MILTON

On the Morning of

Christ’s Nativity(1629)

The Faerie Queene

His haughtie helmet, horrid all with gold,

Both glorious brightnesse, and great terrour bred;

For all the crest a Dragon did enfold

With greedie pawes, and ouer all did spred

His golden wings: his dreadfull hideous hed

Close couched on the beuer, seem'd to throw

From flaming mouth bright sparkles fierie red,

That suddeine horror to faint harts did show;

And scaly tayle was stretcht adowne his backe full low.

– Edmund Spenser

Nativity Ode, XVIII

And then at last our blissFull and perfect is, But now begins; for from this happy dayTh’old Dragon under groundIn straiter limits bound, Not half so far casts his usurped swayAnd wrath to see his Kingdom fail,Swindges the scaly Horrour of his foulded tail.

"I wish you would unfold the folded tail for me, I do not like to meddle with it"

- Walter Savage Landor to Robert Southey

“ The long alexandrine at the close seems to launch each stanza on towards its successor, ripae iilterioris amore, or rather, with the desire of fresh striking out in the unbroken though waveswept sea of poetry. Each is a great stroke by a mighty swimmer; it furthers the progress for the next as well as in itself. And it is greatly in this that the untiring character of The Faerie Queene consists.”

- George Saintsbury

‘The Air such pleasure loth to lose,

With thousand echo’s still prolongs each heav’nly close’

- IX

‘Then was there heard a most celestiall sound,

Of dainty musicke, which did next ensew

Before the spouse: that was Arion crownd;

Who playing on his harpe, unto him drew

The eares and hearts of all that goodly crew,

That even yet the Dolphin, which him bore

Through the Aegean seas from Pirates vew,

Stood still by him astonisht at his lore,

And all the raging seas for ioy forgot to rore.’

– Edmund Spenser

‘She strikes a universall peace through Sea and Land’ (III)

‘And Kings sate still with awfull eye’ (IV)

‘While Birds of Calm sit brooding on the charmed wave.’ (V)

‘Stand fixt in stedfast gaze’ (VI)

‘Bright-harnest Angels sit in order serviceable’ (XXVII)

Eternity (‘nunc stans’)

a

b

c

Linear time(‘in fluxu’)

‘His raign of peace upon the earth began’ (V)

‘Hell it self will pass away’ (XIV)

II

‘Only with speeches fairShe woo’s the gentle AirTo hide her guilty front with innocent Snow,And on her naked Shame,Pollute with sinfull blame,The Saintly Vail of Maiden white to throw,Confounded, that her Makers eyesShould look so neer upon her foul deformities.’

Rodin- Eve after the Fall

Use of Military within Nativity ODE

Where?• “The helmed Cherubim

And sworded SeraphimAre seen in glittering ranks with wings displaid” l.115 – Jesus is depicted as being surrounded by his own armed army of angels.

• ‘His raign of peace upon the earth began” l.63

• Stanza IV: No War, or Battails soundWas heard the World around:The idle spear and shield were high up hung; The hooked Chariot stoodUnstain'd with hostile blood,The Trumpet spake not to the armed throng,And Kings sate still with awfull eye,As if they surely knew their sovran Lord was by

Why?

• By depicting Jesus as a military figure, the poem puts itself forth as a triumph over Paganism. Lower classes citizens are lowly portrayed in stanza VIII.

• Differentiates itself from some ecclesial poetry of the time.

• The birth of Christ as a victory rather than a celebration for humanity.

• In Milton’s ‘Of Education’, he highlights the importance of military within learning.

• Foresees Milton’s political stance attacking the episcopal form of church leadership from 1641 onwards.

Milton’s contemporaries

• Ben Jonson (1572-1637): A Hymn on the Nativity of My Saviour.

• Henry Vaughan (1621-1695): The Nativity

• Richard Grashaw: A Hymn of the Nativity

• Robert Southwell: The Nativity Of Christ

Milton’s ‘The Passion’

•‘The Passion’ first published 1645. Considered a poor poem by Milton and his contemporaries.

