Of Education

Of Education is Milton's contribution to contemporary debate about methods of education, which in turn was part of a larger discussion about how the Church should be organized and how the State should be governed. In substance, Milton's tractate generally agrees with the humanistic theory of education that grew up in Western Europe during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, under the impulse of the Revival of Learning. This theory is marked by two or three outstanding characteristics, all of which are prominent in Milton's treatise. One of these is a clearer consciousness, among teachers and students, of education as a discipline for active life. A second is an insistence upon the more extensive reading of ancient writers, both classical and Christian, as the principal means of securing this discipline. A third characteristic is an attitude of severe and often hostile criticism toward medieval education and culture.

Samson Agonistes

In this play he re-tells the story of the Hebrew hero Samson from the Book of Judges in the Bible. The play concentrates on Samson after he had been betrayed by his wife Delilah, was blinded and held prisoner by the Philistines, the enemies of the Hebrews. Samson resists the temptation to become despondent and, having re-gained his strength by allowing his hair to grow after the Philistines had cut it, destroyed the leadership of the Philistines by pulling a large building down on them and himself.

This play takes on a special poignancy when one understands that Milton, like Samson, had devoted his life to his country. Milton temporarily gave up his poetry and worked for Oliver Cromwell and the Commonwealth government after Charles I was deposed. He continued this service even though his eyesight was failing and he knew that he was hastening his own blindness. After the Restoration in1660, Milton saw all his efforts come to nothing, for the monarchy was restored with Charles II. One can imagine Milton wishing that he could perform some heroic feat as Samson did. And in some sense Milton was successful, for his beloved England, along with much of the world, enjoys many of the freedoms he fought for. The tyranny the monarchy represented to him has disappeared from England.

Lycidas

"Lycidas" is a poem by John Milton, written in 1637 as a pastoral elegy, dedicated to the memory of Edward King, a collegemate of Milton's at Cambridge who had been drowned when his ship sank in the Irish Sea off the coast of Wales. The poem is 193 lines in length, and is irregularly rhymed.

The topic of the poem is a shepherd who mourns his drowned friend, Lycidas, first alluding to the immortal fame of a poet. Then, the metaphor of "shepherd" for priests is explored. King and Milton were both preparing to become ministers, and the death of one good shepherd mourned as a severe loss to the flock, i.e. the salvation of the faithful (108–131):

Last came, and last did go, The Pilot of the Galilean lake, Two massy Keyes he bore of metals twain, (The Golden opes, the Iron shuts amain) He shook his Miter'd locks, and stern bespake, How well could I have spar'd for thee young swain, Anow of such as for their bellies sake, Creep and intrude, and climb into the fold? Of other care they little reck'ning make, Then how to scramble at the shearers feast, And shove away the worthy bidden guest. Blind mouthes! that scarce themselves know how to hold A Sheep-hook, or have learn'd ought els the least That to the faithfull Herdmans art belongs! What recks it them? What need they? They are sped; And when they list, their lean and flashy songs Grate on their scrannel Pipes of wretched straw, The hungry Sheep look up, and are not fed, But swoln with wind, and the rank mist they draw, Rot inwardly, and foul contagion spread: Besides what the grim Woolf with privy paw Daily devours apace, and nothing sed, But that two-handed engine at the door, Stands ready to smite once, and smite no more.

The phrase "blind mouths" describes the corrupt clergy who "creep, intrude and climb into the fold", i.e. who acquire their position with dishonest means, referring to their greed, and uselessness as guardians. The "Wolf" has been interpreted as an allegory for the Catholic Church, and the "two-handed engine at the door" may refer to Judgement Day, although the precise metaphor intended is uncertain, and the lines are among the most discussed in English literature. An "engine" in Milton's day needed not be a mechanical machine, but could also refer to a simpler device or weapon, such as a two handed sword used for execution.

The final lines of the poem:

And now the Sun had stretch'd out all the hills, And now was dropt into the Western bay; At last he rose, and twitch'd his Mantle blew: To morrow to fresh Woods, and Pastures new.