Sonnet 14

John Milton’s Sonnet 14 is a eulogy for the late Catherine Thomason. In the notes we are told that this was meant as a comfort for her family. The poem is in sonnet form, with the standard 14 lines in iambic pentameter. Milton uses this eulogy to lift up the life of Mrs. Thomason, praising her for “Faith and Love,” “Works and Alms,” and for “meekly” bearing her “earthy load.” It is very obvious that Milton desires a comforting effect by his assertions that she lived a good life and that now Mrs. Thomason was drinking “thy fill of pure immortal streams.” His approach is not unlike ours today when we assert that a deceased loved one is “in a better place.” Through his use of the sonnet structure, and the diction surrounding the Volta, Milton creates a picture of Mrs. Thomason’s love, and thus, her place in heaven.

The first way Milton creates this picture of her life is through his choice of sonnet structure. With a structure of octave followed by sestet, as well as the rhyme scheme of ABBAABBA CDCDCD, a classic Petrarchan sonnet is set up. If the reader is familiar with Petrarchan sonnets, then it is obvious that form is most commonly associated with commentary on love. This love, though, normally comes from the author and projects towards a counterpart that often does not respond in kind. Love is definitely the central theme of this sonnet as well, but Milton is not the one loving. Instead, he describes Thomason’s love for good deeds (“Thy Works and Alms”) as well as her love for God (“When Faith and Love which parted from thee never”). So the form Milton uses is supposed to point us directly to love, but he changes the perspective that the love is coming from.

Diction is another large part of Milton’s approach to the projection of love from Thomason and attribution of praise to Thomason. Specifically, diction can be broken up in two main sections: before the Volta (line 9) and after the Volta. The pre-Volta octave is full of language that evokes images of this world. Its language keeps our thoughts here in the world that we live in, and in the world that Thomason lived in. Words such as “ripened,” “earthy,” and “grave,” are complemented by phrases about “Works and Alms” and “golden rods” to focus our minds on the actions Mrs. Thomason was focused on while she was alive. Although the diction is down on an earthly plane, it is still very full of praise and respect, because her works on this earth were pleasing to God.

The second section, a sestet, is much more “lofty” in its diction. Instead of focusing on the world and the actions she took while here, after the Volta we are taken on a trip with Mrs. Thomason to her final destination: the throne of God. Language such as “purple beams,” “azure wings,” and “pure immortal streams,” hardly present us with a picture of life here on earth. Instead, the focus is on the magnificence of her place of “rest.” This creates the picture of comfort that Milton desires for the family of Mrs. Thomason. By showing her drinking her “fill of immortal streams,” the heavenly aspect of her existence becomes a comforting place for her family’s thoughts to rest.

So by his Petrarchan sonnet form and his description of her earthly time and heavenly time through diction, Milton accomplishes his goal of consoling her loved ones.