Sappho and Phaon -- Notes added by the members of ENNC 981: The
Poetry of Sensibility. University of Virginia. Fall 1993.
It is not known when Milton wrote this sonnet; some
scholars have speculated between 1629-1631. It appeared first in order
when his sonnets were published in 1645 and again in 1673.
From Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language
(1755).
William Cowper, "Table Talk," ll. 492-503; written in 1781; published
in Poems (1782).
Edmund Waller (1606-1687) was said to have refined the heroic
couplet and was considered a significant model for eighteenth-century ideals of literature.
Dryden called him the "father of our English numbers."
Probably refers to Pope's epistle, "Eloisa to Abelard" (1717).
William Collins (1721-1759) conceived of poetry as visionary and
sacred; popular among late eighteenth-century poets.
Love.
From Pope's "Ode on Solitude," which he claimed to have written at
the age of twelve.
Sonnet II
"eloquently chaste!": Cf. "elegantly chaste": XIII, 12.
"tuneful numbers": Metrical periods or feet; lines of verse (OED). See Pope, l. 5.
"Elysian bow'rs": Idyllic world where souls of those honored by the gods spent an
after-life of revelry (OED).
"coaeval": Of equal antiquity (OED).
"Chastity divine!": Probably Diana, goddess of chastity, hunting, and the moon.
"deathless roses": Flowers associated with Venus.
"Studded with tear-drops petrified by scorn": Cf. XXXIX, 13-4.
"vestals": Virgins who tend the sacred flame of Vesta; marked by
chastity and purity (OED).
Sonnet III
"SONNET III": Cf. Spenser, The Faerie Queene, II, xii, 72: where Guyon
first views Acrasia in the "Bowre of blis."
"hyacinth's divine perfume": See "Chastity divine": II, 3.
"tyrant passion": Cf. "in the heart the Tyrant lives enshrin'd": XVII, 8 and "Love the
tyrant": XXXVIII, 13.
Sonnet IV
"Phaon's beauteous eyes,": Cf. Pope, l. 2.
"my chill'd breast in throbbing tumults rise?": Cf. Pope, l. 126.
"Mute, on the ground my Lyre neglected lies": Cf. Pope, l. 6.
"tuneful maids": Cf. VIII, 9.
"dulcet numbers": Cf. "dulcet flutes": XII, 9 and "dulcet tones": XIV, 9.
"barb'rous": Cruelly harsh (OED).
Sonnet V
"sacred Temple": See sonnet II.
Sonnet VI
"the tender gaze": See "the tender passion": p. 23.
"the speaking eye": Highly expressive (OED); cf. XXVIII, 13.
Sonnet VII
"SONNET VII": Cf. sonnet XI.
"Now passion reigns and stormy tumults roll": Cf. XXII, 13-4.
"Philosophy": Cf. XXVI, 3.
Sonnet VIII
"each aching vein": Cf. "each gasping vein": XXXVI, 11.
"Thus steals the languid fountain of my heart": Cf. "Love steals unheeded o'er the tranquil mind": XVII, 1.
"tuneful maids": Cf. IV, 10.
Sonnet IX
"rude children of fantastic birth;/Where frolic
nymphs, and shaggy tribes of mirt": Possibly refers to satyrs.
"the fierce Lord of Lustre rushes forth": Cf. "stream of living lustre": XLIII, 7.
Sonnet X
"DANG'ROUS to hear": Cf. Addison's comments on reading Sappho: pp. 24-5.
Sonnet XI
"SONNET XI": Cf. sonnet VII.
"O! Reason! vaunted Sovreign of the mind!": Cf. Anne Batten Cristall, "An Ode": "But reason, truth, and harmony
are vain. / No power man's boundless passions can restrain," ll. 23-4; from Poetical
Sketches (1795).
"wreath of fame": The laurel wreath, signifying fame and accomplishment.
"A visionary theme!": Cf. "the loftier theme": XLIII, 14.
Sonnet XII
"tessellated pavement": A rich pavement of mosaic work (OED).
"dulcet flutes": Cf. "dulcet numbers": IV, 11 and "dulcet tones": XIV, 9.
"A roseate wreath": Cf. "wreath of fame": XI, 7.
Sonnet XIII
"crysolite": Precious stone; yellow-green (OED).
"White as the downy swan; while round my waist": Swans and myrtle were held sacred to Venus and were used as
emblems of love (OED). Cf. "myrtle drest": XV.
"elegantly chaste!": Cf. "eloquently chaste": I, 4.
Sonnet XIV
"Aeolian harp": A stringed instrument adapted to produce musical sounds on exposure
to a current of air (OED). Cf. Coleridge, "The Eolian Harp" (1796).
"Philomel": Nightingale.
"dulcet tones": Cf. "dulcet numbers": IV, 11 and "dulcet flutes": XII, 9.
Sonnet XV
"cassia": Poetic use: a fragrant shrub or plant (OED).
"With od'rous wreaths of constant myrtle drest": Cf. "leaves of glossy myrtle bind the vest": XIII, 10.
"porphyry": Poetic use: a beautiful and valuable purple stone (OED).
Sonnet XVI
"visionary charms": See "visionary charms": Pope, l. 147.
"luxury of woe!": See Della Crusca (Robert Merry), "Ode to Anna Mathilda": "And lose
the Luxury of Woe?" from The British Album (1790), vol. I, p. 78. This
phrase stands as the consummate expression of the poetry of sensibility and is
echoed throughout the last two decades of the eighteenth century and beyond.
Cf. Wm. Wordsworth, "Sonnet, On Seeing Miss Helen Maria Williams Weep at a
Tale of Distress" (1787): "And my heart was well'd to dear delicious pain"(4).
