Lycidas

Lycidas is John Milton's pastoral elegy written after the drowning of Edward King. Its imagined shepherds and mourning landscape give personal loss a traditional poetic form, while the speaker also questions the purpose of disciplined work when a promising life can end suddenly. Classical allusions stand beside Christian images of resurrection and consolation. A forceful passage on negligent religious leaders widens the poem's concern from one death to public responsibility. The ending changes the direction of lament, allowing remembrance and renewed purpose to coexist without denying the loss.