L'Allegro Literary Elements

A person, perhaps a shepherd, dedicated to living a life of pleasure

Both “L’Allegro” and Il Penseroso” begin with ten-line introductions in which the rhyme scheme (abbacddeec) resembles the Italian sonnet (abbaabbacdeede), and the line lengths (alternating between 6 and 10 syllables) resemble the Italian canzone (alternating between 7 and 11 syllables). The poems that follow the introductions are written in couplets, with 8-syllable lines, but Milton frequently breaks his own form by interjecting 7-syllable lines. He distorts the form most in “L’Allegro,” which causes the poem to jolt and stop, formally echoing the speaker’s call to “trip it as you go.”

"Mountains on whose barren breasts / The laboring clouds do often rest"

"L'Allegro" is full of sexual innuendo, for example this description that turns mountains and clouds into a metaphor for lovers.

"With mask, and antique pageantry"
Repetition of /e/ sounds

"Married to immortal verse"
Repetition of /m/ sounds

Classical debate, classical hymn, ode, pastoral poetry

The poem moves from the pastoral to the city.

The tone of "L'Allegro" is buoyant and joyful, but also loose and chaotic. The speaker's speech moves so quickly it's difficult to process anything he says, and his words are full of formal trips that make it seem like he's tumbling to the end of the poem.

"L'Allegro" has only a loose narrative, but to the extent it has a protagonist and antagonist, the protagonist is Mirth, and the antagonist is Melancholy.

The speaker most clearly states the major conflict of "L'Allegro" when he banishes Melancholy at the beginning of the poem, and when he alludes to the story of Orpheus at the end. Just as Orpheus tries to lead his wife out of the underworld, the speaker is trying to lead Mirth away from Melancholy, a goddess he connects to darkness and the underworld. The journey dramatizes the speaker's aim in the debate, which is to convince his audience that a life with Mirth is better than a life with Melancholy—that the joyful life is better than the contemplative one.

The towers that appear in "L'Allegro" later become the main setting of "Il Penseroso." Their presence in "L'Allegro" foreshadows the moment when the speaker's poem of joy will end, and the brooding world of "Il Penseroso" begins.

At the end of "L'Allegro," Milton's speaker alludes to Orpheus, a shepherd from classical mythology known for trying to lead his dead wife out of the underworld. Though the speaker makes the allusion a few lines before the end of "L'Allegro," he begins to hint at the connection between the story of Orpheus and his poem much earlier. When the speaker introduces Melancholy at the beginning of his speech, he establishes himself as another Orpheus by placing her in the underworld ("in Stygian cave forlorn") and dedicating the rest of his speech to escaping back into the world of light. Like Orpheus leading Eurydice, the speaker guides Mirth out of the darkness and back into the world of the living.

"The labouring clouds do often rest"

Through the verb "labouring," Milton connects the clouds to the shepherds pausing in their work.

"By whispering winds soon lulled to sleep"

Through the verb "whispering," Milton connects the winds to the storytellers who have just finished their tales and gone to sleep.