John Milton

John Milton was born on 9^th December, 1608 in Bread Street, London. His father also named John Milton was an influential composer. His mother was Sarah Jeffrey. His father was a talented music composer and made a lifetime impression on him. Thanks for his father’s well-to-do status, junior Milton had a personal tutor for himself. Young Milton was enrolled at the St Paul's School in London where he studied Latin and Greek. These classical languages influenced his poetry in English. In 1625, he matriculated from the Christ's College, Cambridge and graduated in 1629. It was believed that Milton was expelled temporarily for arguing in his first year with his tutor, William Chappell. During his stay at home in the Lent Term in 1626, he wrote his first Latin elegy, Elegia Prima, to a friend from St Paul's, Charles Diodati. At the Cambridge, he was acquainted with Edward King and Roger Williams. Staying on his ambition to become an Anglican priest, he studied for the masters and received the degree on 3^rd July, 1632.

 

After receiving his M.A. in 1632, Milton moved to Hammersmith. From 1635, he lived at Horton, Berkshire, and undertook six years of self-directed private study. During this time, he studied both ancient and modern works of theology, philosophy, history, politics, literature and science. Apart from these years of private study, he was also one of the most learned poets. From his school and undergraduate days, Milton was fluent in Latin, Greek, Hebrew, French, Spanish, and Italian. Later, he added Old English and Dutch in this list. Meanwhile, Milton continued writing poems. His works from this period, “Arcades” and “Comus”, both were created for masques composed for noble patrons, connections of the Egerton family, and performed in 1632 and 1634 respectively. In May 1638, Milton set out for a tour of France and Italy that ended on July or August 1639. These travels helped him to add new dimension to his study with new and direct experience of artistic and religious traditions, especially Roman Catholicism. On this tour, he met famous theorists and intellectuals of the time and developed his poetic skills. Milton wrote in detail about his traveling in his work, “Defensio Secunda”. Milton first traveled to Calais, and then on to Paris, carrying a letter from diplomat Henry Wotton to the ambassador John Scudamore. Scudamore introduced Milton to Hugo Grotius, a Dutch law philosopher, playwright and poet. He continued traveling to south, from Nice to Genoa, and then to Livorno and Pisa, finally reaching Florence in July 1638.

 

In Florence, Milton enjoyed the art and culture of the city. Due to his candid nature and mastery over neo-Latin poetry, he made numerous friends in Florentine intellectual circles. He also met the famous astronomer Galileo, who was under virtual house arrest at Arcetri. Milton is also believed to have visited the Florentine Academy and the Academia della Crusca and probably the smaller academies including the Apatisti and the Svogliati. He left Florence in September and traveled to Rome. With the help of his influential connections from Florence, Milton easily gained access to the Rome's intellectual society. Even though Milton hated the Society of Jesus, he attended a dinner hosted by the English College, Rome. Here he met several English Catholics including theologian Henry Holden and the poet Patrick Cary. In Rome, Milton attended musical events, including oratorios, operas and melodramas. At the end of November, he left for Naples where he remained only for a month because of the Spanish control. Though Milton planned to leave Naples to travel to Sicily, and then on to Greece, he had to return to England in the summer of 1639, because of the civil war in England and also due to the death of his childhood friend, Diodati.

 

Milton stayed in the continent for about seven months and also spent some time with Diodati’s uncle in Geneva, before returning to Rome. He remained in the city for two months, attended the Carnival and met Lukas Holste, a Vatican librarian, who helped him through its collection. In March, he traveled again to Florence and spent two months attending meetings and enjoying with friends. After Florence he traveled through Lucca, Bologna, and Ferrara before coming to Venice. In Venice, he came under the influence of Republicanism. From Venice, he continued traveling to Geneva, on to Paris and then Calais before finally coming back in England in either July or August 1639. After his return to England, Milton started writing prose tracts against episcopacy, serving the Puritan and Parliamentary cause. Milton made his first attempt into polemics with “Of Reformation touching Church Discipline in England” (1641), it was followed by, “Of Prelatical Episcopacy” and “The Reason of Church-Government Urged against Prelaty”. Although he was helped by his father’s investments, Milton took the job of a private schoolmaster to teach his nephews and children of rich families. This experience helped him to write his short pamphlet, “Of Education”, in 1644, in which he urged for a reform of the national universities.

