Milton's L'Allegro and Il Penseroso Essay Example

It is almost impossible to comprehensively understand and appreciate either L'Allegory or Penseroso, both of which are Milton's poems, without reading them in a companion. L'Allgro depicts a happy man who spends most of his day in the city and a night full of festivities in the city while Penseroso depicts a pensive person whose nights are dedicated to long walks in the woods while meditating as well as hours of reading in the isolated town. Therefore, after reading the two poems, I find that they are companion poems since they complement each other perfectly and it is as if they are in dialogue with each other. Either way, both depicts Milton's different moods, and it is hard to tell which one Milton prefers more. To a certain degree, the two poems represent a conflict between Mirth and Melancholy (night and day) and where one poem bends, the other straightens. In light of this, I think both poems are equal, and Milton does not have a stronger preference for one mood over the other.

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In my understanding, Milton needs both moods to achieve a state of objective euphony. This is to mean that both poems represent Milton's mind without bias. There are sometimes when he encounters melancholy, and other times he experiences mirth thus he understands both moods equally well. The first lines of every poem repudiate the other in that Melancholy sees the worst in mirth while mirth considers the best in melancholy. For example, it is crystal clear that the power of mirth is very essential to the speaker in the L'Allegro poem as depicted in the lines:

And ever against eating cares,

Lap me in soft Lydian airs,

Married to immortal verse,

Such as the meeting soul may pierce

These lines are a clear indication that the speaker is overwhelmed by mirth. When the speaker says "and ever against eating cares,"(Milton 21), he or she means that melancholy belittles mirth and takes away anything that people find enjoyable in the world by feeding them with meaningless thoughts of worry and distress.

On the other hand, Il Pensoroso praises melancholy to a great extent as the speaker depicts it as the best way to gain spiritual truth and understanding. By referring melancholy as a gateway to wisdom in this poem, the speaker can be said to favour feelings of sadness and desperation, which is a direct contrast to what is implied in L'Allegro. The speaker in Pensoroso speaks of melancholy with such vigour when he/she says "bring all heav'n before mine eyes"(Milton 15). From this line, I contemplate that melancholy has the power to give people maturity, insight and ultimate strength and understanding. This is illustrated more along the lines:

Till old experience do attain

To something like prophetic strain

These pleasures melancholy gives

Following these affirmations, it is easy for people to think that Milton prefers melancholy over mirth but he reveals that he has much higher desires. In his other poem "paradise lost" Milton uses some words in the conclusion that insinuate that bitterness builds a foundation for sweetness and sweetness nourishes bitterness. Those spots of pain in his Il Pensoroso poem are what elevated his happiness. Therefore, Milton does not have a preference for either, but instead he uses both of them to raise each other.

From this analysis, it is clear that Milton wanted joy as much as he wished to sadness. He did not want his life to be filled with melancholy although he felt that it brought with it power, authority and understanding. Besides, he tells melancholy to leave him alone and suggests that it bothers the Cimmerians, which means a person who lives in immortal darkness (Milton 12). He proceeds to say that spring was a time to exile all forms of wickedness and welcome all sorts of joy and happiness through gestures such as nods and smiles. The poem affirms that the day breaks bright and everything around him is cheerful and fulfilling when the sun rises, and people start their day (Milton 15).

Consequently, in L'Allegro, Milton rejects Melancholy in the first ten lines and in the lines that precede he appeals to the goddess of joy to walk with him into the sun-kissed fields. Besides, the poem describes melancholy as unholy in the first (Milton 4). On the other hand, Il Penseroso he denounces Mirth by criticising its inability to help people with its alleged high spirits. Milton goes ahead to call the imaginative beliefs of the amusing individuals who prefer mirth "thick and numberless" (Milton 9). This to me looks like Milton fancies melancholy the same way he fancies mirth; thus he does not prefer either melancholy or Mirth, but he values them in equal measure. Moreover, he talks about the joy of the night and how melancholy fulfils his heart inIl Pensoroso, and then in L'Allegory, he speaks about the joy that fills the world when the sun rises. He appreciates both extremes with equal measures, and he mentions that one has to happen for the other one to make sense.

Besides, I find it intriguing that Milton compares both mirth and melancholy with goddesses. One may argue that the two invocations possibly represent a melancholic muse could represent different ideas about the themes of the two poems in that melancholy while mirth would be represented by a mirthful goddess, but it is hard to ignore their similarities. Mirth is represented by a traditional goddess and is later compared to the Venus (Milton 25), and melancholy is represented by a Roman goddess known in the form of a Vesta, who is a Virgin goddess in all accounts. Since Milton takes a more religious approach in Il Pensoroso, I think that he meant to illustrate the passion of prayer by comparing melancholy to a goddess associated with an ever-blazing fire. The other poem balances this intuition by asserting that the cognitive and spiritual commitment conquers the weak spirit of Mirth. This could be seen in the second stanza of Il Pensoroso that states "melancholy's saintly visage is too bright to hit the sense of human sense" (Milton 14).

Conclusion

In conclusion, Milton does not have a preference for either, but instead he uses both of them to elevate each other. To a certain extent, the two poems represent a conflict between Mirth and Melancholy and where one poem gives a favourable view of a situation, the other one repudiates it. I believe that Milton needs both moods to achieve a state of objective euphony in that both poems represent his mind without bias. There are sometimes when he encounters melancholy (at night), and other times he experiences mirth (daytime) thus he understands both moods equally well.

Works cited

Milton, John. The Poetry of John Milton. Narcissus. me, 2015.