Poems by Milton - On Time XII-Elective English

Portrait of Milton, c. 1629

Poems by Milton - On Time XII-Elective English

Summary of the Poem

“On Time,” by the English poet John Milton (1608-1674), deals with one of the most common themes in all of medieval or Renaissance literature: the theme of mutability, or the idea that life on earth is full of constant (and mainly negative) change. The inevitable passage of time was a particularly painful example of such change, especially since it ultimately involved physical deterioration and then, eventually, physical death. Milton’s poem is a response to such gradual but certain decay. Like many other writers of his era (an era dominated by Christian thinking), Milton emphasized that humans can escape the ravages of time by attaining an eternal life in heaven that is full of joy.

Line 1 begins with the vigorous verb “Fly” (that is, “flee”), which immediately asserts the speaker’s vigor and self-confidence. Rather than being intimidated by time, he attacks and mocks it (much as John Donne attacks and mocks a personified Death in his Holy Sonnet X). Time is “envious,” a word which in Milton’s era mainly meant being hateful, malignant, and/or spiteful. But perhaps it also here suggests that Time, which is limited and bound to end, envies human beings, who are capable of existing eternally. In any case, by personifying time as “Time,” Milton makes it almost seem a living thing—an assertion which already implies a bit of irony since he soon suggests that Time will die. Time, in this poem, seems not merely an abstract philosophical concept; it is a malevolent, active being whom one must resist and defeat. The speaker, however, immediately implies that he feels no fear of Time; from the very first line, he suggests that Time is fated to suffer death.

Line 2 shows Milton’s talent for using sound effects. In this case, the effects involve not only alliteration (repetition of similar consonant sounds) but also assonance (repetition of similar vowel sounds), as in the repetition here of “l’s” and short “e’s”: “Call on the lazy leaden-stepping hours.” Having already mentioned the word “race” in line 1 (a word implying speed), the speaker now implies (through the use of the particular adjectives here) that Time moves very slowly. It is as if the speaker feels contempt for the “lazy leaden-stepping hours,” as if he is almost eager for Time to run its race as quickly as possible.

Line 3 once more emphasizes the slowness of Time by comparing its movement, appropriately enough, to that of a “plummet” (or weight) in a clock, which slowly descends and thus powers the time-piece.

Line 4 implies that Time is a kind of crude glutton, eager to consume living things and then digest them in its stomach (or “womb”). It is as if Time has now become a huge, personified gut—a kind of mindless, all-consuming stomach. Here again, then, the tone is completely contemptuous.

Line 5 again speaks of Time contemptuously, suggesting that what it greedily devours is in any case worthless, so that Time seems not only crude but also stupid. Time is willing to...(to be updated later)

Q. In the poem "On Time" by John Milton, why has the poet pitted the flight of Time against the "lazy leaden-stepping hours" and "the heavy Plummets pace"?

Answer:

Milton is contrasting the seeming speed of life as it flies by and is finished to the seeming long length of individual days. He is also contrasting the ultimate end of human life with the ultimate annihilation of Time.

Fly envious Time, till thou run out thy race,
Call on the lazy leaden-stepping hours,
Whose speed is but the heavy Plummets pace;

The first line quoted here carries a Biblical allusion to the Christian notion that Time will eventually end, "till thou run out thy race," when Earth, space and time cease to exist at the end of the world, a time when a New Heaven and a New Earth without the limits of Time is expected. He defies Time's control over individual human lives in the words "Fly ... Time." The poetic narrator (presumably Milton himself) is mocking Time for two reasons. First, though life rushes past, each day has a "lazy leaden-" pace that goes only as fast as a lead weight, "Plummet." Second, Time will cease to be, "thy greedy self consum'd," but humans' lives will end in the long eternal "bliss" of unity with God:

And last of all, thy greedy self consum'd,
Then long Eternity shall greet our bliss
With an individual kiss;
And Joy shall overtake us as a flood,

In summary, Milton has developed a wonderful metaphoric paradox for understanding Time as something that is both too fast and yet prolonged: the whole is too fast but the individual parts are preciously slow. Milton further "pitted the flight of Time against the 'lazy leaden-stepping hours' and 'the heavy Plummets pace'" as a mark of defiance against the quickly spent short course of life and as a celebration of the eternal blissful life that is to follow.

Ode to a Nightingale - Poem - XI - Elective English

Poem - Ode to a Nightingale -XI Elective Poetry

Summary

The poem Ode to a Nightingale by John Keats begins as the speaker starts to feel disoriented from listening to the song of the nightingale, as if he had just drunk something very strong. He feels bitter sweet happiness at the thought of the nightingale's carefree life.

The speaker wishes he had a special wine distilled directly from the earth. He wants to drink such a wine and fade into the forest with the nightingale. He wants to escape the worries and concerns of life, age, and time.

He uses poetry to join the nightingale's nighttime world, deep in the dark forest where hardly any moonlight can reach. He can't see any of the flowers or plants around him, but he can smell them. He thinks it wouldn't be so bad to die at night in the forest, with no one around except the nightingale singing.

But the nightingale can't die. The nightingale must be immortal, because so many different kinds of generations of people have heard its song throughout history, everyone from clowns and emperors to Biblical characters to people in fantasy stories.

The speaker's vision is interrupted when the nightingale flies away and leaves him alone. He feels abandoned and disappointed that his imagination is not strong enough to create its own reality. He is left confused and bewildered, not knowing the difference between reality and dreams.

Q. How does the nightingale's song plunge the poet into a state of ecstasy?
Answer:
Keats composed this poem when he was sitting under a plum tree in the garden of his house in Hampstead. The nightingale's song inspired him to write and he completed the poem within a day. The opening lines of the poem are sad and melancholic. he disparagingly expresses that his "heart aches" giving him a feeling as if he is poisoned or drugged. But he further explains that his present state of numbness

When Keats was sitting under a plum tree in the garden of his house, in Hampstead, he composed this poem. He was inspired by Nightingale's song and completed the poem within one day. The poet begins the poem in a melancholic mood and disparagingly expresses how his “heart aches” as if he is poisoned or is drugged. He felt as if he drank Lethe's water and was drowsy. Then it is revealed that actually it is the nearby bird, the Nightingale's song which is the reason of the poet's happiness. The poet addresses the Nightingale that he is happy in the bird's happiness.