Lycidas Man and the Natural World Quotes

These lines can be read in at least two ways. The act of plucking berries before they're ripe is a metaphor for what the poem is about, the death of a young man before his time. But the poet might be also thinking of his own poetry as premature; it's too soon for him to be writing a poem about his dead friend. In either case, this prematurity is reflected in the natural world and his interaction with it.

The speaker describes how Lycidas' death has affected the natural world, which mourns his loss. Lycidas is described as a poet with incredible gifts; in fact, he resembles Orpheus (mentioned in line 58), a poet who was able to charm nature in the same way as Lycidas. The effect of his death on nature makes him a member of a distinguished poetic and mythological tradition. Lucky him?

The nymphs weren't paying attention when Lycidas drowned, or rather when the "deep" took him down. Nymphs are often associated with particular natural features (oceans, rivers, forests), and the speaker here suggests that the natural world, to a certain extent, failed one of its beloved charges. But our fickle friend will change his tune in a few lines (57), but at this point he still can't understand why Lycidas wasn't saved.

The speaker compares Lycidas to Orpheus, a mythological poet who was able to enchant the natural world in the same way Lycidas did. Orpheus, too, suffered a violent death, despite the fact that he was totally beloved. Lycidas' story reminds the speaker of Orpheus' story, and the two together remind him of his own potential death. (After all, he is a poet too.)

In these lines, nature seems like the total opposite of grief (or at least the opposite of writing poetry about grief). The speaker wonders if he'd be better off hanging out in the shade than moping about the death of his friend. It's possible that he is also arguing for a different kind of pastoral poetry, one less obsessed with sadness and grief and more concerned with celebrating and enjoying nature. Not a bad idea at all, right?

Our nature-loving speaker is having a chat with some rivers in these lines. But this apostrophe isn't just for show. These two rivers are richly symbolic, reminding the clued-in reader of Greek and Roman pastoral, respectively. Try comparing these rivers to some of the other rivers in the poem – such as the Cam. Do you think the poet might be trying to associate his own native river (the Cam) with the pastoral tradition? That seems plausible, when you consider the fact that Milton worked very hard to make people think of him as a grade-A Poet.

This passage reminds us of lines 50-51, in which the speaker talks about the nymphs not being there for Lycidas. Here, Triton tells the speaker how he asked the winds and other natural elements about Lycidas' death, just as the speaker asked the nymphs. But neither one of them receives a satisfying answer. It looks like an explanation for the tragedy cannot be sought in nature.

Looks like nature is off the hook. Instead, it looks like the boat was to blame, because it was cursed from the get-go. Can blaming Lycidas' death on an old curse give our speaker any real solace? From the looks of the poem, probably not. The only solace he gets is when he realizes that Lycidas has gone to a better place.

Notice that the River Cam's bonnet is "inwrought with figures dim." Images of writing pepper this description, suggesting that nature is like the poem, or the poem is like nature. Here the flowers are "inscribed with woe"? Does the speaker "inscribe" the natural world and project his grief onto it, or is it sad all on its own?

In these lines, Lycidas is made a part of the natural world, a protective deity or "genius" who will safeguard future travelers. It's almost as if Lycidas has become one of those nymphs or other figures that the speaker had criticized for being absent when Lycidas died.