This is an excellent question, focusing in real detail on
the actual phrasing of the poem.
- The image
implied by the verb “Flames” is appropriate to the poem in various ways. For instance,
the poem is very much concerned with literal and emotional darkness. Lycidas has died
and his body has sunk beneath the waves into what seems a kind of permanent darkness.
The flames can therefore be seen as implying the light associated with his
resurrection. Just as flames are usually considered the opposite of water, so the fact
that Lycidas “Flames” like the sun is appropriate to poem emphasizing watery
death. - The fact that Lycidas “Flames” like the sun also
associates the risen Lycidas with God, the source (for Milton and his contemporaries) of
all light and life and power. - The idea that Lycidas now
“Flames” like the rising sun is a potent symbol of renewed life. Even the sky is treated
here as if it were a living being (since it is said to have a “forehead”). The entire
final section of the poem brims with symbols of renewed vitality, and the flaming sun is
one of them.
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