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Article: A note on Milton's 'Lycidas.' (John Milton)
- Article from:
- ANQ
- Article date:
- October 1, 1994
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1994 Heldref Publications. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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The struggle between the pagan Classics and Christianity underlies much of Milton's poetry. In Lycidas, Milton achieves a tentative balance between the two by the positioning in the text of the figure of the river god Camus.
In Lycidas, Camus appears in a central position in the procession of mourners for the drowned shepherd. In the verse paragraph preceding the appearance of Camus, Milton has populated the text with river deities or personifications from Classical study and literature: Arethuse, a nymph that was transformed into a river to avoid the amorous pursuits of the river-god Alpheus and Mincius, the native river of Virgil. Immediately preceding Camus is ...