L’ Allegro (Masterplots II: Poetry, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: John Milton
- First Published: 1645
- Type of Work: Pastoral
- Genres: Poetry, Pastoral, Lyric poetry
- Subjects: Mythology or myths, Nature, Rural or country life, Seventeenth century, Gods or goddesses, Happiness, Peasantry or peasants, Shepherds
The Poem
This 152-line poem is non-stanzaic and is written in tetrameter couplets except for the first ten lines, which are alternating trimeters and pentameters. It is a companion piece to the slightly longer “Il Penseroso,” with which a detailed comparison must necessarily be made.
“L’Allegro” means “the cheerful man,” and the poem describes, in pastoral terms and in his own voice, the idyllic day of such a man in the countryside. It begins with the sun rising and takes the man through the pleasures of the day until the countryfolk’s bedtime. After...
[The entire page is 1528 words long]
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