Life Of John Milton, Richard Garnett [ebook offline txt] 📗

Chapter 10 Pg 99

Reader Alike. There Is Much To Repel,  Little To Attract A Young Reader;

No Wonder That Macaulay,  Fresh From College,  Put It So Far Below

"Comus," To Which The More Mature Taste Is Disposed To Equal It. It Is

Related To The Earlier Work As Sculpture Is To Painting,  But Sculpture

Of The Severest School,  All Sinewy Strength; Studious,  Above All,  Of

Impressive Truth. "Beyond These An Ancient Fisherman And A Rock Are

Fashioned,  A Rugged Rock,  Whereon With Might And Main The Old Man Drags

A Great Net From His Cast,  As One That Labours Stoutly. Thou Wouldest

Say That He Is Fishing With All The Might Of His Limbs,  So Big The

Sinews Swell All About His Neck,  Grey-Haired Though He Is,  But His

Strength Is As The Strength Of Youth."[9] Behold Here The Milton Of

"Samson Agonistes," A Work Whose Beauty Is Of Metal Rather Than Of

Marble,  Hard,  Bright,  And Receptive Of An Ineffaceable Die. The Great

Fault Is The Frequent Harshness Of The Style,  Principally In The

Choruses,  Where Some Strophes Are Almost Uncouth. In The Blank Verse

Speeches Perfect Grace Is Often United To Perfect Dignity: As In The

Farewell Of Dalila:--

 

   "Fame If Not Double-Faced Is Double-Mouthed,

    And With Contrary Blast Proclaims Most Deeds;

    On Both His Wings,  One Black,  The Other White,

    Bears Greatest Names In His Wild Aery Flights.

    My Name Perhaps Among The Circumcised,

    In Dan,  In Judah,  And The Bordering Tribes,

    To All Posterity May Stand Defamed,

    With Malediction Mentioned,  And The Blot

    Of Falsehood Most Unconjugal Traduced.

    But In My Country Where I Most Desire,

    In Ecron,  Gaza,  Asdod,  And In Gath,

    I Shall Be Named Among The Famousest

    Of Women,  Sung At Solemn Festivals,

    Living And Dead Recorded,  Who To Save

    Her Country From A Fierce Destroyer,  Chose

    Above The Faith Of Wedlock-Bands; My Tomb

    With Odours Visited And Annual Flowers."

 

The Scheme Of "Samson Agonistes" Is That Of The Greek Drama,  The Only

One Appropriate To An Action Of Such Extreme Simplicity,  Admitting So

Few Personages,  And These Only As Foils To The Hero. It Is,  But For Its

Miltonisms Of Style And Autobiographic And Political Allusion,  Just Such

A Drama As Sophocles Or Euripides Would Have Written On The Subject,  And

Has All That Depth Of Patriotic And Religious Sentiment Which Made The

Greek Drama So Inexpressibly Significant To Greeks. Consummate Art Is

Shown In The Invention Of The Philistine Giant,  Harapha,  Who Not Only

Enriches The Meagre Action,  And Brings Out Strong Features In The

Character Of Samson,  But Also Prepares The Reader For The Catastrophe.

We Must Say Reader,  For Though The Drama Might Conceivably Be Acted With

Effect On A Court Or University Stage,  The Real Living Theatre Has Been

No Place For It Since The Days Of Greece. Milton Confesses As Much When

In His Preface He Assails "The Poet's Error Of Intermixing Comic Stuff

With Tragic Sadness And Gravity; Or Introducing Trivial And Vulgar

Persons,  Which By All Judicious Hath Been Counted Absurd; And Brought In

Without Discretion,  Corruptly To Gratify The People." In His View

Tragedy Should Be Eclectic; In Shakespeare's It Should Be All Embracing.

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Shelley,  Perhaps,  Judged More Rightly Than Either When He Said: "The

Modern Practice Of Blending Comedy With Tragedy Is Undoubtedly An

Extension Of The Dramatic Circle; But The Comedy Should Be As In 'King

Lear,' Universal,  Ideal,  And Sublime." On The Whole,  "Samson Agonistes"

Is A Noble Example Of A Style Which We May Hope Will In No Generation Be

Entirely Lacking To Our Literature,  But Which Must Always Be Exotic,

From Its Want Of Harmony With The More Essential Characteristics Of Our

Tumultous,  Undisciplined,  Irrepressible National Life.

 

In One Point Of View,  However,  "Samson Agonistes" Deserves To Be

Esteemed A National Poem,  Pregnant With A Deeper Allusiveness Than Has

Always Been Recognized. Samson's Impersonation Of The Author Himself Can

Escape No One. Old,  Blind,  Captive,  Helpless,  Mocked,  Decried,  Miserable

In The Failure Of All His Ideals,  Upheld Only By Faith And His Own

Unconquerable Spirit,  Milton Is The Counterpart Of His Hero. Particular

References To The Circumstances Of His Life Are Not Wanting: His Bitter

Self-Condemnation For Having Chosen His First Wife In The Camp Of The

Enemy,  And His Surprise That Near The Close Of An Austere Life He Should

Be Afflicted By The Malady Appointed To Chastise Intemperance. But,  As

In The Hebrew Prophets Israel Sometimes Denotes A Person,  Sometimes A

Nation,  Samson Seems No Less The Representative Of The English People In

The Age Of Charles The Second. His Heaviest Burden Is His Remorse,  A

Remorse Which Could Not Weigh On Milton:--

 

              "I Do Acknowledge And Confess

    That I This Honour,  I This Pomp Have Brought

    To Dagon,  And Advanced His Praises High

    Among The Heathen Round; To God Have Brought

    Dishonour,  Obloquy,  And Oped The Mouths

    Of Idolists And Atheists; Have Brought Scandal

    To Israel,  Diffidence Of God,  And Doubt

    In Feeble Hearts,  Propense Enough Before

    To Waver,  To Fall Off,  And Join With Idols;

    Which Is My Chief Affliction,  Shame,  And Sorrow,

    The Anguish Of My Soul,  That Suffers Not

    My Eye To Harbour Sleep,  Or Thoughts To Rest."

