t_ are cognate words, the former being common in the compound
_forlorn_: see note, l. 39. Milton makes frequent allusion to the
nightingale: in _Il Penseroso_ it is 'Philomel'; in _Par. Reg._ iv. 245,
it is 'the Attic bird'; and in _Par. Lost_ viii. 518, it is 'the amorous
bird of night.' He calls it the Attic bird in allusion to the story of
Philomela, the daughter of Pandion, King of Athens. Near the Academy was
Colonus, which Sophocles has celebrated as the haunt of nightingales
(Browne). Philomela was changed, at her own prayer, into a nightingale
that she might escape the vengeance of her brother-in-law Tereus. The
epithet 'love-lorn,' however, seems to point to the legend of A{=e}don
(Greek +aedon+, a nightingale), who, having killed her own son by
mistake, was changed into a nightingale, whose mournful song was
represented by the Greek poets as the lament of the mother for her
child.

235. ~her sad song mourneth~, _i.e._ sings her plaintive melody. 'Sad
song' forms a kind of cognate accusative.

237. ~likest thy Narcissus~. Narcissus, who failed to return the love of
Echo, was punished by being made to fall in love with his own image
reflected in a fountain: this he could never approach, and he
accordingly pined away and was changed into the flower which bears his
name. See the dialogue between Mercury and Echo in _Cynthia's Revels_,
i. 1. Grammatically, _likest_ is an adjective qualified adverbially by
"(to) thy Narcissus": comp. _Il Pens._ 9, "likest hovering dreams."

238. ~have hid~. This is not a grammatical inaccuracy (as Warton thinks),
but the subjunctive mood.

240. ~Tell me but where~, _i.e._ 'Only tell me where.'

241. ~Sweet Queen of Parley~, etc. 'Parley is conversation (Fr. _parler_,
to speak): _parlour_, _parole_, _palaver_, _parliament_, _parlance_.
etc., are cognate. ~Daughter of the Sphere~, _i.e._ of the sphere which is
her "airy shell" (l. 231): comp. "Sphere-born harmonious sisters, Voice
and Verse" (_At a Solemn Music_, 2).

243. ~give resounding grace~, etc., _i.e._ add the charm of echo to the
music of the spheres.

The metrical structure of this song should be noted: the lines vary in
length from two to six feet. The rhymes are few, and the effect is more
striking owing to the consonance of _shell_, _well_ with _vale_,
_nightingale_; also of _pair_, _where_ with _are_ and _sphere_; and of
_have_ with _cave_. Masson regards this song as a striking illustration
of Milton's free use