...Grate on their scrannel pipes of wretched straw ; The hungry sheep look up, and are not fed, But swoln with wind, and the rank mist they draw, Rot inwardly,...nothing said; But that two-handed engine at the door 130 Stands ready to smite once, and smite no more. Return, Alpheus, the dread voice is past, That shrunk...

...songs (Irate on their scrannel pipes of wretched straw: The hungry sheep look up, and are not fed, 123 But, swollen with wind and the rank mist they draw,...nothing said. But that two-handed engine at the door 130 Stands ready to smite once, and smite no more. Return, Alpheus ; the dread voice is past That shrunk...

...places. The hungry sheep look up, and are not fed, But, swoln with wind and the rank mist they draw, Hot inwardly, and foul contagion spread: Besides what...door Stands ready to smite once, and smite no more. Then, by a skillful transition, the poet returns to his theme and to the level of his pastoral verse....

...But, swoln with wind and the rank mist they draw, liot inwardly, and foul contagion spread ; Beside P Alphcus! the dread voice is past That shrunk thy streams. Return, Sicilian Must1, And call the vales,...

...Grate on their scrannel pipes of wretched straw, The hungry sheep look up, and are not fed, But swoll'n with wind, and the rank mist they draw, Rot inwardly,...door, Stands ready to smite once, and smite no more. Even lines as violently explicit as these draw power from the tact and balance of the poet : the pastoral...

...hungry Sheep (the starving people of this country from 1933-39) look up, and are not fed, But swoln with wind and the rank mist they draw, Rot inwardly,...door Stands ready to smite once, and smite no more. That is the Dominions Office described by Milton in the 17th century, that little back room in some...

...Grate on their scrannel pipes of wretched straw. The hungry sheep look up, and are not fed, But swol'n with wind, and the rank mist they draw. Rot inwardly,...nothing said; But that two-handed engine at the door 130 Stands ready to smite once, and smite no more." Retum Alpheus, the dread voice is past That shrunk...

...What need they? They are sped; And when they list, their lean and flashy songs Grate on their scrannel pipes of wretched straw. The hungry sheep look up,...spread; Besides what the grim wolf with privy paw Dally devours apace, and nothmg said.s' (1 19-29) The violence of this indictment is signalled by 'Blind...

...Paradise Lost, but in his lengthy note on the most famous and contested interpretative crux in Lycidas: Besides what the grim wolf with privy paw Daily devours...door, Stands ready to smite once, and smite no more. (Lycidas, 128-31) After explaining the 'grim wolf by invoking the parallel of Spenser's similar image...

...the anguish of time that comes through is delay. The hungry sheep look up, and are not fed, But swoln with wind, and the rank mist they draw, Rot inwardly,...with privy paw Daily devours apace, and nothing said. (125-29) How long must it go on before something is said, before the "corrupted clergy ... in their...