Skip to content
quotesby

About this quote

What does it mean?
The quote describes a treacherous vessel built during darkness and cursed, which caused the downfall of a sacred figure.
In plain terms
A deceitful ship created in evil times sank a holy person.
What can you take from it?
Betrayal often comes from hidden sources.

Where it applies

  • analyzing poetry
  • studying allegory
  • historical texts

Putting it to work

  • literary analysis
  • thematic mapping

Questions to consider

  • What does the bark represent?
  • Why is the head sacred?

Another view

The specific historical reference requires outside knowledge to fully understand.

More from John Milton

  1. Fame is no plant that grows on mortal soil.

    Permalink to quote #105
  2. Last came, and last did go, The Pilot of the Galilean lake; Two massy keys he bore of metals twain, (The golden opes, the iron shuts amain).

    Permalink to quote #107
  3. Alas! what boots it with incessant care To tend the homely slighted shepherd's trade, And strictly meditate the thankless Muse? Were it not better done as othe…

    Permalink to quote #104

Related quotes

  1. My paintings are allegories not portraits.

    Ernst Ludwig KirchnerErnst Ludwig Kirchner quote #2
  2. The blessed damozel lean'd out From the gold bar of Heaven; Her eyes were deeper than the depth Of waters still'd at even; She had three lilies in her hand, An…

    Dante Gabriel RossettiDante Gabriel Rossetti quote #1
  3. When that amusing 'Pauli effect' of the overturned vase occurred, on the occasion of the founding of the Jung Institute, I had the immediate and vivid impressi…

    Wolfgang PauliWolfgang Pauli quote #1