FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   >>  
mb of the first was at Naples (see Milton's _Ad Leonaram_, iii., "Credula quid liquidam Sirena, Neapoli, jactas, Claraque Parthenopes fana Acheloeiados," etc.). Ligea, described by Virgil (_Georg._ iv. 336) as a sea-nymph, is here represented as seated, like a mermaid, in the act of smoothing her hair with a golden comb. 881. ~Wherewith~ = with which. The true adjective clause is "sleeking ... locks" = with which she sleeks, etc.; and the true participial clause is "she sits ... rocks" = seated on ... rocks. 882. ~Sleeking~, making sleek or glossy. The original sense of 'sleek' is greasy: comp. _Lyc._ 99, "On the level brine _Sleek_ Panope with all her sisters played." 885. ~heave~, raise. Comp. the similar use of the word in _L'Alleg._ 145, "Orpheus' self may heave his head." 887. ~bridle in~, _i.e._ restrain. 888. ~have~: subjunctive after _till_, as frequently in Milton. 890. ~rushy-fringed~, fringed with rushes. The more usual form would be rush-fringed: we may regard Milton's form as a participle formed from the compound noun "rushy-fringe": comp. 'blue-haired,' l. 29; "false-played," Shakespeare, _A. and C._ iv. 14. 891. ~grows~. A singular with two nominatives connected by _and_: the verb is to be taken with each. But the compound subject is really equivalent to "the willow with its osiers dank," osiers being water-willows or their branches. ~dank~, damp: comp. _Par. Lost_, vii. 441, "oft they quit the _dank_" (= the water). 893. ~Thick set~, etc., _i.e._ thickly inlaid with agate and beautified with the azure sheen of turquoise, etc. There is a zeugma in _set_. ~azurn sheen~. Sheen = brightness: it occurs again in l. 1003; see note there. 'Azurn': modern English has a tendency to use the noun itself as an adjective in cases where older English used an adjective with the suffix _-en_ = made of. Most of the adjectives in _-en_ that still survive do not now denote "made of," but simply "like," _e.g._ golden hair, etc. _Azurn_ and _cedarn_ (l. 990), _hornen_, _treen_, _corden_, _glassen_, _reeden_, etc., are practically obsolete; see Trench, _English Past and Present_. Comp. 'oaten' (_Lyc._ 33), 'oaken' (_Arc._ 45). As the words 'azurn' and 'cedarn' are peculiar to Milton some hold that he adopted them from the Italian _azzurino_ and _cedrino_. 894. ~turkis~; also spelt turkoise, turquois, and turquoise: lit. 'the Turkish stone,' a Persian gem so called because it came through Turkey (Pers. _turk
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   >>  



Top keywords:
Milton
 

English

 

fringed

 

adjective

 

clause

 
played
 
cedarn
 

golden

 
osiers
 

seated


turquoise

 

compound

 
tendency
 

zeugma

 
willows
 

branches

 
occurs
 
brightness
 

beautified

 

inlaid


thickly

 

modern

 

cedrino

 

azzurino

 

turkis

 

Italian

 

peculiar

 

adopted

 

turkoise

 

turquois


Turkey

 
called
 

Turkish

 

Persian

 

denote

 
simply
 

hornen

 
adjectives
 

survive

 
corden

Present
 

reeden

 
glassen
 
practically
 

obsolete

 

Trench

 
suffix
 

haired

 
sleeks
 

participial