Page 38 - 100 Best Loved Poems - Teaching Unit
P. 38
“On His Deceased Wife”
by John Milton, page 15
Vocabulary
espoused – supported
vested – dressed
fancied – loved
1. The mention of Alcestis and Jove is an example of what literary and poetic device?
The references to figures of classical Greek epics are examples of allusion.
2. Who is the “late espoused saint” of the poem’s first line?
The poem’s first line introduces the subject of the speaker’s thoughts, his deceased wife.
3. Where does the speaker hope to see his wife again?
He hopes to see her “Full sight…in Heaven.”
4. What happens to the vision of the speaker’s wife?
In the dream, his wife extends her arms to embrace him, but as she does, the speaker
awakens. The vision of her was only a dream, and so she disappears.
5. What does the “night” at the end of the poem symbolize?
The speaker’s grief and sorrow for his dead wife is described as his “night.”
T-20
