This To Milton summary begins with a complaint about England. Oscar Wilde addresses John Milton, the great 17th-century poet who served Oliver Cromwell’s republic, and says that Milton’s spirit has left the country. Modern England, Wilde argues, has become shallow and badly led. The poem deliberately echoes Wordsworth’s sonnet “London, 1802,” which opens “Milton! thou should’st be living at this hour.” Read the full text of To Milton on Poetry Catalog.
To Milton Summary
Lines 1–4: the spirit gone. “Milton! I think thy spirit hath passed away / From these white cliffs and high-embattled towers.” The once “gorgeous fiery-coloured world of ours / Seems fallen into ashes dull and grey.”
Lines 5–8: a hollow age. Life has become “a mimic play / Wherein we waste our else too-crowded hours.” For all “our pomp and pageantry and powers,” the English are only “fit to delve the common clay.”
Lines 9–12: bad leaders. “This England, this sea-lion of the sea,” is held “By ignorant demagogues” “Who love her not.”
Lines 12–14: the past. “Dear God! is this the land / Which bare a triple empire in her hand / When Cromwell spake the word Democracy!” England once held power over three kingdoms and spoke of freedom.
Key Facts
- Poet: Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)
- Published: Poems (1881)
- Addressed to: John Milton (1608–1674), poet of Paradise Lost and defender of Cromwell’s republic
- Form: Petrarchan sonnet
- Model: Wordsworth’s “London, 1802”
- Tone: disappointed, angry, patriotic
Themes
Decline. A “fiery-coloured” world has turned to “ashes.” England has lost its greatness.
Show against substance. “Pomp and pageantry” hide an empty age.
Politics. Wilde attacks “ignorant demagogues,” leaders who flatter crowds without loving the country.
Liberty. The final word, “Democracy,” links Milton and Cromwell to freedom.
Key Lines Explained
Milton! I think thy spirit hath passed away
Like Wordsworth, Wilde opens by calling out Milton’s name. But where Wordsworth asks Milton to return, Wilde says his spirit has already left.
Seems fallen into ashes dull and grey,
Color has drained out of England. The image is of a fire burned out.
This England, this sea-lion of the sea,
An echo of Shakespeare’s Richard II (“This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England”). The sea-lion is a proud island power.
When Cromwell spake the word Democracy!
A daring ending. Cromwell’s Commonwealth was not a democracy in the modern sense, but Wilde uses him as a symbol of a nation that once dared to change.
Form, Meter and Rhyme
A Petrarchan sonnet in iambic pentameter, rhyming ABBAABBA in the octave. The sestet carries the political attack. The turn is softened because the sentence runs straight from line 8 into line 9 (“Seeing this little isle”), but the final lines break into an exclamation.
To Milton FAQ
What is To Milton about?
Wilde’s complaint that England has lost the spirit of Milton and fallen into shallow, badly led times.
How is it connected to “London, 1802”?
Both are sonnets addressed to Milton that lament England’s decline. Wilde consciously follows Wordsworth.
Who are the “ignorant demagogues”?
Politicians Wilde thought were flattering the public; the poem doesn’t name them.
What is the “triple empire”?
England, Scotland and Ireland, ruled together under Cromwell.