In this second lecture on Lycidas, moments of intrusion and revelation are closely examined. Saint Peter's protracted sermon is connected with the wider context of Puritan practices and controversies. The poem's tendency to suggest pairs and substitutions is duly noted. Finally, its conclusion is read as a triumphant moment in the young Milton's poetry, at which point he parts with the claims of ill-preparedness and little experience that dominated the early poems and assumes instead a prophetic voice for himself akin to Isaiah's.
John Milton. Complete Poems and Major Prose. (Hughes):
Lycidas (1637), pp. 116-25
Re-read Reason of Church Government, pp. 665-71
Sonnet XVI: "To the Lord General Cromwell" (1652), p. 160
Sonnet XVII: "To Sir Henry Vane the Younger" (1652), p. 161
Sonnet XVIII: "On the Late Massacre" (1655), p. 167
Additional reading: Virgil, Eclogues 6
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