9. Read Shakespeare's Sonnet 57 and write your answers to the questions.

Being your slave, what should I do but tend

Upon the hours and times of your desire?

I have no precious time at all to spend

Nor services to do, till you require.

Nor dare I chide the world-without-end hour

Whilst I, my sovereign, watch the clock for you,

Nor think the bitterness of absence sour

When you have bid your servant once adieu;

Nor dare I question with my jealous thought

Where you may be, or your affairs suppose,

But like a sad slave, stay and think of nought

Save, where you are, how happy you make those.

So true a fool is love, that in your will,

Though you do any thing, he thinks no ill.

1. What question does the poet ask himself ?

2. How does he answer it? (Write out the question and the answer.)

3. Who is the poem addressed to?

4. What is the poet doing in this poem? Telling the reader about his loved one? Complaining that he hasn't been given enough attention by her? Trying to criticise himself? Trying to say how unhappy and sad he is? Trying to say how much he loves her? Something else?

5. What type of person does the poet compare himself with?

6. What kind of slave is he?

7. Can you explain in your own words what has made the poet think that he is a slave to his beloved?

8. Can we guess from the poem whether the poet's beloved cares for him and is faithful to him?

9. What does the poet mean when he uses an un­usual compound adjective "world-without-end"?

10. What kind of poem is this?

11. How many beats are there in each line? Are the lines regular or irregular? What is the rhyme scheme of the poem? (Write it out.)

12. How is the poet trying to convey his feelings to the reader? By using a rhetorical question? By using the pattern "Nor dare I..."? By using the repetition of the syntactic structure "Nor dare I..."? In some other ways? Does the poet make effective use of these devices?

13. a rhetorical question — question used for effect but not seeking answer;

14. a beat — main accent in music or verse.

15. What is the main feeling we get from the poem?

16. What is the poem about?

17. What people can this sonnet appeal to? Does it appeal to you?

Compare the sonnet with its Russian translation version and discuss the questions, given below.

Для верных слуг нет ничего другого,

Как ожидать у двери госпожу.

Так, прихотям твоим служить готовый,

Я в ожиданье время провожу.

Я про себя бранить не смею скуку,

За стрелками часов твоих следя.

Не проклинаю горькую разлуку,

За дверь твою по знаку выходя.

Не позволяю помыслам ревнивым

Переступать заветный твой порог,

И, бедный раб, считаю я счастливым

Того, кто час пробыть с тобою мог.

Что хочешь делай. Я лишился зренья,

И нет во мне ни тени подозренья.

(Перевод С. Я. Маршака)

1. Is the theme of the sonnet in the original and its translation the same?

2. Is the image of the poet in the translation the same?

3. What devices are used by the Russian translator to convey the meaning of the poem?

§ 9. John Milton (1608–1677)

The great poet John Milton was born in London on December 9, 1608. Milton's father was a prosperous scrivener (a clerk who copied documents) in London. He was also an amateur composer. From childhood Milton learned to love music and books, he read and studied so intensely that at the age of twelve he had already formed the habit of working until midnight.

At first Milton attended St. Paul's School. His progress in every department of knowledge was very rapid, and at the age of sixteen he went to the University of Cambridge. On graduating, Milton retired to his father's country place, Horton, in Buckinghamshire. There he gave himself up to study and poetry. Many of Milton' s poems were written at Horton. They com­prise the first period in his creative work.

Milton had long wished to complete his education by travelling, as was the custom of the time. In 1637 he left England for a European tour. He visited France and Italy which ga­ve him an opportunity to satisfy his thirst for knowledge. He met the great Galileo who was no longer a prisoner of the Inquisition, but was still watched by Catholic churchmen. Milton succeeded in getting into the house where Galileo was kept. In 1639 he returned to England, just when the struggle between the king and the Puritan bourgeoisie began.

The years between 1640 and 1660, the second period in his literary work, were the years when he wrote militant revolutionary pamphlets. His views on civil and religious liberty made him the most prominent pamphlet-writer of the Independents. When the Republican Government under Cromwell was established in the year 1649, Milton was appointed Latin Secretary to the Council of State. The work consisted chiefly of translating diplomatic government papers into Latin and from Latin.

In his pamphlets, most of which were written in Latin, Milton made Europe understand that the Puritan Revolution was not just a great rebellion, as the Royalists insisted, but that it was the only force, which could give the people rights and freedom. The execution of the king, he said, should not be regarded as bloodshed by a cruel people, but as the only means by which the people could free themselves from the monarchy and that the king was not martyr, but the worst of enemies in the cause of liberty. During his years as Latin Secretary and journalist Milton wrote only a few sonnets.

Milton had weak eyes even as a child: in 1652 he lost his eyesight completely.

With the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, Milton was discharged from office. All his famous pamphlets were burnt, his family moved to a small house not far from London where Milton again began to write poetry. Milton's years of retirement became the third period in his literary work. During this period he created woks that made him one of the greatest poets of England. These were his great epic "Paradise Lost" (1667) and then, the second epic, ''Paradise Regained" and a tragedy ''Samson Agonistes", both written by 1671.

The story of "Samson" is taken from the Bible. Samson, the great hero, is imprisoned and blinded, but manages to destroy his enemies, although he perishes himself. The tragedy is autobiographical: in it Millton shows that he remained to his ideals. It is considered his most powerful work.

Milton died on November 8, 1674 and was buried in London. Milton's works form a bridge between the poetry of the Renaissance and the poetry of the classicists of a later period. Milton was attracted by ancient poetry because of the free thought there expressed and because of its great epic forms. Although poetry was discouraged by the Puritans, he was nevertheless a champion of the Puritans in so far as social and religious problems were concerned, because he believed that only a republican government could provide a foundation for freedom.

''Paradise Lost" was written after the Restoration, but the powerful voice of the poet declared that the spirit of the Revolution was not broken, that it still lived in the heart of the people. Being a Puritan, Milton wanted to portray God as an embodiment of Justice, and Satan as the villain, but Satan becomes the hero of this great work. "Paradise lost" is an epic poem. The characters are Satan and his rebel-angels, God, three guardian angels – Raphael, Gabriel and Michael, and the first man and woman – Adam and Eve. The revolutionary spirit is shown in Satan, who revolts against God, draws to his side many rebel-angels and is driven out of Heaven. Down into the fires of Hell they fall. But Satan is not to be overcome. He hates God who rules the universe autocratically.

Adam and Eve are allowed by God to live in Paradise, in the Garden of Eden, as long as they do not eat the apple that grows on the Tree of the Knowledge of good and evil. Satan who has been driven from the Garden of Eden, returns at night in the form of serpent. Next morning, the serpent persuades Eve to eat the forbidden fruit from the Tree of Knowledge and to take another one for Adam. Eve tells Adam what she has done. Adam decided to eat the fruit for love of Eve. As a punishment, God banishes Adam and Eve to the newly created world.