Silence was pleased

I always seem to be drawn to poetry for some reason – I can always find something to suit my mood.

While Milton is not a poet I refer to very often I do like some of his works. My copy of the Poetical Works of John Milton (9^thDecember 1608 – 8^thNovember 1674 – by which stage he was totally blind) is an 1889 edition once owned by my paternal grandfather. So it is a treasured volume.

Also I certainly have not read all the 222 pages that comprise John Milton’s epic poem “Paradise Lost” there is one small part of Book IV that I found and which has always touched me in a way that is difficult to explain.

“Now came still evening on, and in twilight gray

Had in her sober livery all things clad;

Silence accompanied; for beast and bird,

They to their grassy couch, these to their nests

Were slunk, all but the wakeful nightingale,

She all night long her amorous descant sung;

Silence was pleased: how glow’d the firmament

With living sapphires: Hesperus that led 

The starry host, rode brightest, till the moon

Rising is clouded majesty, at length

Apparent queen, unveiled her peerless light

And o’er the dark her silver mantle threw.”

It’s just two lines that somehow deeply affect me:-

“She all night long her amorous descant sung;

Silence was pleased:”

Especially I love the phrase, “Silence was pleased”.

It pleases me!

In relation to Milton’s blindness he wrote the following which I also find quite moving.

On His Blindness

When I consider how my light is spent

Ere half my days in this dark world and wide,

And that one talent which is death to hide

Lodg'd with me useless, though my soul more bent

To serve therewith my Maker, and present

My true account, lest he returning chide,

"Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?"

I fondly ask. But Patience, to prevent

That murmur, soon replies: "God doth not need

Either man's work or his own gifts: who best

Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state

Is kingly; thousands at his bidding speed

And post o'er land and ocean without rest:

They also serve who only stand and wait."

“They also serve who only stand and wait” – again a line that resonates with me.