Milton's L'Allegro is a poem that leads us on a journey as the author searches for an expression of happiness. Through a series of movements Milton uses powerful imagery to personify his transitive movement into a state of happiness. In this essay Milton's four different movements will be analyzed in an attempt to understand more clearly what the authors accomplishes through these transitions.

The first movement in Miltons' poem begins with that of a sad and melancholy mood. From the very beginning the author opens with such phrases as "loathed Melancholy", "Stygian cave", and "brooding Darkness". The reference to Stygian cave in particular brings about imagery of Hades and the dark underworld of Greek mythology. These images serve to create an atmosphere of bleakness and despair that the reader is made to feel the from the very onset of the poem. However, these pensive feelings are not permanent and begin to give way to more positive feelings in the second movement.

In the second movement of the poem Milton starts the long transition from feelings of melancholy to that of happiness. In lines 19-20 of the poem the author makes an illusion to that of a "frolic wind that breathes the spring" indicating that his mood is lifting. To add to this he continues to use characters from Greek and Roman mythology such as Zephyr and Aurora who embody the light and joyful mood of Spring time. Later on in lines 39-40 Milton begins to embrace this feeling of joy and he makes known his longing to live freely in "unreproved pleasures". With this the author has set the stage in motion to bring us into the third movement of the poem where he turns to specific imagery for expression.

In the third movement of the poem the feelings of joy and happiness alluded to previously began to move into a physical form through the authors use of imagery from the country and other natural settings. In lines 63-65, Milton provides us with rich images of the plowman taking delight in his "furrowed land" and the milkmaid singing with "blithe".. These images represent the mood of happiness depicted through the lives of country people. In lines 73-80, the imagery turns to the more natural settings. The author sees the beauty of the barren mountains, trim meadows, and shallow brooks and then uses that to personify the feeling of happiness. All of this is used to prepare us for the final movement of the poem in which the author uses images of a different kind to reveal to us the final expression of happiness.

In the fourth and final movement of the poem the author uses images of the city and city life to show the ultimate elucidation of happiness. He begins in line 77 with the images of towering cities that bring to us such great and unimaginable pleasure. That is to say that the author can look at the great accomplishments of mere man (as demonstrated by the towering edifices of stones and granite in that day) and use the feelings of pride to symbolize his expression of happiness. In lines 127-128 images of pomp and pageantry (images that also emphasize the city) once again convey that same emotion of happiness. For Milton, all these images build up to form the ultimate expression of happiness, an expression for which the author will happily live out the rest of his years if only life could it to him.

In conclusion, Milton's poem L'Allegro uses a series of movements in order for the author to progress from a sad and pensive mood to a state of happiness. In the first movement the mood is bleak and melancholy with dark imagery. In the second movement the mood turns lighter with images of Spring time replacing the earlier mood. In the third movement the feeling of happiness takes the form of images from the country and the natural setting. And in the final movement the authors uses images from the city and city life to proclaim to us what he considers to be the ultimate expression of happiness, an expression for which the author bades us to choose to live the rest of our lives in.