The Complete Poetry of John Milton (160 page)

PSALM 114
Date:
end of Nov. 1634; from reference, apparently to this paraphrase, in a letter to Alexander Gill, dated Dec. 4.
Texts:
1645*, 1673.
1673.
1673.
1673.

PHILOSOPHUS AD REGEM
…
Date:
Dec. 1634 ?; perhaps close to
Ps.
114 which it follows in 1645.
Texts:
1645*, 1673.
Title
insontem / in tem
1673, two lines
, son
apparently cut off by right margin during printing.
1673.
1673
1673.
1673
1673.

ON TIME
Date:
1633–1637 ?; see textual note for
Solemn Musick.
Texts:
1645, 1673, TM*; Bodleian MS, Ashmole 36, 37, f. 22
^r
.
Title
(To be) set on a clock case
TM, deleted, replaced by present title
, Vpon a Clocke Case, or Dyall
BMS.
(2) stepping / sleepeinge
BMS.
(17) the / your
BMS.
(18) t’whose / whose
BMS.
(19–22) Shall heape our days with everlastinge store | When death and Chance, and thou O tyme shalbee noe more.
BMS.

UPON THE CIRCUMCISION
Date:
1633–37 ?; see textual note for
Solemn Musick.
Texts:
1645, 1673, TM*.
(1)
not indented
1645, 1673, TM. (14)
double indentation
1645, 1673. (15)
not indented
1645, 1673. (27)
not indented
1673. (28)
double indentation
1645, 1673.

AT A SOLEMN MUSICK
Date:
1637. Date depends on when TM was begun, since the ode was worked out in it shortly afterward. Recent argument has suggested its first use in autumn 1637 (see Shawcross, “Speculations”). All previously dated in the early 1630’s,
On Time
and
Upon the Circumcision
precede
Solemn Musick
in composition but lie apparently close to it. Unlike the early sonnets, the three odes evidence Italian prosody drawn directly from Tuscan poetry, as Prince shows (pp. 59–65); here Milton developed the “disciplined improvisation” which is basic to
Lycidas.
Texts:
1645, 1673, TM 4*. There are two preliminary drafts of the full poem (TM 1, TM 2) and an additional revision (TM 3) of ll. 17–28; since they are superseded by TM 4, they are not collated. A correction in Milton’s hand is found in the Bodleian Library copy of 1645 (catalogued 80 M168 Art, but kept as Arch G.f.17): l. 6, “content” changed to “concent”.
(6) concent / content,
1645.
(28)
not indented
1645, 1673; with him, and sing
1645
/ and sing with him
TM 4.

LYCIDAS
Date:
Nov. 1637; date given in TM.
Texts: Justa Edovardo King naufrago
(1638), 1645*, 1673, TM*. Corrections in Milton’s hand occur in the Cambridge University copy of 1638 and in British Museum copy C.21.c.42: (10) he knew / he well knew
CM, BM.
(51) lord
/ lov’d
CM, BM.
(53) the old / your old
CM.
(67) do, / use
CM, BM.
(157) humming / whelming
CM, BM.
(175) oazie / oozie
CM;
oosie
also in margin of CM.
(177) in the blest kingdom[s meeke] of Joy, and Love.
added CM without comma and period, BM with bracketed section torn off.
A scrap of proof for p. 21 of 1638, ll. 23–58, was found pasted on the inner side of the back cover of
De Literis & Lingua Getarum
, 1597, in the Cambridge University Library (facsimile in Scolar ed.). Corrections, etc., are: (25, 27, 28, 29, 31, 41, 49)
corrections of letters.
(26) eye-lids
hyphen inserted.
(27) a-field,
hyphen inserted.
(31) wheel.
period inserted.
(32, 37, 52)
realignment of type.
Alterations made to the TM after 1640 are not, of course, found in 1638.
Headnote
missing
1638 And … height. /
missing
TM. (10) he well knew / he knew
1638, 1645, 1673.
(15)
not indented
British Museum copy 1077.d.51 of 1638. (25)
not indented
1638. (26) opening / glimmering
1638.
(30) Oft till the ev’n-starre bright
1638;
in / at
1645, 1673.
(31) westring / burnisht
1638.
(50)
not indented
1638. (51) lov’d / lord
1638.
(53) your / the
1638.
(56) Ay / Ah
1638.
(64)
not indented
1638; incessant / uncessant
1638, 1645, 1673.
(65) tend / end
1673.
(66) strictly / stridly
1638.
(67) use, / do,
1638.
(69) Or with / Hid in
1638.
(73) when / where
1638.
(85)
not indented
1638. (103)
not indented
1638. (105) Inwraught / Inwrought
1638, 1645, 1673.
(114) Anow / Enough
1638
, anough
TM.
(129) little / nothing
1645, 1673, not reinstated in TM.
(131) smite / smites
1638.
(149) beauties / beauty
1638, 1645, 1673.
(157) whelming / humming
1638, TM.
(177)
omitted
1638.

AD PATREM
Date:
Mar. 1638 ?; probably written about the time of publication of
Mask
(c, Feb.–Mar. 1638 ?), perhaps to accompany a gift copy. The poem may have been provoked by opposition to Milton’s travelling abroad in preparation for a literary career. H. A. Barnett (
MLN
, LXXIII [1958], 82–83) has shown that the time of year of composition may be around Mar.
Texts:
1645*, 1673.
(8) possint / possunt
1673.

AD SALSILLUM
Date:
Nov. ? 1638; during first visit to Rome since it precedes
Mansus
in 1645.
Texts:
1645*, 1673.

MANSUS
Date:
Dec. 1638; written and sent to
Manso when Milton was in Naples.
Texts:
1645*, 1673.
(62) Peneium / Peceium
1645 Fletcher.
(82) Aut / Ant
1673.
(83) adsit) / ad sit)
1645, 1673.