The Passion is an unfinished ode by John Milton that was possibly written in 1630 and was first published in 1645 or 1646. The poem connects Christ's Crucifixion with his Incarnation. It is linked to two other poems of Milton: On the Morning of Christ's Nativity and Upon the Circumcision
Background
The exact date of composition is unknown, but it is likely that Milton wrote the ode while attending Christ's College, Cambridge, and it is commonly dated to 1630. However, the ode, along with Upon the Circumcision and On the Morning of Christ's Nativity, were first published in 1645, and they are found within a manuscript that was not started before May 1634. They were composed during a time in which Milton became deeply concerned with Scripture but also one who still relies on myth. They were written during a time of experimentation in genre and subject for Milton. The poem was revised for the publication in the 1645 collection, but Milton found that he would be unable to finish the poem, leaving only three lines which emphasise his shortcomings at the time of writing the poem.
Poem
"The Passion" deals with the Crucifixion of Jesus but first two stanzas discuss how the narrator can no longer discuss the happiness of Christ's nativity: Although he is to introduce the Crucifixion, the third stanza emphasises the nature of Christ and the Incarnation. The fourth stanza continues to ignore the Crucifixion by discussing the poetic tone required for such a poem: The fifth stanza continues this focus and discusses the printing of an elegy: The emphasis on poetry is dropped for an emphasis on the soul of the narrator in Stanza VI: The moment of the Crucifixion passes as the poet focuses on himself, and the poem transitions discussing to Christ's sepulchral in Stanza VIII: The final stanza ends with the poet focusing on his own sorrow: Attached to the 1645 publication of the poem are three lines which Milton wrote to state that the poem is incomplete and is abandoned because the poet was unable to deal with the Crucifixion as the subject matter:
Themes
The Passion with On the Morning of Christ's Nativity and Upon the Circumcision form a set of poems that celebrates important Christian events: Christ's birth, the feast of the Circumcision, and Good Friday. The topic of these poems places them within a genre of Christian literature popular during the 17th century and places Milton alongside poets like John Donne, Richard Crashaw, and George Herbert. However, Milton's poetry reflects the origins of his anti-William Laud and anti-Church of England-based religious beliefs. The topic of The Passion is of Christ's Crucifixion. Although Milton was a Christian poet, he rarely discusses this event within his poetry. In the poem, he ignores the suffering by diverting attention to a discussion of himself and his own understanding of poetry in a similar way to Donne's "Goodfriday, 1613. Riding Westward". Milton's emphasis is on the nature of Christian poetry, and Stanza V contains a self-referential discussion of writing elegiac poetry, which is a baroque technique similar to the work of Bernini or Herbert in "Good Friday". However, the narrator constantly focuses on himself and his own grief, and this is a common trait in the contemporary Christian poetry of the poem. Unlike many of his contemporaries' works, each aspect of the poem emphasises that the narrator is unable to actually discuss Christ's crucifixion, and the poem was left incomplete.
Critical response
Thomas Corns believes that The Passion "offers a unique example of Milton's poetic engagement with a scene he evidently found difficult to depict". Corns also believes that lines 34 and 35 of the fifth stanza contain "the most memorable conceit, though one that has received some censure for its self-conscious preciosity".
