Comus

COMUS. This is the title given to a masque by John Milton, produced in honor of the Earl of Bridgewater, upon his entrance on his duties as Lord President of Wales, at Ludlow Castle, on Michaelmas night, 29 Sept. 1634. The young Puritan poet was induced to furnish the words for the entertainment — such things were not in favor with most of his coreligionists— by a family friend, Henry Lawes the musician, who gave instruction to the Earl of Bridgewater's dren. Three of .these acted in the masque, and Lawes himself took the part of the Attend ant Spirit besides furnishing the music. Ap parently Milton about a year before had ren dered Lawes a similar service by writing for him the less elaborate That Milton drew to some extent upon these and other works seems indisputable, but the fact does not impair his essential originality, which is seen, not merely in the unsurpassed charm, purity and philosophical elevation of his poem taken as a whole, but in his developing the shadowy Comus of mythology into a well-de fined and not unimpressive character.

Criticism of (Comus) has been in the main highly laudatory, not a few persons preferring it and the other poems of the "Horton period," and (II Penseroso> and to the works of Milton's later years, including even Lost.' On such a point argu

ment seems useless. One who demands the sonorous sublimity of the great epic, the poised dignity of Regained, the severe strength of Agonistes,> will not find these qualities present in large measure in On the other hand, one who delights in the fascinating style of (Comus,) in the noble idealism of its portrayal of the power of virtue, in the pure lyrical and qualities of the closing portion beginning with the invocation to "Sabrina fair," is not likely precisely to renew his delights in the later poems. It is more catholic and profitable to enjoy the great poet both in this product of the graceful strength of his early genius and in the more of his riper years. We shall do this the more certainly if we avoid a tendency observable in some critics to deal with as though it were a regular drama. In its use of blank verse, its comparatively long speeches, its diminished insistence upon the more spectacular elements of the typical masque, (Comus) does approximate a play, and thus Milton may be said to give some handle to those critics who demand from him a more realistic and convincing handling of his char acters. One can, therefore, understand how some people regard the great speeches as fine poetry put into the mouths of uninteresting puppets, and how one biographer actually has the heart to call the elder brother a prig. But after all (Comus) is not a play but a masque developed into a philosophical poem, and in this more or less unique capacity it should be judged. One may doubt whether the ideals of personal purity have ever been more inspiringly set forth than in this poem, in which exquisite ness and nobility seem to be perfectly blended. From such a point of view one does not need to realize the plight of the lost lady exposed to the wiles of the enchanter, or to enter into the feel ings and watch the actions of the two brothers who seek to rescue her, with the intensity of conviction and sympathy that would be required if (Comus) made the same demands as a regu lar drama. What one has to do is rather to give one's self up to the beauty of the style and the nobility of the thought, more or less leav ing the action and the characterization to take care of themselves.