1010. ~blissful~, blest. _Bliss_ is cognate with _bless_ and _blithe_.
Comp. "the _blest_ kingdoms meek of joy and love," _Lyc._ 177. ~are to be
born~. There seems to be here a confusion of constructions between the
subjunctive co-ordinate with _make_ and the indicative dependent in
meaning on "Jove hath sworn" in the following line.
1011. ~Youth and Joy~. Everlasting youth and joy are found only after the
trials of earth are past. So Spenser makes Pleasure the daughter of
Cupid and Psyche, but she is "the daughter late," _i.e._ she is possible
only to the purified soul. See also note on l. 1004.
1012. ~my task~, _i.e._ the task alluded to in line 18. This line is an
adverbial clause = Now that (or _because_) my task is smoothly done.
1013. The Spirit's task being finished he is free to soar where he
pleases. There seems to be implied the injunction that mankind can by
virtue alone attain to the same spiritual freedom.
1014. ~green earth's end~. The world as known to the ancients did not
extend much beyond the Straits of Gibraltar. The Cape Verd Islands,
which lie outside these straits, may be here referred to: comp. _Par.
Lost_, viii. 630:
"But I can now no more; the parting sun
Beyond the earth's green Cape and Verdant Isles
Hesperean sets, my signal to depart."
1015. ~bowed welkin~: the meaning of the line is, "Where the arched sky
curves slowly towards the horizon." _Welkin_ is, radically, "the region
of clouds," A.S. _wolcnu_, clouds.
1017. ~corners of the moon~, _i.e._ its horns. The crescent moon is said
to be 'horned' (Lat. _cornu_, a horn). Comp. the lines in _Macbeth_,
iii. 5. 23, 24: "Upon the corners of the moon There hangs a vaporous
drop profound."
1020. ~She can teach ye how to climb~, etc. Compare Jonson's song to
Virtue:
"Though a stranger here on earth
In heaven she hath her right of birth.
There, there is Virtue's seat:
Strive to keep her your own;
'Tis only she can make you great,
Though place here make you known."
1021. ~sphery chime~, _i.e._ the music of the spheres. "To climb higher
than the sphery chime" means to ascend beyond the spheres into the
empyrean or true heaven--the abode of God and the purest Spirits. Milton
therefore implies that by virtue alone can we come into God's presence.
See note on "the starry quire," line 112. 'Chime' is strictly 'harmony,'
as in "silver _chime_," _Hymn Nat._ 128: the word is cognate with
_cymbal_.
1022, 3. ~if Virtue feeble were~, etc. A triumphant expression of that
confidence in the invincibleness of virtue, when aided by Divine
Providence, and therefore a fitting conclusion of the whole masque.
Milton's whole life reveals his unshaken belief in the truth expressed
in the last two lines of his _Comus_.