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On the Death of a Fair Infant Dying of a Cough

poem by Milton

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"On the Death of a Fair Infant Dying of a Cough" is an elegy written by John Milton in 1628. The poem mourns the loss of his niece, Anne, who was only two years old when she died from a cough. Milton tenderly commemorates the child, using classical allusions and theological ideas to suggest that she ascended to a heavenly realm because the earthly world was not suited to her purity. The poem reflects Milton's early poetic style, characterized by conceits and classical references.1

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