 

After the parliamentary victory in the Civil War, Milton wrote “The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates” (1649) in which he defended popular government and implicitly sanctioned the regicide. His political reputation helped him to get appointed as the Secretary for Foreign Tongues by the Council of State in March 1649. Apart from composing the English Republic's foreign correspondence in Latin, he was also asked to produce propaganda for the regime and to serve as a censor. In October 1649 he produced Eikonoklastes, which he wrote in response to the Eikon Basilike, a phenomenal best-seller popularly assigned to Charles I that showed the King as an innocent Christian martyr. In the January of the following year, Milton was ordered by the Council of State to write a defense of the English people on the response to the Defensio Regia Pro Carolo Primo, written by the leading humanist Claudius Salmasius. Milton published his Latin defense of the English People, “Defensio Pro Populo Anglicano”, also known as the First Defence on 24^th February 1652. This successful work went on several editions and helped to establish his reputation.

 

In response to an anonymous Royalist pamphlet “Regii sanguinis clamor”, which included many personal attacks on Milton, he wrote a second defence of the English nation, “Defensio Secunda” in 1654. In 1655, Milton published the autobiographical “Defensio pro se”, in response to the attack of Alexander Morus. Apart from these defenses, he continued translating official correspondence into Latin. The probable attack of glaucoma eventually made him completely blind by 1654, forcing him to dictate his verse and prose to helpers, one of which included the poet Andrew Marvell. After the death of Oliver Cromwell in 1658, the English Republic collapsed into feuding military and political factions. In 1659, Milton published “A Treatise of Civil Power”, attacking the concept of a state-dominated church and the corrupt practices in church governance. Following the Restoration in May 1660, Milton had to hide for his life, as a warrant was issued for his arrest and his writings were burnt. After a general pardon, he re-appeared but was nevertheless arrested and briefly imprisoned. He was later released with the help of some influential friends and lived the rest of his life quietly in the Milton's Cottage in Chalfont St. Giles.

 

Only few poems of the John Milton were published during his lifetime. His first published poem, “On Shakespeare” written in 1630, was anonymously published in Second Folio edition of Shakespeare. His poetry collection, “Comus” was also published anonymously in 1637. His other significant work, “Lycidas” published in 1638 in Justa Edouardo King Naufrago was signed with initials, J. M. He collected his works in, 1645 poems which was among the very few works published under his name. Milton’s most famous and important work, “Paradise Lost” appeared in 1667. This epic poem was composed by the blind and impoverished Milton during the period 1658–1664 through dictation given to a series of aides. “Paradise Lost” showed his personal despair at the failure of the Revolution, but also hoped for an ultimate optimism in human potential. The success of “Paradise Lost” encouraged Milton to write its sequel, “Paradise Regained”, which was published alongside the tragedy Samson Agonistes, in 1671.

In June 1643, Milton married Mary Powell. They had four children namely, Anne, Mary, John and Deborah. His wife died on 5^th May, 1652. Milton was married again, to Katherine Woodcock on 2^nd November 1656. She died on 3^rd February 1658. Milton married for the third time to Elizabeth Mynshull on February 24, 1662.

 

John Milton died of kidney failure on 8 November 1674. He was buried in the church of St. Giles Cripplegate.

 

With the publication of “Paradise Lost”, Milton became famous as an epic poet. He made a significant influence over English poetry in the 18^th and 19^th centuries. Milton was even considered equal or superior to all other English poets, including Shakespeare. The famous English poet, William Blake considered him as one of the major English poets. Blake positioned Edmund Spenser as Milton's precursor, and called himself Milton’s poetical son. Blake even used, Milton as a character in, “Milton: a Poem”. Many prominent thinkers of the 18^th century appreciated and commented on his poetry and non-poetical works. These imminent thinkers included John Dryden, Alexander Pope, Joseph Addison, Thomas Newton, and Samuel Johnson. Milton's influence continued even in the Victorian age as George Eliot and Thomas Hardy were particularly influenced by his poetry and biography. But in the early 20th century, Milton's critical stature saw a reduction, with the efforts of T. S. Eliot and Ezra Pound.

1608: Was born in Bread Street, London.

1625: Matriculated from the Christ's College, Cambridge.

1626: Wrote his first Latin elegy, Elegia Prima.

1629: Graduated from Cambridge.

1632: Received his Masters degree in Arts.

1638: Set out for a tour of France and Italy.

1639: Returned to England from the tour.

1641: Wrote, Of Reformation touching Church Discipline in England.

1643: Married Mary Powell.

1649: Wrote, “The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates”; Was appointed as the Secretary for Foreign Tongues by the Council of State

1652: Published his Latin defense of the English People, “Defensio Pro Populo Anglicano”, also known as the First Defence. His wife died.

1656: Married again to Katherine Woodcock.

1658: Katherine died.

1659: Published “A Treatise of Civil Power”.

1662: Married for the third time to Elizabeth Mynshull.

1667: Published “Paradise Lost”

1671: Published “Paradise Regained”, a sequel of “Paradise Lost”

1674: Died of kidney failure.