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178 songs of praise/gladness
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179 robed
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180 eyes
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181 hundred-headed fire-breathing giant, a serpent below the waist
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182 coils
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183 eastern
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184 separate, individual
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185 fairies
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186 labyrinth (as in a fairy ring?)
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187 long and wearisome (used in a jocund rather than literal sense)
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188 youngest-born/produced
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189 i.e., wearing gleaming body armor
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190 ready to be useful [four syllables, first and third accented]
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191 once, formerly, some time ago
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192 to sing in counterpoint
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193 fasten upon, clutch, take hold of
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194 gravest, most severe
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195 peril, danger, risk
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196 creature, being
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197 temporary dwelling, place, abode
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198 put up with, endure
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199 Phoebus Apollo, god of (among other things) poetry
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200 Marco Girolamo Vida’s Christiad; he was a native of Cremona
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201 proper to
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202 subdued
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203 Ezekiel
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204 Jerusalem (Shalem = ancient Semitic god)
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205 anxiously thoughtful
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206 absorption
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207 mood? seizure?
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208 treasures
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209 i.e., as in prayer
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210 mass of stone
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211 mark, engrave
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212 lamenting
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213 vivid, fresh, brightly gay
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214 letters of the alphabet
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215 i.e., infections being carried by some germlike agent, the poet’s tears of sorrow, like a sort of sickly semen, spawn “a race of mourners” on that which carries water down on men, namely, a cloud
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216 forerunner (literally)
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217 attiring, arraying
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218 valley, hollow
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219 Sonnets 2–6, written in Italian, are not here included
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220 arranged by compositional order rather than chronologically; dates of composition are, as usual, indicated with the title of each poem
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221 twig, shoot
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222 gracious, favorably inclined
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223 song
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224 soon/soon enough (opportunely)
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225 barbarous, ignorant
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226 the cuckoo, linked to sexual jealousy/betrayal
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227 retinue, attendants
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228 ingenious, cunning, tricky
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229 speed, impetus
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230 are invested with
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231 yet? always?
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232 equal, proportionate
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233 destiny
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234 low
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235 [trisyllabic]
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236 luck, fortuitous circumstance
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237 In October 1642, during the early days of England’s civil war, the royalist army almost reached London; Milton’s house lay just outside the city walls
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238 Milton himself
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239 repay
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240 noble, honorable, gentlemanly
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241 dwelling
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242 Alexander the Great: Emathia was a Macedonian province
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243 Pindar, Greek poet
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244 music: in Athenian Greece, the chorus referred to in the next footnote would have been sung
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245 Euripides: a chorus from the play is said to have persuaded the Spartans not to sack Athens, in 404B.C.
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246 the lady is unknown
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247 “I will rise now, and go about the city in the streets, and in the broad ways I will seek him” (Song of Solomon 3:2)
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248 conspicuously
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249 “And Jesus…said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things. But one good thing is needful, and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:41–42); see also Ruth 1:8–18
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250 are arrogant, presumptuous
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251 gnaw, wear away at
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252 compassion, pity
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253 concern
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254 follows, waits upon
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255 Lady Margaret, daughter of the Earl of Marlborough
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256 Marlborough died four days after King Charles dissolved his third Parliament, in 1629
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257 Philip of Macedon’s defeat of Thebes and Athens in 338 B.C.
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258 Chaeronéa marked the end of Greek independence; Isocrates committed suicide four days after hearing the news
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259 recount, tell
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260 block of wood attached to the feet of men or horses, to impede movement
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261 by the writing of two tracts on divorce, one of which was entitled Tetrachordon: see Sonnet 12, below
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262 surrounds, besieges, besets
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263 rustics, boors
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264 Apollo and Diana, twin children of Latona and Jupiter; peasants who refused water to Latona were turned into frogs by Jupiter
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265 yet
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266 Milton’s 1645 book on divorce was shaped by the “foure chief places in Scripture which treat of Marriage”
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267 read, studied
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268 line
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269 in the time that
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270 James Gordon, Lord Aboyne, Scots royalist
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271 Alexander MacDonnell, known also as MacColki
tto and MacGillespie, general in the royalist army of James Graham, Earl Montrose
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272 see footnote 50, above
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273 see footnote 50, above
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274 Roman rhetorician
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275 first professor of Greek at Cambridge, and tutor to Prince (later King) Edward
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276 Henry Lawes, 1596–1662, master musician, who composed the music for Comus
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277 rhythmical
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278 measure out, extend
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279 proper, right, correct
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280 Midas having judged Pan a better flutist than Apollo, Apollo gave him donkey ears
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281 perpetrating
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282 melody, tune
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283 musician of Florence, Dante’s friend, who appears, and sings, in Purgatorio 2:76ff.
