FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91  
92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   >>   >|  
e radically the same. 329. ~Eye me~, _i.e._ look on me. To _eye_ a person now usually implies watching narrowly or suspiciously. ~square~, accommodate, adjust. The adj. 'proportioned' is here used proleptically, denoting the result of the action indicated by the verb 'square.' Comp. _M. for M._ v. 1: "Thou 'rt said to have a stubborn soul, ... And _squar'st_ thy life accordingly." ~Exeunt~, _i.e._ they go out, they leave the stage. 331. ~Unmuffle~, uncover yourselves. To _muffle_ is to cover up, _e.g._ 'to _muffle_ the throat,' 'a _muffled_ sound,' etc. _Muffle_ (subst.) is a diminutive of _muff_. 332. ~wont'st~, _i.e._ art wont. _Wont'st_ is here apparently the 2nd person singular, present tense, of a verb _to wont_ = to be accustomed; hence also the participle _wonted_ (_Il Pens._ 37, "keep thy _wonted_ state"). But the M.E. verb was _wonen_, to dwell or be accustomed, and its participle _woned_ or _wont_. The fact that _wont_ was a participle being forgotten, it was treated as a distinct verb, and a new participle formed, viz., _wonted_ (= won-ed-ed); from this again comes the noun _wontedness_. Milton, however, uses _wont_ as a present only twice in his poetry: as in modern English he uses it as a noun (= custom) or as a participial adj. with the verb _to be_ (_Il Pens._ 123, "As she was wont"). ~benison~, blessing: radically the same as 'benediction' (Lat. _benedictio_). 333. ~Stoop thy pale visage~, etc. Comp. l. 1023 and _Il Pens._ 72, "_Stooping_ through a fleecy cloud." 'Visage,' a word now mostly used with a touch of contempt, in Milton simply denotes 'face': see _Il Pens._ 13, "saintly _visage_"; _Lyc._ 62, "His gory _visage_ down the stream was sent." ~amber~: comp. _L'Alleg._ 61, "Robed in flames and _amber_ light," and Tennyson: "What time the _amber_ morn Forth gushes from beneath a low-hung cloud." 334. ~disinherit~, drive out, dispossess. Comp. _Two Gent._ iii. 2. 87, "This or else nothing, will _inherit_ (_i.e._ obtain possession of) her." 336. ~Influence ... dammed up~. The verb here shows that influence is employed in its strict sense, = a flowing in (Lat. _in_ and _fluo_): it was thus used in astrology to denote "an _influent_ course of the planets, their virtue being infused into, or their course working on, inferior creatures"; comp. _L'Alleg._ 112, "whose bright eyes Rain _influence_"; _Par. Lost_, iv. 669, "with kindly heat Of various _influence_." Astrology has left many
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91  
92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

participle

 

influence

 

visage

 
wonted
 

Milton

 
muffle
 

present

 

accustomed

 

radically

 
square

person

 

Visage

 

fleecy

 

beneath

 

Tennyson

 

gushes

 

Stooping

 
saintly
 
stream
 
flames

contempt

 

denotes

 
simply
 

inherit

 

creatures

 

inferior

 

bright

 
working
 

influent

 

planets


virtue

 

infused

 

Astrology

 

kindly

 

denote

 

astrology

 

disinherit

 
dispossess
 

obtain

 
strict

flowing

 

employed

 

possession

 

Influence

 

dammed

 

wontedness

 

Exeunt

 

stubborn

 

Unmuffle

 

uncover