Sonnet 1 by Milton was written in the form of a then-current literary genre popular in the poet’s time. It involved contemplating the contrast between the nightingale and the cuckoo. The cuckoo typically represented a man being cuckolded.
However, the nightingale is a literary allusion to the classical Greek myth of Philomela, which the Roman poet Ovid elaborated on in Book VI of the Metamorphoses. The story goes like this: Philomela was raped by her brother-in-law, King Tereus, who cut out her tongue cut out so the crime remained a secret.
However, Philomela revealed the secret to her Sister and wife of King Tereus, Queen Procne by weaving it into a tapestry that she sent to the queen. Then, she and her sister, Procne, came up with a revenge plot that included killing the son of both King Tereus and Queen Procne and feeding him his flesh. They were successful; however, Tereus sought revenge and chased them with an axe to chop them down.
They were saved by the Gods who turned them into birds — Procne into a swallow, and Philomela into a nightingale. As a result, the nightingale is typically associated with chastity, singing or poetic ability, and good fortune. To us, the myth likely seems too gruesome to be associated with anything positive, including poetic inspiration.
However, in the literary traditions of Europe, the nightingale stood as a symbol of the poet's voice. Philomela was rewarded with the gift of song as compensation for losing her voice in the human world. European poets saw the nightingale as a muse for poetic expression in addition to being a symbol of chastity.
Milton in Sonnet 1 is taking part in a tradition that was current at the time. As a result, the poem comes across as a little shallow. The poet has not been inspired by any deep or true emotion. He is simply dryly taking part in a literary trend.
The full text of Milton, Sonnet 1
Here is the full text of the poem:
O Nightingale, that on yon blooming spray
Warblest at eve, when all the woods are still,
Thou with fresh hopes the Lover’s heart dost fill,
While the jolly Hours lead on propitious May.
Thy liquid notes that close the eye of Day,
First heard before the shallow cuckoo’s bill,
Portend success in love. O if Jove’s will
Have linked that amorous power to thy soft lay,
Now timely sing, ere the rude bird of hate
Foretell my hopeless doom, in some grove nigh;
As thou from year to year hast sung too late
For my relief, yet had’st no reason why.
Whether the Muse or Love call thee his mate,
Both them I serve, and of their train am I.
For an annotated version of the poem, please go to Sonnet 1— from The John Milton Reading Room.
Summary of the poem
The poem is a classical Miltonan sonnet of 14 lines. Mitonian sonnets are modeled after the Petrarchan sonnet. They are written in iambic pentameter and have the following rhyming scheme: abbaabbacdecd, with a pivot or change in meaning occurring after the eighth line.
Lines 1–4
In Lines 1–4 Milton addresses the nightingale, which is singing “yon” (over) on a “bloomy Spray.” The English used here is from the 17th century. Perhaps some definitions are in order.
O Nightingale, that on yon bloomy Spray
Warbl'st at eeve, when all the Woods are still,
Thou with fresh hope the Lovers heart dost fill,
While the jolly hours lead on propitious May
“Bloomy Spray” means young leafy branches. “Warbl’st” is an archaic expression for “warble,” which references a bird singing softly. Besides the archaic language, the first four lines are pretty straightforward to understand. They may even be banal.
In short, it can be translated as “Oh nightingale, you sing so well this evening and fill the hearts of lovers with hope.”
Lines 5-8
In Lines 5-8, Milton continues with his praise of the bird, whose song portends evening coming (close the eye of day) and “success in love” (Line 7).
Thy liquid notes that close the eye of Day,
First heard before the shallow Cuccoo's bill
Portend success in love; O if Jove's will
Have linkt that amorous power to thy soft lay,
Lines 7-8 has an enjambment that leads to Line 9. Enjambment means that a sentence in a poem extends beyond a line or rhyming couplet.
Lines 9-14
In lines 9-11, we can see the full point that Milton is making in addressing the bird. He is asking the bird to continue signing before the coming of the cuckoo (or the Bird of Hate) because, in the past, he missed out on the blessings of the nightingale, which “sung too late” for “his relief” (Line 12).
Now timely sing, ere the rude Bird of Hate
Foretell my hopeles doom in som Grove ny:
As thou from yeer to yeer hast sung too late
For my relief; yet hadst no reason why,
Whether the Muse, or Love call thee his mate,
Both them I serve, and of their train am I.
The sonnet has no dramatic turn as expected in the traditional Petrachan sonnet. There is a turn, but it is slight. The poet reveals that he has had neither luck in producing poetry, which is what he means when references “the Muse,” or “Love.”
Themes in Milton, Sonnet 1
The main themes in the poem lie in the contrast between the nightingale and the cuckoo. The Nightingale represents the following:
A poetic muse
Constancy and chastity in love
Success in love and poetry
The cuckoo, on the other hand, represents the exact opposite. We could say the main theme of the poem revolves around a poet expressing anxiety regarding his art.
Rhetorical devices used in Milton, Sonnet 1
The main rhetorical devices used in the poem are allusion and symbolism. There are allusions to two things in the poem that relate to Greek myth and the two birds mentioned.
1. Allusions
1. The classical Greek Myth of Philomela. Philomela because she resisted sex before marriage or sex with a married man is a symbol of chastity and constancy. The fact that she was turned into a nightingale means that the bird represents chastity and love as well as a symbol of song and poetry. The Gods blessed Philomila with the gift of song as compensation for her tongue being cut out when she was human.
2. The superstition surrounding nightingales and cuckoos. In Milton’s era, hearing the cuckoo before the nightingale meant bad luck. This is referenced in Line 9, where the cuckoo is described as the “rude Bird of Hate.”
2. Symbolism
The birds in the poem symbolize two different things, which oppose each other: Bad luck and cuckoldry in the cuckoo; and good fortune, poetic and literary ability, and chastity in the nightingale. The contrasting symbolism of the nightingale and cuckoo was part of a long cultural tradition in the Italian poetry that was en vogue at the time of Milton.
3. Assonance
There is a notable assonance effect in Lined 9-11, involving the long double "o" sound. It is used to describe the ugly effects of the "rude Bird of Hate" and is sustained throughout the three lines in words like "rude," "doom," and "too." This successfully matches sound with sense: that is, the ugly long you sound is apt to describe the "Bird of hate."
Mood and tone
The tone of the poem can be described as learned. The poet is engaged in a very literary theme. This makes the poem much more intellectual and literary than personal or emotional. There is no deep or true emotion being expressed here.
The poet is simply participating in a literary trend to show off his skills. We can say that the passion and pain that Matthew Arnold refers to and expresses when alluding to the myth of "Philomela" in his poem is absent here. T. S. Eliot once described Milton as being “artificial and conventional.” He was partly correct by evidence of this poem. The poem was written early in the poet’s career.
We have to wait for an older Milton who throws away the convention of preserving Petrarchan poets for love songs and instead uses them to express political anger and rage, as in Sonnet 12 and Sonnet 18, or personal loss and agony, as in the lament over living in physical blindness in Sonnet 19.
Cite this EminentEdit article |
Antoine, M. (2024, October 09). Milton, Sonnet 1: Summary and Analysis. https://www.eminentediting.com/post/milton-sonnet-1-summary-and-analysis |
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