The sound of the sea is suggested in the following lines: Scylla wept, And chid her barking waves into attention, And fell Charybdis murmured soft applause.1 The luxuriance of spring is felt in a reference to the love of Zeus and Hera: As Jupiter On Juno smiles when he impregns the clouds That shed May flowers. 2 The name of Jove seems often to suggest the upper air and the broad sky." This consideration of the mythology in Milton's descriptions of nature is the most important of any thus far, since it opens the way to more thorough appreciation of his independence and originality, and of the true nature of his classicism and his artistic temperament. As we approach these questions, the first thing for us to consider is that the part assigned to mythology in such descriptions varies widely in extent. One description may be entirely made up from mythology; another may reveal only a slight touch of it; in a third the mythical element may be wholly lacking, the personification employed being derived from another source. An analysis of several passages will clearly reveal the variation. In Lycidas the line, While the still morn went out with sandals gray,+ contains no mythological allusion. In the same poem occur the lines, Oft till the star that rose at evening bright Toward heaven's descent had sloped his westering wheel. 5 1 C. 257. 2 P. L. 4. 499; see p. 49. 3 This is evident in Comus, especially in the beginning, and in the lines On the Death of a Fair Infant 43-46. 4Lyc. 187. The ancients did not speak of the morning as 'gray.' Milton, however, seems to have delighted in this color as applied to the morning. See P. L. 7. 373; P. R. 4. 427; cf. the use in P. L. 5. 186; L'Al. 71. 5 30, 31. This last passage contains only a slight mythical coloring. It consists in the allusion to the star's chariot, an idea which is more commonly associated with the sun, or moon, or night.' The mythological element is slightly increased in the following passage of Paradise Regained: Thus passed the night so foul, till Morning fair Of thunder, chased the clouds, and laid the winds.2 The mention of the Morning's 'radiant finger' appears to be an adaptation of the Homeric epithet 'rosy-fingered,' and her action in driving away the clouds may be partly suggested by the common idea that she puts the Night to rout, and partly by an expression which Vergil uses of Neptune." The rest of the passage is peculiar to Milton. Again in the Fifth Book of Paradise Lost the Morning Star is addressed as Fairest of Stars, last in the train of Night, If better thou belong not to the Dawn, Sure pledge of day, that crown'st the smiling Morn Of this passage the words 'last in the train of Night' are all that suggest the classical idea that the stars are attendant upon Night." Let us now examine a passage in which the mythological element is increased, even though it is not more conspicuous than the actual phenomenon of nature itself. Referring to sunset and sunrise, Milton says in Lycidas: 1 Milton often used the chariot or moving throne as an accessory in myths. It occurs frequently in his reference to the sun, or moon, or night, and is often transferred to other connections. Examples are found in P. L. 1. 786; 2. 930; 3. 522; 5. 140, 166; 6. 100, 338, 358, 390, 711, 749-759, 770, 829, 881; 8. 162; 9. 65; S. A. 27; D. F. I. 15, 19, 56; C. N. 84, 145, 241; Pens. 53, 59, 121; C. 95, 134, 190, 892. So sinks the day-star in the ocean bed, And yet anon repairs his drooping head, And tricks his beams, and with new-spangled ore In the beginning of this passage we have the old figure of the god Helios sinking to rest in his bed at the end of a long day's journey. But as the passage proceeds this mythological idea fades, and in its place shines the brightness of the sun itself, like a flaming jewel in the forehead of the morning. Still more pronounced is the mythological character of the following lines: First in his east the glorious Lamp was seen, His longitude through heaven's high road; the gray Though this passage is founded principally upon the Bible, yet Milton, in combining the different parts, has given it a decided classical coloring, slightly modified by characterizing the Dawn as 'gray'; and so nicely are the parts fitted together that a seam is imperceptible, nor is it easy to tell where classical mythology ends and any other element begins. The majority of natural descriptions in Milton resemble the last four examples in that they contain a more or less prominent suggestion of the mythical conception, together with a large element of Milton's 'elaboration. We may now consider what is more rare, namely, a 1168-171. 2 P. L. 7. 370-375. At least two Biblical passages are represented by these lines. The more important one is Ps. 19. 4-6 : ' Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun, which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. His going forth is from the end of heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.' The second passage is Job 38. 31, where is mentioned 'the sweet influence of the Pleiades.' The resemblance of the dance of the Pleiades to the dance of seven figures, who may represent Pleiades, in Guido's picture of Aurora, has been remarked by Todd. Apparently this is the only classical antecedent of these lines. description composed almost entirely of mythology. It occurs at the opening of the Sixth Book of Paradise Lost. All night the dreadless Angel, unpursued, Through Heaven's wide champaign held his way, till Morn, Where Light and Darkness in perpetual round Lodge and dislodge by turns, which makes through Heaven Light issues forth, and at the other door Obsequious Darkness enters, till her hour To veil the Heaven, though darkness there might well Empyreal; from before her vanished Night, Shot through with orient beams. In this passage there is an almost literal adaptation So of at least four classical poets or poetic conceptions. Wat The general idea of Dawn's opening the gates is from Ovid; the action of the Hours is from Homer; the cave of Light and Darkness is Hesiod's house of Day and Night; the final rout of Night before the beams of the sun is a common conception in Greek poetry, though perhaps in this case referable to Dante.' We may notice that in this passage Milton intends to describe not the earthly dawn, but the grateful vicissitude of light and darkness in heaven. There is, however, in his description a beautiful reflection of the dayspring as it has appeared to many men, and this reveals to us a most important quality in Milton's treatment of mythology and nature. He appreciates the values of two things, nature and the myth, but to him the value of nature outweighs that of the myth. This accounts for the vividness and reality and enthusiasm, which, if the proportion of values were reversed, would tend to become pedantry and dry conventionality. With a view 1 See pp. 15, 33. to this statement, let us take the first lines of the preceding passage: Morn, Waked by the circling Hours, with rosy hand Let us analyze this passage in comparison with its originals. As already suggested, there are two passages in the classics which are here represented. The first is in the Fifth Book of the Iliad, where Hera drives forth her chariot from Olympus: 'Self-moving groaned upon their hinges the gates of Heaven, whereof the Hours are warders, to whom is committed great Heaven and Olympus, whether to throw open the thick cloud or set it to.'1 The other passage is in the Second Book of Ovid's Metamorphoses: 1 Ecce vigil rutilo patefecit ab ortu Atria.2 We may first inquire what help Ovid has given Milton. He suggests the idea that the Dawn at her rising throws open certain gates, but further than this his influence can hardly be said to extend. As usual he has made a tableau, overloading it with gay color. Milton, however, in speaking of Aurora's rosy hand, lends color enough, and stops before he smears. He is speaking of dawn in Heaven, and the thought of gates naturally leads him to think of the Hours, who are the warders of Heaven's gates. They are therefore adapted from Homer, with the addition of a beautiful epithet, 'circling,' from the common tradition of Greek poetry. But the mere juxtaposition of these things is not enough. Milton, like a true artist, realizes that though color is lovely, something else is still lovelier, more important, and more vital. He loves the morning for its freshness, its action, its grace, its dignity, its progress toward glo 1 5.749-751. 22. 112. Lo, the watchful Aurora opened her purple doors in the ruddy east, and her halls filled with roses. |