Love and Death: Milton's 'Lycidas'

Milton wrote ‘Lycidas’ in 1637, at the age of 29, to commemorate the drowning of the poet Edward King. As well as a great pastoral elegy, it is a denunciation of the ecclesiastical condition of England and a rehearsal for Milton’s later role as a writer of national epic. In the first episode of their new series, Seamus and Mark discuss the political backdrop to the poem, Milton’s virtuosic mix of poetic tradition and innovation, and why such a fervent puritan would choose an unfashionable, pre-Christian form to honour his friend. Read more in the LRB: Colin Burrow (on the 'two-handed engine'): https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v35/n05/colin-burrow/shall-i-go-on Freya Johnston (on Samuel Johnson's criticism): https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v46/n08/freya-johnston/own-your-ignorance Maggie Kilgour (on the young Milton): https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v43/n20/maggie-kilgour/pens-and-heads Read 'Lycidas': https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44733/lycidas Read more in the LRB: Colin Burrow (on the 'two-handed engine'): https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v35/n05/colin-burrow/shall-i-go-on Freya Johnston (on Samuel Johnson's criticism): https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v46/n08/freya-johnston/own-your-ignorance Maggie Kilgour (on the young Milton): https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v43/n20/maggie-kilgour/pens-and-heads The next episode will include: Ben Jonson: On My First Son https://lrb.me/jonsoncrld Anne Bradstreet:In Memory of My Dear Grandchild Elizabeth Bradstreet https://lrb.me/bradstreetcrld Geoffrey Hill: September Song https://lrb.me/hillcrld Elizabeth Bishop: First Death in Nova Scotia https://lrb.me/bishopcrld