame are natural in a poem whose theme is death. The attack on the corrupt clergy is also nothing new. Satire of the clergy was a recognized feature of Renaissance pastoral poetry. As Edward King had intended to take holy orders St. Peter's tirade against the corrupt church is in place. Digressions of this nature are part of pastoral tradition and Milton make effective use of them in this poem.                                                            •

The conclusion of the poem is also in the general pastoral tradition. The note of grief and loss gives way to the note of reconciliation, resignation and even rapture at the end. In a fine blending of pagan and Christian beliefs, Milton claims that Lycidas is not dead. He is in heaven keeping the company of saints and angels and acting as the guardian spirit of the Irish sea. He is like the sun that rises every morning in celestial glory. Lycidas has passed through the portals of death to the joys of an everlasting life.

It is worth recalling Dr. Johnson's famous criticism of the pastoral machinery of the poem. His main complaint is that 'Lycidas' is destitute of genuine feeling for "passion runs not after remote allusions and obscure opinions .... Where there is leisure for fiction there is little grief," It is indeed. Unfair criticism. Dr. Johnson is applying here the tests of prose to poetry. Milton wrote at a time when pastoral poetry was much in favour. Milton actually followed tradition in 'Lycidas." In spite of Dr. Johnson's criticism, the poem has received almost universal praise through ages. Mark Pattison, a famous critic, says that 'Lycidas' is the high watermark of English poetry and its full enjoyment a final fruit of literary culture.