Comparison and Contrast in Miltons Il Penseroso and LAllegro

Although they both complement each other, each of the poem is antithetical of the other. In this essay, the themes of happiness, imagery, mirth, melancholy, light and darkness and the use of drama and dreams have been used to highlight the contrasts and the comparisons between the two poems (Curran 32-55). John Milton’s Allegro and the II Penseroso are two poems that were written to offer two different opinions and views on happiness. In L'Allegro, Milton presents to us mirth as the muse of joy and uses a carefree, and active approach to glee. In this poem, a pastoral setting has been employed. Babb, (Babb, 201) discovered the use of two forms of melancholia that is used in Il Pensereo's, he describes that there exists the black and golden tinged with purple kind of melancholy.

The Aristotelian gold melancholy was a concern to the poets who saw it as a reflection of man’s achievement in arts (Radwan Dana 211-315). The choice of the title "Penseroso" over Afflitto is an indication of the positive side and aspect of the melancholy. (Hughes, Variorum 237). In her book, The Gendering of Melancholia, Juliana Schiesari argues that the main idea and nature of melancholic is that of self-split against one’s self. John Milton uses the first lines of the two poems to show the disparity that each of this poems has towards each other. By applying this words and connotations that shows variations, the poems sets on the opposition that exists between this two moods. It is important to note that despite the fact that there exists this opposition, there is also a balance of elements.

Just like magnets, the two opposing sides are always attracted to each other. The opening lines don't alienate the two poems but as a fact do reflect on the interdependency that is shared between this two poems. In this poem, he describes the light as the place where happiness stays. He, however, prefers the dark (Tillyard 123-231). He states that the night is the place where there is more that can be able to meet the ear and gloom that far from all the resort that mirth offers. To him, his favor for the darkness is for the underlying reason that the dark is the enabler of inner thought that spurs development. A poet who seeks to attain the most significant level of creativity in the expression of words and word choice must embrace the divinity that is brought by the darkness.

The scholar is the only one that is awake during the night. The solemn nun also doesn't participate in any celebration that happens mainly due to the massive thinking and critical analysis that she does and her commitment to religion. Milton contrasts both poems by the use of imagery. The poem, L’Allegro emerges as pastoral, more straightforward kind of poem whereas “Il Penseroso” is presented to us as a religious kind of a poem. In, L’Allegro, the imagery of the shepherds, mowers and the mowers is a representation of the everyday life in the upcountry and by extension has been used to represent happiness. In “Il Penseroso,” the speaker is alone all through the poem. This brings to us the argument of which of the two is better, to be the company of an individual or to be one's own company.

Milton makes a case on each of this arguments (Simmonds 243-310). Another force that distinguishes this two poems is the perception that it creates of Milton as an author. Both of this poems uses classical allusions in the advancement of their motives. Through both imageries used in the prom, the poet presents to us the idea of simple-minded pleasures (Taylor 301-329). All through, the poet tries to tell us that happiness should not be able to bring in fancy things but also can be brought about the simple things in the world. He further goes on to develops his ideas on the premise and the use of simplicity presented by the use of simple pleasures in the world such as the use of dreams and the children's fables and the use of plays such when he describes “Lap me in soft Lydian airs” (136).

In the second poem, he talks about dreams that are not normal but as strange and so mysterious. In another, he has described a poem that to him is a gorgeous tragedy that enables one's mind to escape (Miller, 1971). One of the two poems can’t be read with the other, the two stands out to support each other just as the way that the day and the night are conjoined together in an endless succession. Choosing one above the other is just as one being able to expect an everlasting night which can’t be possible in the long run. True wisdom one gets by the act of balancing the deeds of experience and thoughts, the time we have with other people and the time we spend with ourselves.