‘Il Penseroso’

‘Il Penseroso’,
a poem in rhymed octosyllabics (with a ten-line prelude) by Milton , written ?1631 , printed 1645 . The title means ‘the contemplative man’. The poem is an invocation to the goddess Melancholy, bidding her bring Peace, Quiet, Leisure, and Contemplation. It describes the pleasures of the studious, meditative life, of tragedy, epic poetry, and music. It had a considerable influence on the meditative graveyard poems of the 18th cent., and there are echoes in Pope's ‘Eloisa to Abelard’ , and later Gothic works. It is a companion piece to ‘L'Allegro’ .