(On the Morning of Christ's Nativity is a nativity ode wri...)
On the Morning of Christ's Nativity is a nativity ode written by John Milton in 1629 and published in his Poems of Mr. John Milton. The poem describes Christ's Incarnation and his overthrow of earthly and pagan powers.
(L'Allegro is a pastoral poem by John Milton published in ...)
L'Allegro is a pastoral poem by John Milton published in his 1645 Poems. L'Allegro is invariably paired with the contrasting pastoral poem, Il Penseroso, which depicts a similar day spent in contemplation and thought.
(The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates is a book by John Mil...)
The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates is a book by John Milton, in which he defends the right of people to execute a guilty sovereign, whether tyrannical or not.
The Ready and Easy Way to Establish a Free Commonwealth
(The 18th century was a wealth of knowledge, exploration a...)
The 18th century was a wealth of knowledge, exploration and rapidly growing technology and expanding record-keeping made possible by advances in the printing press. In its determination to preserve the century of revolution, Gale initiated a revolution of its own: digitization of epic proportions to preserve these invaluable works in the largest archive of its kind. Now for the first time these high-quality digital copies of original 18th century manuscripts are available in print, making them highly accessible to libraries, undergraduate students, and independent scholars.
(Following the fall of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Ede...)
Following the fall of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden in Milton's "Paradise Lost", Milton turns his attention to the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness by Satan in "Paradise Regained". In this work, a sequel to "Paradise Lost", Satan tests Jesus in a similar way to Eve in the Garden of Eden. However, Jesus is not seduced by the promises of Satan and passes his test.
(Of True Religion, Heresy, Schism, Toleration; and what be...)
Of True Religion, Heresy, Schism, Toleration; and what best means may be used against the Growth of Popery is the title of a polemical tract against the popery of the Roman Catholic Church written by John Milton.
John Milton was an English poet, polemicist, civil servant for the Commonwealth of England under Oliver Cromwell. He wrote at a time of religious flux and political upheaval, and is best known for his epic poem Paradise Lost (1667), written in blank verse.
Background
Milton was born in London, England, on December 9, 1608, the son of composer John Milton and his wife Sarah Jeffrey. The poet's father emerged from a line of obscure Roman Catholic yeomen in Oxfordshire, was educated as a chorister, went to London, and became a scrivener - a profession that combined moneylender, copyist, notary, and contract lawyer. About 1600 he married Sara Jeffrey, the wealthy daughter of a merchant-tailor. Three of their children survived infancy: Anne, John, and Christopher. Their father was not only an able man of business but a musician. He composed madrigals, choral pieces, and some hymns that are still sung. From him young John derived the love of music that pervades his works.
Education
After private tutoring, about 1620 Milton entered St. Paul's School, where he studied Sallust, Virgil, and Horace and the New Testament in Greek. Admitted to Christ's College at the age of 15, he intended to become a Church of England priest. Because of a disagreement with his tutor, he was "rusticated" (temporarily expelled) in 1626. He received a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Arts degrees in 1629 and 1632.
After receiving the bachelor of arts and the master of arts degrees in 1629 and 1632, Milton lived in his family's suburban home in Hammersmith and then at its country estate in Horton, Buckinghamshire, continuing studies in theology, history, mathematics, and literature but participating in social and cultural life in London and the country. The presence of his "On Shakespeare" in the 1632 folio of Shakespeare's plays suggests that Milton was in touch with actors. In his sonnet "How Soon hath Time," Milton modestly lamented his lack of accomplishments in 23 years; but he was soon writing lyrics for his Arcades, an entertainment. In 1634 A Mask (better known as Comus) was performed at Ludlow Castle, with music by Henry Lawes. This mixture of song, dance, pageantry, and poetry is imbued with youthful charm and glorifies the purity of chastity with exquisite lyricism.
Milton's themes were both particular and universal. Lycidas (1637), a pastoral elegy occasioned by the death of a promising young acquaintance, dealt with why God allows the good to die young and asked if, instead of dedicating one's self to study and writing, it would not be better to do as others do and "sport with Amaryllis in the shade." Milton's answer was that "laborious days" are not wasted: eternal life lies ahead. In 1639, when he learned that his friend Diodati had died, he penned a moving Latin elegy, finding solace in Christian hope and resolution for his grief in esthetic expression. The poem also served as an outlet for a condemnation of negligent clergymen. Though Milton had abandoned the idea of entering the ministry, he was dedicated to making the Church of England more Protestant.
In 1638-1639 Milton toured France and Italy. He then intended to go to Greece, but news of the growing political and religious crisis in England led him to return to London so that he could help to advance liberty if his talents were needed. In the meantime he tutored his nephews and other students.
It was by writing prose that Milton found opportunity to serve his God and country. In 1641-1642 he poured out tracts opposing the bishops' control over religion. In his judgment, their powers were based on man-made traditions, self-interest, and a combination of ignorance, superstition, and deliberate falsification.
