John Milton (1608-74) Brief Life PDF
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Seattle University
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Summary
This document provides a brief overview of John Milton's life and literary career, focusing on the three phases of his prolific output. It highlights key works such as Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained, and Samson Agonistes. The text includes important details about his education, major themes, and the period in which he lived.
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John Milton (1608–74) Literary Career Three phases: 1) The period of his youthful education and literary apprenticeship that culminated in his foreign travels (1608–39) Born: 9 December 1608 Education: St. Paul’s Grammar School (London); Chris...
John Milton (1608–74) Literary Career Three phases: 1) The period of his youthful education and literary apprenticeship that culminated in his foreign travels (1608–39) Born: 9 December 1608 Education: St. Paul’s Grammar School (London); Christ’s College (Cambridge) Foreign travels (1638–9)—especially important was Italy, where Milton met Galileo, among others “And now the Sun had stretch’t out all the hills, And now was dropt into the Western bay; At last he rose, and twitch’t his Mantle blue: Tomorrow to fresh Woods, and Pastures new.” “Lycidas,” ll. 190–93 (1637) 2) The period of his prose and controversial works (1640–1660) Major activity: the fight for human freedom (political and social); served as Latin Secretary to the Commonwealth Government (1649–53) Wrote minor occasional verses and his sonnets, as well as numerous prose works “I cannot praise a fugitive and cloistered virtue, unexercised and unbreathed, that never sallies out and sees her adversary, but slinks out of the race where that immortal garland is to be run for, not without dust and heat.” Areopagitica (1644) 3) The final period (1660–1674) Milton was blind, broken, and embittered He returned to literature and published his three greatest works: Paradise Lost (1667; 1674) Paradise Regained (1671) Samson Agonistes (1671) Death: 8 November 1674; buried in St. Giles’ Church “The mind is its own place, and in itself Can make a Heav’n of Hell, a Hell of Heav’n.” Paradise Lost, Book 1, ll. 244–5 (1667) Milton’s major themes: freedom(s), free will, uncloistered virtue Milton’s perception of the poet: poet as prophet voicing truths that must be spoken