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284 Catherine, wife of George Thomason, London bookseller and publisher; died in 1646
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285 melodies
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286 Sir Thomas Fairfax, commander in chief of the Parliamentarian army
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287 Scotland
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288 a covenant of friendship made in 1643 between Parliament and the Scots was broken a month later by a Scottish invasion
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289 to engraft new feathers onto damaged wings
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290 the covenant with Parliament, being unserpentlike, broke Scotland’s “serpent wings,” but invading England and breaking that covenant restored her native serpentlike qualities
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291 plunder, pillage, robbery
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292 slander, defamations, calumnies
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293 coarse
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294 battle of 1648
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295 soaked
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296 battle of 1650
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297 battle of 1651 [bisyllabic, as if written “WOOS ter”]
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298 mouth, appetite
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299 Sir Henry Vane (the Younger), statesman and councilor
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300 i.e., the togas worn by the senators of Rome
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301 Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, invaded Rome in the third century B.C.
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302 Hannibal of Carthage, in Africa, also invaded Rome in the third century B.C.
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303 purpose, intent
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304 pun on “Holland”
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305 gibe at the spelling and pronunciation of Dutch
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306 equipment
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307 the Vaudois, Swiss Protestants, attacked and killed by Catholic partisans in 1655
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308 [verb]
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309 sheep pen: here, of course, metaphorical
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310 the Pope
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311 flee
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312 the papacy
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313 used up, exhausted
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314 before
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315 in biblical times, “talent” also meant a monetary unit: see Matthew 25:14ff, the parable of the talents
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316 devoted, bound
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317 bring/show to God [verb]
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318 as per the parable of the talents
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319 scold, rebuke
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320 hurry
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321 Edward Lawrence, member of Parliament; his father, Henry Lawrence, was president of Cromwell’s Council of State
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322 roads, lanes, paths
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323 boggy, slushy, muddy
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324 gloomy, dark, dismal, dull
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325 a day that
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326 winter, with its ice
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327 which is gaining on us/coming closer and closer
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328 the west wind
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329 “Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin”: Matthew 6:28
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330 dainty, elegant
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331 Italian
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332 afford? spare time for? leave off, forbear?
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333 introduce, or delay
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334 Cyriack Skinner, 1627–1700, Milton’s student, friend, helper, and more than likely his amanuensis
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335 Sir Edward Coke, 1552–1634, chief justice of the King’s Bench and a legendary figure in the law to this day
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336 goddess of justice
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337 petty, insignificant
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338 as a judge handing down (“pronouncing”) decisions
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339 notably The Institutes of the Law of England
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340 i.e., other lawyers, members of the bar
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341 twist, stretch, alter
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342 soak, drown
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343 moves
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344 Sweden
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345 speedily, in good time
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346 sober, sound, practical
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347 deprived
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348 useless, inactive; unemployed
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349 lessen, reduce
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350 the smallest of small amounts
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351 overworked/employed/worked/used
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352 probably, but not certainly, Milton’s second wife, Katherine Woodcock, to whom he was married in 1656, and who died in 1658, not long after giving birth to a daughter
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353 Admetus, her husband, had his life extended in return for her voluntarily dying in his stead; Hercules, Jove’s son, successfully wrestled with Death, and then brought her back to life
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354 stain, blemish
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355 see Leviticus 12:5
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356 limitation, reserve
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357 clothed, dressed
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358 bent, leaned
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359 the Muses were the daughters of Memory
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360 slow-striving
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361 prosody
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362 invaluable, priceless
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363 inspired by Apollo, god of poetry, who lived in the city of Delphi
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&nb
sp; 364 (1) heavy, (2) profound: see footnote 46, below
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365 (1) mold, cast, copy (as in printing), (2) effect, influence
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366 depriving, stripping
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367 (1) stone, such as is used in tombs and gravestones, or rigid/cold/white like marble, (2) the marbled pattern or paper used in ornamenting/binding books
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368 imagining
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369 buried (metaphorical: “absorbed”)
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370 splendor, magnificence
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371 deliveryman
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372 temporary idleness
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373 also a renter of horses: the proverbial phrase “Hobson’s choice” stems from his insisting that a would-be customer either accepted whatever horse was nearest to the door or else got no horse at all
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374 belt or band (leather or cloth) around a horse’s body, securing saddle/pack/etc.; possibly also a pun on Hobson’s own girt(h) and Death having broken him
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375 roads
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376 muddy ditch
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377 trickster, con man
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378 entire
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379 to dodge = to give (someone) the slip, to avoid, to baffle
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380 inn in London, located on a main thoroughfare
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381 habitual path, route
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382 Death = the “kind…chamberlain,” or inn servant
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383 a candle—but Death extinguishes a person’s light
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384 remained?
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385 decompose, die
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386 the indestructible stuff of which stars and other heavenly bodies are formed
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387 just as the stars revolve, so too did Hobson, back and forth, back and forth, back and forth….
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388 stopped
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389 measures, assigns values to
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390 any mechanical contrivance/machine
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391 primary cause, which was movement
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392 at once—but also “straight” in the sense of no longer revolving
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393 one sense of the word “breathe,” as in “to take breath,” is “to rest”
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394 “term” = when college is in session, “vacation” = when college is not in session
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395 “drive the time away” as in “killing time”—but he was literally a “driver” (coachman)
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396 (1) brought to life, (2) made to go faster
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397 “fetch and carry” = common phraseology
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398 abolished, done away with—but also “put down” in the ground, buried
The Annotated Milton: Complete English Poems Page 77
