John Milton (1608-1674). On His Deceased Wife. William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. 1910. The Book of Restoration Verse

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William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Restoration Verse. 1910.

On His Deceased Wife

By John Milton (1608–1674)


METHOUGHT 1 I saw my late espousèd Saint
Brought to me like Alcestis 2 from the grave,
Whom Joves great Son to her glad Husband gave,
Rescu’d from death by force though pale and faint.
Mine as whom washt from spot of child-bed taint,	5
Purification in the old Law did save,
And such, as yet once more I trust to have
Full sight of her in Heaven without restraint,
Came vested all in white, pure as her mind;
Her face was vail’d, 3 yet to my fancied sight,	10
Love, sweetness, goodness, in her person shin’d
So clear, as in no face with more delight.
But O as to embrace me she enclin’d
I wak’d, she fled, and day brought back my night.

Note 1. Milton’s second wife, Catherine, whom he married on November 12, 1656. She died in childbirth, February, 1658. [back]

Note 2. Alcestis: wife of Admetus, King of Pherae, in Thessaly, who died in her husband’s stead, and brought back to life by Herakles, “Joves great Son.” [back]

Note 3. Face was vail’d: as Alcestis, when she appeared to Admetus. [back]

CONTENTS · GLOSSARY · BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

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