London, 1802

The sonnet opens with the speaker directly invoking the figure of John Milton by name: “Milton!” (Line 1). This opening invocation sets up the sonnet as a rhetorical address to John Milton, allowing the speaker to enter into an implied dialogue with an important figure from England’s past. Milton (1608-1674) was both a writer and a revolutionary figure, who openly opposed the traditional monarchical system of England and became actively involved in the government of Oliver Cromwell during the Protectorate regime of the 1650’s (See: Contextual Analysis). In choosing to address Milton in the sonnet, the speaker is immediately alluding to the republicanism and literary prowess that Milton represents, suggesting the speaker’s own radical political sympathies. The speaker then explains what has brought Milton to his mind: “thou shouldst be living at this hour: / England hath need of thee” (Lines 1-2). In claiming that the England of 1802 “hath need of [Milton]” (Line 2) and lamenting the fate that Milton is no longer living, the speaker introduces the contrast he wishes to set up between the time of attempted republicanism and greater freedom that Milton once experienced, and the times in which the speaker is now living.