...oat, ye crystal spheres — Once bless our human ears, If ye have powt-r to touch our senses flo; An<l let your silver chime Move in melodious time ; And let the bass of heaven's deep organ blow, And with your nine-fold harmony. Make up fall concert to th' angelic symphony. In 103 1, " Comns, a...

...their oozy channel keep. Ring out, yc crystal spheres, Once bless our human ears, If ye have pow'rto touch our senses so ; And let your silver chime Move in melodious time, And let the base of heav'u's deep organ blow ; And with your ninefold harmony Make up full consort to th' angelic...

...angel sings.' Let us next recall two passages from Milton, the first from the hymn On the Nativity : Ring out, ye crystal spheres ! Once bless our human...time ; And let the bass of heaven's deep organ blow ; And with your ninefold harmony Make up full consort to the angelic symphony ; the second from Arcades...

...concentrate on its structure. A brief analysis of two stanzas will indicate something of the technique. xiii Ring out, ye crystal spheres, Once bless our human...time; And let the bass of heaven's deep organ blow, And with your ninefold harmony Make up full consort to the angelic symphony. The stanza begins with...

...the organ (in its metaphorical sense, of course) : Ring out ye Crystall sphears Once bless our humane ears, (If ye have power to touch our senses so) And...your silver chime Move in melodious time; And let the Base of Heav'ns deep Organ blow, And with your ninefold harmony Make up full consort to the' Angelike...

...into an elaborate liturgy, on the order of the service accompanying the creation in Paradise Lost. Ring out ye Crystal spheres, Once bless our human...chime Move in melodious time; And let the Bass of Heav'n's deep Organ blow, And with your ninefold harmony Make up full consort to th'Angelic symphony....

...spheres, crowned — as it is characteristically in Christian conceptions — by the music of angels: Ring out ye crystal spheres. Once bless our human...time; And let the bass of heaven's deep organ blow, And with your ninefold harmony Make up full consort to the angelic symphony. In "At a Solemn Music"...

...need; He saw a greater Sun appear Than his bright throne or burning axle-tree could bear. (1. 49-56) 39 nd free; This is alone Life, Joy, Empire and Victory. And with your ninefold harmony Make up full consort to the angelic symphony. (1. 97-104) 40 And then...

...ears to recognise. Milton, in his 'Hymn on the Nativity', thus alludes to the music of the spheres: Ring out, ye crystal spheres! Once bless our human ears (If ye have power to charm our senses so); And let your silver chime Move in melodious time, And let the base of Heaven's...

...same utopian vision finds expression in the nativity ode when Milton calls on the "Crystal spheres" to "Once bless our human ears, / (If ye have power to touch our senses so)" (126-27). ures, and to some degree confers, the blessing of hearing the light. Certainly the music...