The Poem on the Door: John Milton’s Sonnet VIII and the Defence of London 1642–1643

Abstract This essay offers a substantial reappraisal and reinterpretation of John Milton’s ‘Sonnet VIII’ (‘Captain or Colonel, or Knight in Arms’) first printed in 1645. Arguing that Milton’s sonnet was written in response to the construction of London’s defences which were built in anticipation of a royalist siege in 1642–1643, the essay: a) analyses the ‘locodescriptive’ character of a poem designed as a ‘found’ text, within a city in which messages of many different kinds were publicly displayed; b) uncovers a hitherto unrecognized classical source for Milton’s sonnet; c) examines the significance of Milton’s deployment of a third-person narrative voice in the poem; d) discusses Milton’s own role within London as the city prepared for an assault by royalist troops; e) considers Milton’s poem as a highly topical protest against parliamentarian property destruction and confiscation in London in 1642–1643; f) identifies the most likely individuals to whom Milton’s sonnet was addressed, while also revising the generally assumed date of the poem’s composition; and finally g) situates the poem within the context of Milton’s evolving political views in the 1640s.