Lycidas Comments

very long and very beautiful .... thanks for sharin

It is a pastoral elegy. king Edward is his friend.

Interesting journey through the process of grieving. The poem laments the death of a friend, fellow shepherd Lycidas. Then, the poet asks various nymphs and muses where they were when Lycidas drowned. He blames them for not intervening and saving him. He realizes that kind of thinking is pointless. His friend is dead. Every thing he did on earth is worthless because he died before he had become famous. Without fame, it was like he had never lived. Finally he concludes though that earthly fame isn't as important as life in heaven, and that heaven is where the real fame happens.

Milton is the master of his own art none can excel! His Milton music is so high in quality that none can imitate too in verse! In this wonderful poem his mourning of his fiend's demise is unbearable to feel in heart!

Lofty rhyme; self-same hill. Thanks for sharing.

Lycidas was read to my English class when I was in 4th year (69/70) at Secondary School, by Stuart Stevenson (teacher) . It wasn't part of the curriculum - just one of his favourite poems - and it left a lasting impression on me. The drowning occurred locally, in the North Channel allegedly, and the pastoral backcloth wasn't that far removed from the rural world I came from - though the classical allusions somewhat broadened and deepened that backcloth. The sense of loss, of friendship and innocence, came through very strongly on that first reading, and for some reason that struck a chord way back then, and does so now, though somewhat more plangently. It has been attacked in recent times on grounds of quality, value and historical accuracy by some within the more advanced ranks of the lit Academy, and yet, a few days ago I came across a ref to it which described it, in the view of a more established sect of lit opinion, as possibly the greatest short poem in English. Needless to say, I think it is one of the great poems in English, though I believe it falls short of the very best, but the subject matter (for a fisherman who has long fished the waters where the drowning occurred) , the early exposure to it, the well known lines which have seeped into the culture, and the sincerity and sustained quality of the writing, mean that it stays very dear to me yet.

A significant poem about friendship and devotion, remarkably described with joyful, evoking pictures of the glory of nature, despite the shepherd's deep sorrow.There's also an over-the-edge feeling of divine prevention to this pious event: Lycida's death in contrast with the environment dwelled by multiple deities! Top Milton class! ! ! !