What is the speaker in Lycidas?

In the final stanza, the speaker of the poem changes. The shepherd who has been telling the story of Lycidas since stanza 1 falls silent, and another voice begins to narrate his story. The shift to a second speaker is strange, because Milton calls “Lycidas” a monody—a poem written for one voice.

Is Lycidas a shepherd?

The narrator of “Lycidas” is an unnamed shepherd, an “uncouth swain.” Maybe that description is a little in-joke. Lycidas himself represents Edward King, Milton’s fellow-student at Cambridge, and also an aspiring poet, drowned in a shipwreck off the coast of Anglesey.

Is the speaker a poet?

In poetry, the speaker is the voice behind the poem—the person we imagine to be saying the thing out loud. It’s important to note that the speaker is not the poet. Even if the poem is biographical, you should treat the speaker as a fictional creation because the writer is choosing what to say about himself.

How did the two shepherds in Lycidas spend the day together?

Apparently, they spend all day out there, “battening” or fattening their flocks on the dew that has accumulated overnight, until “the star that rose, at evening, bright” starts to set, or slope “his westering wheel.”

Who does the speaker in Lycidas address in the beginning of the poem?

The poem begins with the speaker lamenting the huge task before him (memorializing his friend), and then invoking the muses. Then, the speaker reminisces about how the speaker and a guy named Lycidas were shepherds together.

What kind of poem Lycidas is?

“Lycidas” is a poem mourning the loss of a good friend, sure. But it’s also a specific kind of poem about loss – a pastoral elegy, to be precise. That means it’s a poem mourning the loss of someone (elegy) that also makes extensive use of shepherd themes and imagery (pastoral).

Who are the characters in the poem Lycidas?

Milton himself is in the poem, as is his friend Edward King, portrayed as shepherds. King is actually Lycidas, and the poem is about morning and grief. We can see this poem as the way Milton grieved and coped with the loss of his friend.

Are poet and Speaker same?

Just like fiction has a narrator, poetry has a speaker–someone who is the voice of the poem. Often times, the speaker is the poet. Other times, the speaker can take on the voice of a persona–the voice of someone else including animals and inanimate objects.

Who is the speaker answer?

The speaker is the voice or “persona” of a poem. One should not assume that the poet is the speaker, because the poet may be writing from a perspective entirely different from his own, even with the voice of another gender, race or species, or even of a material object.

What kind of poem is Lycidas?

pastoral elegy
“Lycidas” (/ˈlɪsɪdəs/) is a poem by John Milton, written in 1637 as a pastoral elegy.