JOHN MILTON (1608-1674)

JOHN MILTON (1608-1674)

Milton was a prominent writer in the Puritan Age.he combines the spirit of Renaissance and Reformation in his works. His poetry is notable for musical versification, spirit of freedom and morality. He was a great scholar of Hebrew language. His early poetry consists of sonnets and hymns.  John Milton is an English poet, pamphleteer, and historian. He is considered to be the most significant English author after William Shakespeare. He was born in London on December 9, 1608. He was the second son of John and Sara. He belonged to a wealthy family who could afford a second house in the countryside. His father was law-writer and composed music as well. He went to St. Paul’s school in 1620. He attended Christ’s College, Cambridge from 1625-1632. He was famous at Cambridge as ‘The Lady of Christ’ for his features. He did B. A in 1629 and M. A in 1632. He gave up his plan to be a priest by looking at the religious condition of the country. He wrote poetry in Latin, Italian & English. He spent 6 years in country home from 1632-1638 and some of the early poems L’ Allegro, Il Penseroso, Comus, Lycidas. He travelled to Italy & France during 1630s where he met Hugo Grotius & Galileo Galilei. The references of his telescope are present in Paradise Lost. He moved to Horton, Buchinghamshire. He again went back to London in 1639. He set up a school with his nephews. He got married to Mary Powell in 1642. She bore him four children. During Civil War he found friends in the shape of Oliver Cromwell & Charles 1. For 20 year he did not produce any poetic work. Being a Puritan he wrote a series of Pamphlets on civil rights. During Civil War from 1642-1649 he became a Latin secretary to Cromwell. He gave up teaching in 1647. He published The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates in 1649 in which he criticized the rulers. During the Common wealth Government he was appointed the foreign secretary. Milton became completely blind in 1651. After Cromwell’s death he became friendless. Even his wife & daughter turned against him. His wife died in 1652. He got married to Katherine woodcock in 1656. She died in 1658. Restoration changed his fortune. He was arrested for a short time. Later he was released and fined.He got married to Elizabeth Minshull in 1663. During these years Milton wrote his greatest poetical works Paradise lost, Paradise Regained & Samson Agonistes. He married thrice but had unhappy marital life. He died on November 8, 1674. He was buried in St. Giles Buckinghamshire beside his father. It is said when the church was under repair the grave robbers robbed his hair and teeth.

His literary work may be divided into three periods:

•        First Period till 1640

§  Major Poems

o   L’ Allegro

o   Il  Penseroso

o   Comus

o   Arcades

o   Lycidas

§  Minor poems

•        Second Period, 1640-1660

§  Prose

o   Anti- Prelatical Tracts

o   Divorce Tracts

o   Educational Pamphlets

o   Political Controversial Works

o   Civil Rights

§  Poetry

o   Sonnets

•        Third Period 1660-1674

o   Paradise Lost

o   Paradise Regain’d

o   Samson Agonites

Characteristics of His Poetry:

•        Master of English Blank Verse

•        Cosmic Sweep of Theme

•        Sublimity of Execution

•        Sharp concreteness

•        Intensity of Religious Idealism

•        Full of Classical Allusions to Literature

•        Profound Scholarship

•        Organ-roll of linked Vowel Sounds

•        Power of delineating character

•        Vivid accurate description

•        Presentation of Nature

•        Simple, sensuous and Passionate

•        Followed his own rule of Poetry

The Paradise Lost was first printed in 1667 in 10 books. It was later printed in 1674 in 12 books in which Book Vll and X were divided into two parts. He had an ambition to write an epic which is present in various poems like Vacation Exercise, Lycidas, and Epitaphium Damonis. He received inspiration for writing the Paradise Lost from a number of sources that include: Scriptual & Talmudic writings, The Illiad, Oddyssey & Aeneid, St. Augustine’s Civitas Deis, Claudian’s De Raptu Proserpine, Vondel’s Lucifer, Caedman, Shakespeare, Marlowe, Giles Fletcher, and Phineas Fletcher.

DOCTRINAL CONTENT: The content of the Paradise Lost is based on the following principles:

• The Creation of World is Purposeful.
• Christ is the son of God but second to him.
• Absolute Freedom/Human will
• Epitome: belief in Reformed Catholicism

COSMOGRAPHY

•        Though Milton was familiar with Copernican system but he preferred to use the Ptolemaic system in his poem as it is presented by Plato, Dante & Aquinas. Since it better represented his poetry

METER

•        Blank verse

•        Iambic Pentameter

ARGUMENT

•        The Fall of Satan & his angels; the burning lake of Hell; the palace Pandemonium

In each book one aspect is described in detail. Book Vll and book X is divided into two parts