Nature’s Lament in Lycidas

The writers and poets used much of the pastoral imagery by portraying nature vividly
during the Renaissance era. One of the poets is Milton who also depicted nature in such a way
that it was mixed with the mourn of both nature and the shepherd who tells the elegy for his
friend’s death in his poem ‘’Lycidas’’. This clear depiction allows the reader to see how the
pain and grief are reflected even from the beginning to the very end of this pastoral elegy.
Lycidas is dead and all nature laments his passing in the poem.
These apparent pastoral features are, as pointed before, started being presented at the
beginning of the poem. Milton starts the poem by addressing the flowers such as laurels and
myrtles in the first line. The myrtle imagery is associated with a mourning metaphor for his
dead friend Edward King. The shepherd says he comes to pluck and pick their leaves before
they grow which is a symbol of his friend being dead at a young age. Milton reflects his pain
in a very harsh way on nature. Additionally, there is a sad occasion going on as the poet states
that ‘’Bitter constraint, and sad occasion dear’’ (Line 6). In the following lines, he talks about
being compelled to destroy the season due by this sadness. What he wants is to destroy the
season before the plants are ripe. The shepherd informs the reader with their close friendship
by pointing out that they were raised in the same countryside and fed the same flock by
fountain, shade, and rill (lines 23 24) with which it can be clearly understood that the dead
friend was also a shepherd. The basic core of being a shepherd means to be tied to the nature
with your whole soul. Not only did the poet talk about the plants but he also talked about the
animals and vivid description of the day and night. The shepherd remembers the memories
with his friend by referring to what time they heard the gray-fly winds her sultry horn (line
28). This insect specifies that the sun is up and it is hot. Besides, Milton refers to the stars,
which are also part of nature, by pointing out the night: ‘’Batt'ning our flocks with the fresh
dews of night, Oft till the star that rose at ev'ning bright Toward heav'n's descent had slop'd
his westering wheel’’ (Lines 29 30 31). The lines represent that they always spent their time
together as shepherds.

Furthermore, the idea of death is an important part of nature as shown in the poem and
there is no way back from death. One should accept this natural phenomenon: But O! the
heavy change now thou art gone, Now thou art gone and never must return! (Lines 37 38).

Not only nature but also the caves and all their echoes mourn for the death of his
friend: ‘’Thee, Shepherd, thee the woods, and desert caves, With wild thyme and the gadding
vine o'ergrown, And all their echoes mourn’’ (Lines 39 41). This death is such a significant
case that all the natural world is saddened. The poet gives deep emotion to the natural beings
by personification.

What’s more is that this pain is not that simply depicted by only saying it is so sad that
he is gone. His death is very very bad that Milton uses similes such as: ‘’As killing as the
canker to the rose, Or taint-worm to the weanling herds that graze’’ (Lines 45 46) to show
how bad and saddening it is to hear his death.

Starting in line 50, the magical protective beings are presented: ‘’Where were ye,
Nymphs, when the remorseless deep Closed o'er the head of your loved Lycidas?’’ (Lines 50
51) to depict nature as a magical living. Moreover, the shepherd’s mention regarding the god
of the sea and wind in the poem is all about blaming them for the death since they did nothing
to save him or prevent the dying. The other god is Alpheus, who is the god of river and whom
the shepherd wants to come back, Alpheus also stands for a pastoral theme.

Also, there is a harsh criticism of the church utilized with pastoral imagery with a
metaphor in which church as a shepherd is not able to take care of his flock: ‘’The hungry
Sheep look up, and are not fed” (Line 125). Here, it is claimed that Christian figure and
pastoral imagery are directly combined with each other.

As a further matter, the speaker now interestingly wants the valleys to bloom by
referring to the glowing violet, the musk-rose and primrose which are freaked with jet that
means these flowers are black and mourning indeed. If they are black, then they look sad
which is completely fine by the shepherd. With the following lines, it can be understood that
the reason why he wants these flowers is to decorate Lycidas’ coffin: ‘’Bid amaranthus all his
beauty shed, And daffadillies fill their cups with tears, To strew the laureate hearse where
Lycid lies.’’ (Lines 149-151).

Personification of nature goes on with ‘’the flames in the forehead of the sky’’ (Line
171) by giving the sky a human forehead which gives a clear visual impression of nature.
Indeed, the poem consists of all the elements of nature.

In conclusion, pastoral themes in Lycidas are represented in a way that the nature both
mourns and keep the shepherds alive as the only powerful thing. To sum up, the combination
of natural elements and mourning reflects the deepest sorrow of the speaker.
 Healing Power of Nature in ‘Lycidas’

Lycidas has been tragically drowned at sea. In that sense, nature is responsible for his death.
Yet the waves that sent the young swain to his untimely demise are utterly indifferent to
human suffering. The same goes for all other features of the natural world, no matter how
beautiful they may be.

At first, the speaker appears to find no consolation, no healing power in nature. They are
insistent that no amount of beautiful natural imagery can possible provide any consolation for
sorrow. Any suggestion to the contrary is nothing but a fond dream or a "false surmise."

Yet as the poem proceeds, the speaker becomes more reconciled to nature, with the richness
of its seasonal, cyclical eternity. To be sure, nature hasn't changed; it's still as indifferent to
human suffering as ever it was. What has changed, crucially, is the speaker's attitude to
nature. They now find some small crumb of comfort in the remarkable capacity that nature
has for self-regeneration, as illustrated by the vales casting "their bells and flow'rets of a
thousand hues."

These flowers, like so many features of the natural world, will one day die. In that sense,
contemplating nature's endless cycle of death and rebirth can help to place the death of
Lycidas into perspective, thus providing the speaker with much-needed consolation as part of
a healing process. The suggestion is that once we realize where we truly stand in relation to
the universe and that the cycle of human death and rebirth parallels that of nature then we will
be able to handle grief more effectively.