English Literature / Unit 9 ENL 0803 short lesson, about 20 seconds
"Lycidas"
Captions available
The idea
"Lycidas," of sixteen thirty-seven, is a pastoral elegy for Edward King, Milton's Cambridge friend, drowned in the Irish Sea. Under shepherd names it questions poetic ambition, "Fame is the spur," and attacks the corrupt clergy, then ends, "To-morrow to fresh woods, and pastures new."
In practice
A drowned friend mourned as a shepherd.
Where people slip
The pastoral is a mask for larger questions.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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