... MINDING ARTISTIC LIBERTY:
JOHN MILTON (1608-74ce)
What was Milton like, O muse?
Will you let us have your views?
Was he great, or was he so-so?
Allegro, or Penseroso?
Haste thee, nymph, and let us see
Some of Milton's history.
First at Cambridge, Edward King
Died and left him sorrowing.
Further sorrow came, I fear,
When he wed a Cavalier;
Though it gave a certain force
To his writings on divorce.
When the Revolution came,
Pamphlets bolstered up his fame.
Of them all the finest far
Was Areopagitica.
Going blind, and twice bereaved,
Via the sonnet form he grieved,
Till the Muse of Epic beckoned
In the reign of Charles the Second.
His filial amanuenses
Hardly could believe there senses,
Having copied quite a nice
Poem about Paradise,
When he thought it would be fun,
If they did a second one.
All their grumbling spoilt his life
Till he found another wife.
Cheerfully, despite his gout,
Then he saw his old age out.
Samson's tale was still to write
Before he joined him in the night.
A vain and narrow man, we know it;
But what a simply marvellous poet!
-- PAUL GRIFFIN
Due credit to Amicus Antonius for the find.