Part of what Milton regarded as episcopal tyranny was the regulation of marriage by canon law and the bishops' courts. In his Commonplace Book, he had already shown interest in divorce, before even being married for the first time. Milton emphasized the spiritual and mental aspects of marriage: he held that what is essential is neither physical nor sacramental nor contractual but lies in marital love, in the union of what distinguishes human beings from animals - their rational souls. Milton taught that if such compatibility was lacking and could not be achieved after sincere effort, all concerned should recognize the right of divorce, inasmuch as God had not joined such an ill-yoked couple.
In 1644 Milton's "Of Education" dealt with another kind of domestic freedom, how to develop in schoolboys discipline, reasonableness, broad culture, all-round ability, and independence of judgment. The same year saw Areopagitica, his defense of man's right to free speech and discussion as the best means of advancing truth. To this end he opposed prepublication censorship though admitting that if a book or those responsible for it broke clear and reasonable laws against libel, pornography, blasphemy, or sedition, the work could be repressed or those responsible for it could be fairly tried and punished if found guilty. Milton advocated neither licentiousness or avoidable interference with individuals but, rather, responsible freedom under just laws and magistrates.
The divorce tracts made Milton undeservedly notorious as a fanatic libertine advocate of free love. Readers of his collected Poems (1645) were therefore probably surprised to find the charming seriousness of an author who, had he died then, might have been ranked with George Herbert and Robert Herrick as an Anglican poet. The volume contained not only the poems mentioned above but also exquisite lyrics such as "On a May Morning" and "At a Solemn Musick." Milton also put new life into the sonnet genre, investing it with wider subject matter.
As the civil war drew to a close, Milton turned from defending the liberty of religion, marriage, and publication to condemning royal tyranny. The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates (1649) argued that men have a natural right to freedom and that contracts they make with rulers are voluntary and terminable. Soon after its publication he began a decade as the revolutionary government's secretary for foreign tongues: his chief duty was to put state letters into choice Latin. His next pamphlet, Eikonoklastes (1649), answered "The King's Book," a self-justification attributed to Charles I. This was followed by two Defenses of the English People (1651, 1654) to explain why they revolted and a Defense of Himself (1655) against various attackers. These works were in Latin: Milton was the revolution's chief international propagandist.
For some years Milton had been losing his eyesight, and by early 1652 he was totally blind. Reflecting that this could prevent the use of his talent in God's service, he composed the sonnet "When I consider how my light is spent" with its famous conclusion, "They also serve who only stand and wait."
Despite adversities Milton heroically persisted. During the crisis preceding restoration of the monarchy he dictated several tracts. In A Treatise of Civil Power (1659) he again urged toleration and separation of Church and state. Ready and Easy Way (1660) argued for preservation of a republic.
Inevitably the eloquent defender of monarchy's overthrow was in acute danger when Charles II, son of the executed Charles I, regained the throne in 1660. Milton was harassed and imprisoned; his seditious books were publically burned; but he was included in a general pardon.
In 1667, Paradise Lost, his long-planned epic on the fall of man, was published. In 1671 its sequel, Paradise Regained, appeared in one volume with Samson Agonistes, a tragedy modeled on Greek drama and the Book of Job. Milton also published some previously written prose works on grammar, logic, and early British history; his Prolusions with some familiar letters; and an enlarged edition of his earlier Poems.
In 1673 he reentered public controversy with Of True Religion, a brief defense of Protestantism. Before his death about November 8, 1674, he was planning to publish writings that appeared posthumously: his Latin state papers (1676) and a short history of Moscovia (1682).
In the early 19th century the Latin manuscript of Milton's Christian Doctrine was discovered and translated (1825). In it he systematically set out to disencumber scriptural interpretation from misinterpretation by discovering what the Bible itself said on such matters as predestination, angels, and saving faith. One of his central convictions was that what God accommodated to limited human understandings was sufficient and that man should not impose on what God left vague a precision unjustified by what He revealed.
("Lycidas" is a poem mourning the loss of a good friend, s...)
1638
Religion
Despite Milton's early support of Presbyterianism, Milton soon came to believe that "New Presbyter is but Old Priest writ large." He defended the growth of religious sects on the ground that God requires unity of spirit rather than unity of doctrine, and he denied both the claim of the church to exercise secular power and that of the state to wield ecclesiastical power. His final view was that a particular church is a purely voluntary association of believers. Milton argued for disestablishment as the only effective way of achieving broad toleration. Rather than force a man's conscience, government should recognise the persuasive force of the gospel.
Milton believed in the idea of soul sleeping or mortalism, which determines that the soul, upon death, is in a sleep like state until the Last Judgment. Similarly, he believed that Christ, when incarnated, merged his divine and human identities, and that both of these identities died during his Crucifixion.
Politics
Milton supported a republican form of government. He was drawn more closely into political events with the execution of Charles I in 1649. He wrote The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates as a defense of the right of the people to depose a tyrant. However, when the Rump Parliament was removed and Oliver Cromwell became the Protector in December 1653, Milton put aside republicanism to support the government, and, in Defensio Secunda, he praised Cromwell's rule. After the death of Cromwell Milton returned to his republican principles, and he published several works in opposition to a monarchical form of government.