•Poem included in 1645 collection even though it was unfinished. Thought that he included it unfinished as an example of juvenilia to demonstrate how his skills as a poet had progressed from where they were at age 21.

•Poem written for the Easter of 1630, but not published till 1645.

Possible Reasons for Poems Poor Reception and Points for General Consideration

In line 13 Milton writes: ‘Most perfect Heroe, try’d in heaviest plightOf labours huge and hard, too hard for human wight’

The ‘Heroe’ referred to is Jesus but it is also a comparison to Hercules. Is there some sort of diminution of Christ’s divinity by comparing him to a demi-god? Milton pointing out how Christ was both God and man, but compares him to a demi-god who killed his wife and children. What do we make of this?

Comparison continued...Furthermore, Hercules was born as a result of Zeus seducing a Greek princess whose fiancée was away avenging the deaths of her brothers. What do we make of the comparison of Christ to an illegitimate demi-god?

What is the inference/significance of the comparison between Mary and Alcmene, who were both impregnated by deities whilst their fiancées were away, bearing in mind Milton’s attitudes to women?

In line 17 Milton refers to Christ as the: ‘Poor fleshly Tabernacle’

Here Milton compares Christ to the Ark of the Covenant!

I shall now demonstrate the potential significance of this

comparison, using playing cards as a visual learning aid.

Self-Knowledge

In‘The Passion’

Milton’s Outlook Fields argues that “self knowledge becomes

fundamental both to his theology and his ethics” and that this mindset is taken from classical literature, particularly Plato, and this reflects the mixture of ideals Milton represents in ‘The Passion’ – the apparent merging of Christian and classical morality.

We can see this through the mention of Phoebus, the God of poetry and father of the muses, and the undercurrent of that very Christian insistence upon the corruption of man and of the physical world.

The Theory• Milton’s view of man distinguished between

his rational part, or “self-like God”, and his passional nature – the evil, satanic side.

• It is argued that Milton believed this knowledge – that both aspects of character are inherent in all men, enabled an individual to lead a more fulfilling life as a self knowing person should enjoy life by “wise choosing”, but he should realise that the divine image within him, which empowers him with rational choice, obligates him to be ‘tested’ for his ‘salvation’

For ExampleWe have his generous money making and charity giving side, which represents his very own self-like God, a concept I’m sure he would agree with.

and we have everything else he has ever done, which represents his “latent evil within” – JLS, Britain’s Got Talent, Amanda Holden etc.

Back to ‘The Passion’• Interestingly, in the line “Godlike acts, and his

temptations fierce”, the word “his” is not capitalised, as you would expect with it being written by a religious man.

• Could we argue that this is Milton suggesting a more general meaning of God?

• Is this an inference about an inner God in him, or mankind?

• Also the use of the term “Godlike”, instead of God, seems to infer a less literal meaning of Jesus.

More Evidence Please

•Therefore, can we see the “most perfect Heroe” as representing Milton’s own ‘self-like God’ as well as Jesus?

•And can we read Jesus’s suffering, and the evil of those punishing him “Of labours huge and hard, too hard for human wight”, and the eventual “stroke of death he must abide”, as the representation of our satanic side, the “latent evil within”, something we must all suffer, understand, and most importantly control, in order to enjoy a rational existence?

The Classical/Christian Crossover

• We have seen already that Milton’s way of thinking is heavily influenced by classical morals, as well as Christian beliefs.

• In ‘The Passion’ Milton seems to suggest that an individual must remain aware of his responsibility to God, but never allow the latent evil within to become active – for this will prevent his salvation.

The Amendment

• “The subject the author finding to be above the years he had, when he wrote it, and nothing satisfi’d with what was begun, left it unfinisht.”

• Perhaps Milton did not think that he had the level of self-knowledge necessary to express himself as he would have liked