[Milton-L] L'Allegro and Il Penseroso

[Hannibal Hamlin]

O.K., I'll bite. I sort of agree, at least in that it seems to me Milton's
heart is more in Penseroso than L'Allegro, but I think that both are really
aspects of his character. And this is, after all, what this kind of poetic
exercise (writing *in utremque partem*) is all about. You have to argue both
sides. In this case, since it's something of a "glass half full" versus
"glass half empty" argument, no side can really "win," even though we might
be able to argue whether Milton was himself more sympathetic to one side or
another. For a more recent literary work somewhat along these lines, you
might be interested in Herman Hesse's novel Narziss (or Narcissus) and
Goldmund, the story of two close friends who represent opposite character
types and world views.

A couple of further thoughts:
1) it's telling that these poems both allude to the Marlowe-Raleigh poems
"The Passionate Shepherd" and "The Nymph's Reply" -- another verse debate
2) it may be even more telling that "L'Allegro" is full of allusions to
Shakespeare -- perhaps this is getting too Freudian/Harold Bloomian, but is
"L'Allegro" who Milton, in a way, wanted to be but couldn't? Shakespeare (at
least as Milton conceived him) "warbling his native wood notes wild"?

I pause for a reply.

Hannibal

On Wed, Mar 25, 2009 at 11:06 AM, Ross Leasure <trleasure at gmail.com> wrote:

> I might recommend looking at an article by Donald Dorian in a journal
> called _Modern Philology_ (vol. 31) entitled "The Question of
> Autobiographical Significance in 'L'Allegro' and 'Il Penseroso'"
> (November 1933; pp. 175-182).  Somewhat date, but still pertinent to
> your question.  Perhaps a local college library can provide you with a
> copy.
>
> 2009/3/24  <gamefreak727 at gmail.com>:
>  > Hey, i am just a high school student writing about John Milton's poem's
> > "L'Allegro" and "Il Penseroso." My prompt i made for my senior project
> was,
> > If the two poems above were considered a debate, an argument, or two
> sides
> > of an issue or debate, or two people, which side or person would Milton
> most
> > prefer or like? My answer was "Il Penseroso." Would any of you agree with
> > me?
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>
>
> --
> T. Ross Leasure
> Dept. of English
> Salisbury University
> Salisbury MD 21801
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-- 
Hannibal Hamlin
Associate Professor of English
The Ohio State University
Burkhardt Fellow,
The Folger Shakespeare Library
201 East Capitol Street SE
Washington, DC 20003
hamlin.22 at osu.edu/
hamlin.hannibal at gmail.com
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