ON TIME (Kaleidoscope)

ABOUT THE POET
John Milton (1608 – 1674) was an English poet, polemicist, man of letters, and a civil servant for the Commonwealth of England under Oliver Cromwell. He wrote at a time of religious flux and political upheaval, and is best known for his epic poem Paradise Lost (1667).

Fly envious Time, till thou run out thy race,

Call on the lazy leaden-stepping hours,

Whose speed is but the heavy Plummets pace;

And glut thy self with what thy womb devours,

Which is no more than what is false and vain,

And merely mortal dross;

So little is our loss,

So little is thy gain.

For when as each thing bad thou hast entomb'd,

And last of all, thy greedy self consum'd,

Then long Eternity shall greet our bliss

With an individual kiss;

And Joy shall overtake us as a flood,

When everything that is sincerely good

And perfectly divine,

With Truth, and Peace, and Love shall ever shine

About the supreme Throne

Of him, t' whose happy-making sight alone,

When once our heav'nly-guided soul shall clime,

Then all this Earthy grosnes quit,

Attir'd with Stars, we shall for ever sit,

Triumphing over Death, and Chance, and thee O Time.

Leaden -slow, gloomy

Glut- excess, surplus

Devours-consumes, destroys

Entombed- buried

Gross-rude, uncivilized

Clime-it refers to claim

Brief synopsis of the poem.

1. “envious time” denotes that vices such as greed, selfishness etc.

2. “lazy leaden-stepping hours, “ denotes that times is very slow

3. “With Truth, and Peace, and Love shall ever shine “ denotes that human souls are divine.

4. “Then long Eternity shall greet our bliss

With an individual kiss;” denotes selfless love

5. The word ‘mortal dross’ denotes Passion for worldly or materialistic things, greed, selfishness,

6. “Earthly grossness” denotes being busy in worldly affairs that are temporal and insignificant.

7. “About the supreme Throne “ denotes Heaven where truth, peace and love prevail everywhere forever.

8. Triumphing over Death and Chance and thee 0 Time.” denotes the fact that when man does all good deeds and follows the principles of truth love and peace he is remembered forever.

9. “Long eternity” denotes a state of cosmic consciousness in which worldly affairs lose importance

10. “So little is our loss, So little is thy gain” denotes that all things temporal come to an end with the passage of time. In their loss, man does not lose anything because they are worthless. By consuming them, time gains nothing for the similar reason.

11. In the first few lines time relates to humanity and the material world. Time is an assailant.

12. The other section of the poem projects time a glowing picture of “triumphing over Time.” Attaining eternity by good virtues truth, peace and love.

13. The central theme of the poem is summarised in the last few lines where the poet talks about reaching heaven for eternal peace. So the poem is not only on time but also on eternity.