 

Milton Might Reproach Himself For Having Taken A Philistine Wife,  But

Not With Having Suffered Her To Shear Him. But The Same Could Not Be

Said Of The English Nation,  Which Had In His View Most Foully

Apostatized From Its Pure Creed,  And Most Perfidiously Betrayed The High

Commission It Had Received From Heaven. "This Extolled And Magnified

Nation,  Regardless Both Of Honour Won,  Or Deliverances Vouchsafed,  To

Fall Back,  Or Rather To Creep Back,  So Poorly As It Seems The Multitude

Would,  To Their Once Abjured And Detested Thraldom Of Kingship! To Be

Ourselves The Slanderers Of Our Own Just And Religious Deeds! To Verify

All The Bitter Predictions Of Our Triumphing Enemies,  Who Will Now Think

They Wisely Discerned And Justly Censured Us And All Our Actions As

Rash,  Rebellious,  Hypocritical,  And Impious!" These Things,  Which Milton

Refused To Contemplate As Possible When He Wrote His "Ready Way To

Establish A Free Commonwealth," Had Actually Come To Pass. The English

Nation Is To Him The Enslaved And Erring Samson--A Samson,  However,  Yet

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To Burst His Bonds,  And Bring Down Ruin Upon Philistia. "Samson

Agonistes" Is Thus A Prophetic Drama,  The English Counterpart Of The

World-Drama Of "Prometheus Bound."

 

Goethe Says That Our Final Impression Of Any One Is Derived From The

Last Circumstances In Which We Have Beheld Him. Let Us,  Therefore,

Endeavour To Behold Milton As He Appeared About The Time Of The

Publication Of His Last Poems,  To Which Period Of His Life The

Descriptions We Possess Seem To Apply. Richardson Heard Of His Sitting

Habitually "In A Grey Coarse Cloth Coat At The Door Of His House Near

Bunhill Fields,  In Warm Sunny Weather To Enjoy The Fresh Air"--A

Suggestive Picture. What Thoughts Must Have Been Travelling Through His

Mind,  Undisturbed By External Things! How Many Of The Passers Knew That

They Flitted Past The Greatest Glory Of The Age Of Newton,  Locke,  And

Wren? For One Who Would Reverence The Author Of "Paradise Lost," There

Were Probably Twenty Who Would Have Been Ready With A Curse For The

Apologist Of The Killing Of The King. In-Doors He Was Seen By Dr.

Wright,  In Richardson's Time An Aged Clergyman In Dorsetshire,  Who Found

Him Up One Pair Of Stairs,  In A Room Hung With Rusty Green "Sitting In

An Elbow Chair,  Black Clothes,  And  For A

Livelihood; But The Fish-Basket That He Wove Was So Successful That The

Neighbours Supplied Him With Food So That He Might Make Such Baskets

For Them.  And Soon People Came From The Town To Buy His Baskets,  And

When He Carried His Wares To Market,  He Got Rid Of Them All On The Way.

So Basket-Making Became His Trade,  And He Thought How Once The Little

Moses Was Saved In A Basket On The Nile.  And Just As His Work Was

Liked,  So Also Did Mary And Himself Win Affection,  And They Confessed

That Life Went Better On The Banks Of The Nile Than In Poor Little

Nazareth,  For Veritably There Were Fleshpots In Egypt.  If Only They

Could Have Crushed Their Hearts' Longing For Home!

 

When The Little Jesus Began To Walk,  The Mothers Who Were Their

Neighbours Wished Him To Make Friends With Their Children And Play With

Them.  But The Boy Was Reserved And Awkward With Strangers.  He

Preferred To Wander Alone At Evening-Time Besides The Stream And Gaze

At The Big Lotus Flowers Growing Out Of The Mud,  And At The Crocodiles

Which Sometimes Crawled Out Of The Water,  And Lifting Their Heads

Towards The Sky,  Opened Their Great Jaws As If They Would Drink In The

Sunshine.  He Often Remained Out Longer Than He Ought,  And Came Back

With Glowing Cheeks,  Excited By Some Pleasure About Which He Said

Nothing.  When He Had Eaten His Figs Or Dates,  And Lay In His Little

Bed,  His Father And Mother Sat Close By,  And Spoke Of The Land Of Their

Fathers,  Or Told Ancient Tales Of Their Ancestors Until He Fell Asleep.

Joseph Instructed The Boy In The Jewish Writings; But It Was Soon

Apparent That Joseph Was The Pupil,  For What He Read With Difficulty

From The Roll,  Little Jesus Spoke Out Spontaneously From His Innermost

Soul.  So He Grew Into A Slender,  Delicate Stripling,  Learned The

Foreign Tongue,  Marked The Customs,  And Followed Them So Far As They

Pleased Him.  There Was Much In Him That He Did Not Owe To Education;

Although He Said Little,  His Mother Observed It.  And Once She Asked

Joseph: "Tell Me,  Are Other Children Like Our Jesus?"

 

He Answered; "So Far As I Know Them--He Is Different."

 

Chapter 10 Pg 102

One Day,  When Jesus Was