On the Morning of Christ's Nativity Essay Questions

Why does Milton make so many allusions to the classical world in the “Nativity Ode”?

According to Christian tradition, the classical gods were destroyed with the birth of Christ. Milton emphasizes this aspect of Christ's nativity in his poem, but he implies that Christianity hasn’t so clearly triumphed over the classical world by continuing to write through the forms of classical literature, even after the fall of the idols. As Milton lingers on the classical world, he suggests that Christianity still contains traces of ancient religion; and that it’s difficult, perhaps even impossible, to create true change. The creeping presence of the classical world in Milton's nativity scene reflects the political moment at which he was writing: his anxieties about revolution against King Charles I, and whether a new government could escape the old habits of the English court.

Milton dedicates a relatively small amount of space to describing Christ’s birth. What effect does that have on the focus of his poem?

Most nativity odes focus on the miracle of Christ’s birth and Mary’s relationship with her newborn son, but Milton only dedicates a few stanzas to these themes. The majority of his poem explores the flow of Christian history, moving from the creation of the world to the Final Judgment. By expanding the scope of his poem, Milton turns an intimate and personal scene from the Bible into an epic story. The sweeping range of his narration echoes the tone of classical epic poems like the Iliad and the Aeneid. By drawing from the great poems of the ancient world, Milton turns Christ into a new Achilles or Aeneas—a hero in the lineage of classical literature.