WHEN
THE ASSAULT WAS INTENDED
TO
THE CITY
by JOHN MILTON
(Poem & Summary)
John
Milton was the poet of the age of Puritanism. This age is also known as the age of Milton.
· Civil
war and
· Puritanical
movement
were
the general characteristics of the age. The literary characteristics of the age
were:
· influence
of Puritanism,
· want
of vitality and concreteness,
· want
of the spirit of unity,
· critical
and intellectual spirit and
· the
decay of drama.
John
Milton was born in London on Dec. 9, 1608. After completing his M. A. he tried
to work in the church but due to the corruption, he gave up the idea of
entering the church. His poetry contains lofty conception, love of beauty,
Puritanism and classicism.
When assault
was intended to the city
(The
Poem)
Captain, or colonel, or knight in arms,
Whose chance on these defenceless doors may seize,
If deed of honour did thee ever please,
Guard them, and him within protect from harms.
He can requite thee, for he knows the charms
That call fame on such gentle acts as these,
And he can spread thy name o’er lands and seas,
Whatever clime the sun’s bright circle warms.
Lift not thy spear against the Muse’s bower;
The great Emathian conqueror bid spare
The house of Pindarus, when temple and tower
Went to the ground; and the repeated air
Of sad Electra’s Poet had the power
To save the Athenian walls from ruin
bare.
Summary
The
main theme of the sonnet ‘When the assault was intended to the city’ is the power of poetry.
In
the octave (8 lines), the poet requests the army officials to save his house
and also those who are inside that house. In the sestet (6 lines), he develops
the thought of the octave by giving 2 examples of Electra’s poet and of
Pindarus.
In
the first part of the sonnet the poet requests the army officials to protect
the defenseless doors of his house and also those, who are inside that house.
He says, that in return of this genteel act, he would repay by calling fame to
those army officials. The poet further says, that he would spread their name
over lands and seas, wherever the Sun shines.
In
the next part (sestet), he again asks the army officials not to lift their
spear against the bower of the muse because Alexander the great had also left
the house of Pindarus, even when he destroyed temples and towers. He further
says that the chorus of Electra’s tragedy had saved the Athenian walls from
ruin bare.
‘When
the assault was intended to the city’ is a Miltonic sonnet divided into two
parts, octave and a sestet. The rhyming pattern in the sonnet is a b b a, a b b
a – c d c d c d. Adjectives have been used in abundance i.e., defenseless door,
gentle act, repeated air, etc.
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