Background
The exact date of composition is unknown, but it is likely that Milton wrote the ode while attending Christ's College, Cambridge, and it is commonly dated to 1630. However, the ode, along with Upon the Circumcision and On the Morning of Christ's Nativity, were first published in 1645, and they are found within a manuscript that was not started before May 1634. They were composed during a time in which Milton became deeply concerned with Scripture but also one who still relies on myth. They were written during a time of experimentation in genre and subject for Milton. The poem was revised for the publication in the 1645 collection, but Milton found that he would be unable to finish the poem, leaving only three lines which emphasize his shortcomings at the time of writing the poem.
Read more about this topic: The Passion (Milton)
Famous quotes containing the word background:
“In the true sense one’s native land, with its background of tradition, early impressions, reminiscences and other things dear to one, is not enough to make sensitive human beings feel at home.”
—Emma Goldman (1869–1940)
“... every experience in life enriches one’s background and should teach valuable lessons.”
—Mary Barnett Gilson (1877–?)
“Silence is the universal refuge, the sequel to all dull discourses and all foolish acts, a balm to our every chagrin, as welcome after satiety as after disappointment; that background which the painter may not daub, be he master or bungler, and which, however awkward a figure we may have made in the foreground, remains ever our inviolable asylum, where no indignity can assail, no personality can disturb us.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)