Il Penseroso

Il Penseroso Character List

Speaker

The speaker is someone, probably a poet, arguing for living a life of contemplation.

Melancholy

Melancholy is the goddess who guides the speaker’s poetry in “Il Penseroso.” In the Renaissance, Melancholy was understood both as a medical condition, analogous to depression, and as a way of being in the world. Milton’s readers would have associated it with an artistic temperament.

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