Summary

"Lycidas" begins with a preface explaining that the poem is the speaker's way of mourning his friend while also criticizing the English clergy for their corrupt tendencies. As the poem begins, the speaker announces that he is returning to a particular place among the laurels and myrtles to disturb them and "with forced fingers rude / Shatter your leaves before the mellowing year" (4-5). He explains that he has come to grieve for his friend Lycidas, who has died in his prime. Lycidas, he says, was a talented shepherd and song maker. He wonders who would not grieve for him, and announces that Lycidas's life will not go unremembered by those who cared for him. His song – this poem – will serve as "the meed of some melodious tear" (114).

The speaker entreats the muses around him to help turn him into a poet worthy of writing...