Milton in his "latter days" was "poor, sick, blind, slandered, persecuted [...] yet still listening to the music of his thoughts."
— Coleridge, Samuel Taylor (1772-1834)
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Rest Fenner
Date
1817
Metaphor
Milton in his "latter days" was "poor, sick, blind, slandered, persecuted [...] yet still listening to the music of his thoughts."
Metaphor in Context
The same calmness, and even greater self-possession, may be affirmed of Milton, as far as his poems, and poetic character are concerned. He reserved his anger, for the enemies of religion, freedom, and his country. My mind is not capable of forming a more august conception, than arises from the contemplation of this great man in his latter days: poor, sick, blind, slandered, persecuted,
Darkness before, and danger's voice behind,
in an age in which he was little understood by the party, for whom, as by that, against whom he had contended; and among men before whom he strode so far as to dwarf himself by the distance; yet still listening to the music of his thoughts, or if additionally cheered, yet cheered only by the prophetic faith of two or three solitary individuals, he did nevertheless
--Argue not
Against Heaven's hand or will, nor bate a jot
Of heart or hope; but still bore up and steer'd
Right onward.
(pp. 36-7)
Darkness before, and danger's voice behind,
in an age in which he was little understood by the party, for whom, as by that, against whom he had contended; and among men before whom he strode so far as to dwarf himself by the distance; yet still listening to the music of his thoughts, or if additionally cheered, yet cheered only by the prophetic faith of two or three solitary individuals, he did nevertheless
--Argue not
Against Heaven's hand or will, nor bate a jot
Of heart or hope; but still bore up and steer'd
Right onward.
(pp. 36-7)
Categories
Provenance
Reading
Citation
Text drawn from or checked against S. T. Coleridge, Biographia Literaria. ed. James Engell and W. Jackson Bate, Bollingen Series: The Collected Works, vol. vii (Princeton UP, 1983).
See also Project Gutenberg edition <Link>.
See also Project Gutenberg edition <Link>.
Date of Entry
09/22/2005