Also, cf. XVIII, 14: "Ah! why is rapture so allied to pain?"
Sonnet XVII
"Love steals unheeded o'er the tranquil mind": Cf. "Thus steals the languid fountain of my heart": VIII, 2.
"the Tyrant": Cf. "tyrant passion": III, 14 and "Love the tyrant": XXXVIII, 13.
Also, cf. sonnets V, VI, and VIII.
Sonnet XVIII
"dark my bosom's tint": Sappho was dark-skinned.
"Ah! why is rapture so allied to pain?": Cf. "luxury of woe": XVI, 14.
Sonnet XIX
"Nereides": Sea-nymphs (OED).
"Circe": Witch who turns Odysseus' men into swine. With the help of Hermes,
Odysseus resists her spell and compels her to free his men; he then spends a
pleasant year in her company.
"daemons": A supernatural being of a nature intermediate between that of gods and
men (OED).
Sonnet XX
"Scythia": Northern lands; today's Russia and Scandinavia.
"sue": To appeal to; to pursue; to woo (OED).
Sonnet XXI
"SONNET XXI": Cf. Pope, ll. 70-88.
Sonnet XXII
"SONNET XXII": Cf. "the fierce tempest of my fev'rish soul": VII, 2.
Sonnet XXIII
"AEtna's scorching sands": Highest active volcano in Europe; located in eastern Sicily. Cf.
"Aetna's scorching fields": Pope, l. 11.
"Idalian": Idalium was a town in Cyprus where Aphrodite was worshipped
(OED).
"cypress wreaths": Cyprus branches or sprigs were used at funerals; symbolic of
mourning (OED). Cf. "wreath of fame": XI, 7 and "roseate wreathe": XIII, 2.
Sonnet XXIV
">meek Orb!": Cf. "meek-ey'd moon": XLIII, 5.
"inbred": Innate (OED).
"soothing dream": Cf. "While potent fancy form'd a soothing dream": XL, 4.
Sonnet XXV
"a mould'ring tomb": A common image in elegies of the period, recalling works of the
"graveyard school" of the 1740s.
Sonnet XXVI
"lour": A gloomy look (OED).
"Philosophy": Cf. "vain Philosophy": VII, 9.
"lonely bow'r": Cf. "bow'r of Pleasure": III, 4.
"the bird of sorrow": Probably the nightingale.
Sonnet XXVIII
"the speaking eye": See "the speaking eye": VI, 11.
Sonnet XXIX
"Hybla": A town in Sicily, celebrated for the honey produced on the neighboring
hills; poetic association: honied, sweet (OED).
"No more shall Sappho to your grots repair;": Cf. "No more . . . / No more": Pope. ll. 234-5.
Sonnet XXX
"rude": Harsh, severe, discordant.
"the Syren band": Fabulous monsters, part woman, part bird, who were supposed to lure
sailors to destruction by their enchanting singing (OED).
"Breathe soft, ye winds; rise slow, O! swelling wave!": Cf. Pope, ll. 258-9.
Sonnet XXXI
"Love's frequent sighs the flutt'ring sails shall swell": Cf. "Cupid for thee shall spread the swelling sails": Pope, l. 253.
"Triton's": Sea-deities.
"And Venus, thron'd within her opal shell,/
Shall proudly o'er the glitt'ring billows ride!": Venus/Aphrodite was often depicted riding on a mussel shell.
According to one accout of her birth, she was the daughter of Uranus (the Sky) whose sexual organ, cut off by Cronos, fell into the sea and begot the goddess (Grimal,
The Dictionary of Classical Mythology).
Sonnet XXXII
"idle dalliance": Amorous play.
Sonnet XXXIII
"Aetna's burning crest": Cf. "Aetna's scorching sands": XXIII, 1.
Sonnet XXXIV
"Myttellenian": Mytile was a city on Lesbos; see Robinson: p. 22.
"Echo": Nymph who pined away for Narcissus until she became nothing but a
voice.
"the zone divine": Possibly a sexual zone.
"immortal as the Nine": The Muses.
Sonnet XXXV
"Erebus": A dark region beneath the Earth through which the dead must pass to
reach Hades.
"Farewell!": See Pope, l. 113.
"Or coldly this, farewell": See Pope, l. 114.
"shade": Ghost, soul in the Underworld.
Sonnet XXXVI
"haunted bow'rs": Cf. "bow'r of Pleasure": III, 4.
"each gasping vein": Cf. "each aching vein": VIII, 1.
Sonnet XXXVIII
"Lethe": River of forgetfulness in the Underworld.
"Love the tyrant": Cf. "tyrant passion": III, 14 and "in the heart the Tyrant lives
enshrined": XVII, 8.
"SONNET XXXIX": Cf. Pope, ll. 163-82.
Sonnet XXXIX
"Aonian maids divine": The Muses.
"Erato": The Muse of lyric or erotic poetry.
"parian marble": The island of Paros was famous for its white marble (OED).
"pearls of pity": Cf. "tear-drops petrified by scorn": II, 12.
"SONNET XL": Cf. Sappho's vision in Pope, ll. 185-98.
Sonnet XL
"a soothing dream": Cf. "That brings to madd'ning love, no soothing
dream": XXIV, 14.
"the Leucadian deep": See Robinson's note on the leap of Leucata: p. 29.
"SONNET XLI": Cf. Pope, ll. 205-225.
Sonnet XLI
"meek-ey'd moon": Cf. "meek Orb": XXIV, 1.
Sonnet XLIII
"stream of living lustre": Cf. "fierce Lord of Lustre": IX, 7.
"the loftier theme": Cf. "visionary theme": XI, 14.