John Milton s Lycidas Uses Fruitful And Fertile Imagery

A sorrowful ode to his former colleague and close friend, John Milton’s Lycidas uses fruitful and fertile imagery to describe the watery death of his collegiate companion. Water in this poem functions both as it normally does, describing rebirth in a true baptismal fashion, and in an alternate way, in reference to the drowning and death of Edward King. The poem also takes time to discuss the malicious actions of the English clergymen, poetically described in traditional pastoral imagery, so in this way it is similar to what Milton does with the water imagery. Both are both traditional in one sense and a complete antithesis in another, while still using the same imagery. Lycidas begins with a declaration of the writer’s desire to achieve petty vengeance against nature. â€Å"I come to pluck your berries harsh and crude, and with forced fingers rude, shatter your leaves before the mellowing year.† (Lycidas, Line Three, Page 39) Edward King’s death was early and unwarranted. He, like the unripe berries, was plucked crudely before he could reach his maturity. Milton channels his grief into anger, and needs to assign blame on some entity. Unfortunately for him nature lacks a corporeal form, so the attacks he is able to make are minor compared to the power over life nature possesses. The action of plucking the berries in undoubtedly violent, he wants to punish and hurt nature in the same way nature has hurt him. He does not ask for any great catastrophe, but wishes to take some small