Milton's own beliefs were in some cases both unpopular and dangerous, and this was true particularly to his commitment to republicanism. Milton is also considered to be an early apostle of liberalism.
Views
John Milton attacked the concept of licensing and promoted the need for debate and discussion. He believed that the government should not censor works because the search for truth and understanding is an ongoing process and must be open.
Milton believed in the idea of monism or animist materialism, the notion that a single material substance which is "animate, self-active, and free" composes everything in the universe: from stones and trees and bodies to minds, souls, angels, and God. He also wrote The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce and argued for the legitimacy of divorce on grounds of spousal incompatibility.
Quotations:
"A mind not to be changed by place or time. The mind is its own place, and in itself Can make a heav'n of hell, a hell of heav'n."
"So farewell hope, and with hope farewell fear, Farewell remorse: all good to me is lost; Evil, be thou my good."
"A good book is the precious lifeblood of a master spirit, embalmed and treasured up on purpose to a life beyond life."
"For solitude sometimes is best society, And short retirement urges sweet return."
"I neither oblige the belief of other person, nor overhastily subscribe mine own."
Personality
As a youth John Milton enjoyed the natural beauty and beauty of women, he also enjoyed reading and writing and attending church. At Cambridge he was known as "Lady of Christ’s Coll", due to his youthful good looks, but perhaps more due to dissociation from usual social and athletic activities of male college mates.
Physical Characteristics:
His short but well-formed body, long auburn hair, blue eyes, and fair skin enhanced his intellectual vivacity and graceful manners.
Quotes from others about the person
John Dryden: "Milton's Paradise Lost is admirable; but am I therefore bound to maintain, that there are no flats amongst his elevations, when it is evident he creeps along sometimes for above a hundred lines together? Cannot I admire the height of his invention, and the strength of his expression, without defending his antiquated words, and the perpetual harshness of their sound? It is as much commendation as a man can bear, to own him excellent; all beyond it is idolatry."
John Dryden: "No man has so happily copied the manner of Homer, or so copiously translated his Grecisms, and the Latin elegancies of Virgil. It is true he runs into a flat of thought, sometimes for a hundred lines together, but it is when he has got into a track of Scripture."
Samuel Johnson: "An acrimonious and surly republican."
William Winstanley: "John Milton was one whose natural parts might deservedly give him a place amongst the principal of our English Poets, having written two Heroick Poems and a Tragedy, namely Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained, and Sampson Agonista. But his Fame is gone out like a Candle in a Snuff, and his Memory will always stink, which might have ever lived in honorable Repute, had not he been a notorious Traytor, and most impiously and villanously bely'd that blessed Martyr, King Charles the First."
Interests
Reading
Connections
Mary Powell became Milton's wife about May 1642. She was about half his age and came from an Oxfordshire family. A few months later, while she was on a visit to her parents, the civil war between King and Parliament erupted. Her family were royalists living in royalist territory, whereas Milton's attacks on the bishops had committed him to the rebels. Accordingly, she failed to return to him despite his urgings. In 1645 he forgave a repentant Mary - she blamed her mother - and as far as is known they lived contentedly together until she died in 1652. Milton and Mary Powell had four children.
In 1656, four years after his first wife's death, Milton married Kathrine Woodcock. Two years later she died as a result of childbirth, and he tenderly memorialized her in a sonnet, "To my late departed Saint."
In 1663 he married Elizabeth Minshell.
Father:
John Milton
Mother:
Sarah Jeffrey
Brother:
Christopher Milton
Sister:
Tabitha Milton
Sister:
Anne Milton
Sister:
Sara Milton
ex-wife:
Mary Powell
Daughter:
Anne Milton
Daughter:
Mary Milton
Son:
John Milton III
Daughter:
Deborah Milton
ex-wife:
Katherine Woodcock
Daughter:
Katherine Milton
Wife:
Elizabeth Mynshull
nephew:
Edward Phillips
nephew:
John Phillips
References
John Milton: A Hero of Our Time
John Milton – poet, polemicist, public servant, and author of one of the greatest masterpieces in English literature, Paradise Lost – is revered today as a great writer and a proponent of free speech. In his time, however, his ideas far exceeded the orthodoxy of English life; spurred by his conscience and an iron grip on logic, Milton was uncompromising in his beliefs at a time of great religious and political flux in England.
2009
John Milton: Life, Work, and Thought
Written by two of the world's leading Milton scholars, widely praised as "illuminating", "seamlessly written, and "a book of permanent value", and winner of the Milton Society's James Holly Hanford Award, this magnificent biography sheds fresh new light on the writings, the thought, and the life of poet John Milton.
2007
John Milton
This lively new biography by a renowned Milton scholar explores the psychological complexities of a man who must be counted one of the most significant and fascinating writers and thinkers of all time.
2008
Milton: Poet, Pamphleteer, and Patriot
With extensive new research, Milton emerges from Anna Beer's ground-breaking biography for the first time as a fully rounded human being.