Biography of John Milton
Biography of John
Milton
pic John Milton
John Milton was born in London
in 1608 at the height of the Protestant Reformation in England. His father was
a law writer who had achieved some success by the time Milton was born. This
prosperity afforded Milton an excellent education, first with private tutoring,
then a private school, and finally Cambridge. Milton, a studious boy, excelled
in languages and classical studies.
His father had left Roman
Catholicism and Milton was raised Protestant, with a heavy tendency toward
Puritanism. As a student, he wanted to go into the ministry, but was
disillusioned with the scholastic elements of the clergy at Cambridge.
Cambridge, however, afforded him time to write poetry. After Cambridge, he
continued his studies for seven years in a leisurely life at his father's
house. It was here that he wrote some of his first published poems, including
"Comus" (1634) and "Lycidas" (1638), both of which he
published in 1645.
Milton toured the European
continent in 1638-1639 and met many of the great Renaissance minds, including
Galileo and Grotius. The beginning of the Puritan Revolution found Milton back
in England, fighting for a more humanist and reformed church. For more than
twenty years, Milton set aside poetry to write political and religious
pamphlets for the cause of Puritanism. For a time, he served as Secretary for
Foreign Tongues under Cromwell.
Milton was a mixed product of
his time. On the one hand, as a humanist, he fought for religious tolerance and
believed that there was something inherently valuable in man. As a Puritan,
however, he believed that the Bible was the answer and the guide to all, even
if it went against democracy itself. Where the Bible didn't afford an answer,
Milton would turn to reason.
Milton himself was married
three times, all of which were rather unhappy affairs. He defended divorce in
"The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce" in 1643. With this and other
treatises, Milton often came in conflict with the Puritanism he advocated.
At the end of the war, Milton
was imprisoned for a short time for his views. In 1660, he emerged blind and
disillusioned with the England he saw around him.
Nevertheless, he was yet to write his greatest work. Paradise Lost was published in 1667, followed by
Paradise Regained in 1671. Milton's ability to combine his poetry with his
polemics in these and other works,was the key to his genius.
The classical influences in his
work can be clearly delineated: Homer, Ovid, but especially Virgil. Shakespeare
was the leading playwright of his day, and there are some references to his
works in Milton's own poetry. The style and structure of the Spencer's
"The Faerie Queen," was another influence on Paradise Lost. It was
one of only a few books that were owned by the Miltons during John's
upbringing.
Milton died from
"gout" in 1674 and was buried in the Church of St. Giles in London.
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