Christ
Though Milton’s “Nativity Ode” is a poem dedicated to the birth of Christ, he only dedicates a few stanzas to describing the infant in the manger. His passages on Christ hit all the themes covered by most nativity odes—the miracle of his birth, the role he plays in our redemption, his relationship with Mary—but Milton doesn’t linger on these images. He’s more interested in exploring the role Christ played in Christian history and situating his birth in a broader biblical epic.
The pagan gods
Milton dedicates stanzas 19 - 25 to cataloging all the pagan gods that fell when Christ was born. By emphasizing their part in the story of Christ’s birth, Milton suggests a parallel between the pagan idols and the iconography of the Catholic church, which was returning to English churches at the time he wrote the "Nativity Ode."
The angels
In the final lines of the "Nativity Ode," Milton describes a fleet of angels surrounding the manger, ready to serve the new ruler of the Christian world. Milton’s description of the angels is militant and political, and it isn’t difficult to imagine them as a revolutionary force ready to serve the English people by overthrowing King Charles.
