John Milton was an English poet. Studying to be a clergyman, he abandoned the idea and prepared to be a poet.
Milton composed a number of poems, including “On the Morning of Christ’s Nativity,” “On Shakespeare,” “L’Allegro,” “Il Penseroso,” and the pastoral elegy “Lycidas.” His popularity was the publishing of his epic poem Paradise Lost in 1667, as well as its sequel Paradise Regained and the tragedy Samson Agonistes both in 1671.
L'Allegro is a pastoral and countryside based poem by Milton. It was published in his collection of 1645 Poems which were in two sections of English and Latin respectively. L'Allegro in Italian means a happy person.
The poem has rich imagery of nature, shepherds, sheep rearing and rural routines. The poem explores the simplicity of man and how happiness can sometimes just be in the most basic tasks and by being close to nature. Various Greek gods are addressed throughout the poem.
A lyric poem, it reveals the poet's emotions in rhymed verses.
In Heav'n yclept Euphrosyne,
And by men, heart-easing Mirth,
Whom lovely Venus at a birth
With two sister Graces more
To ivy-crowned Bacchus bore
Image - image was first engraved by William Marshall to serve as a frontispiece in a 1645 edition of Milton's Poems.
