Reference
- Milton, JohnJohn Milton was born on December 9, 1608, in London to a well-to-do family. His father was a scrivener (law writer) who also composed music. John Milton studied for the Anglican priesthood at Christ's College at Cambridge University while writing poetry. After graduating in 1632, he dropped any plans for the ministry. He continued to write while pursuing studies in foreign languages and traveled across Europe. Among those he met was astronomer Galileo Galilei...
- Milton, JohnThe last major literary figure of the high English Renaissance, Milton was born in London and educated both by private tutelage and in St. Paul's Cathedral School. He attended Christ's College in Cambridge University beginning in 1625 and earned a bachelor's degree in 1629. His extraordinary, almost girlish good looks earned him the nickname Our Lady of Christ's. Milton remained at Cambridge until 1632, the year he took his M.A. While there he composed a series of elegies in Latin and other early verse works including his celebrated “Nativity Ode.”...
- Paradise LostPoem by John Milton, published in 1667. A revised edition (1674) rearranged the 10 books as 12. Paradise Lost was begun in 1658 and completed in 1663, its appearance being delayed by both the Great Plague and the Great Fire. Milton had announced his ambition of writing an epic nearly 30 years before. He named Samson and Macbeth as possible subjects and sketched plans for an Arthurian epic as well as for biblical dramas including ‘Adam Unparadized', a dramatization of Genesis probably influenced by Grotius’ Adamus Exil (1601)...
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John Milton: Famous People, Incredible Lives
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John Milton lived from 1608-1674. The 17th century English poet had few readers who understood his works during his lifetime. In this Film Ideas video, explore Milton's early life, education, family life, political position, and literary career.
Online Resources
- John Milton: BritannicaJohn Milton, (born December 9, 1608, London, England—died November 8?, 1674, London?), English poet, pamphleteer, and historian, considered the most significant English author after William Shakespeare...
- The only surviving manuscript of Paradise Lost, c. 1665: British LibraryJohn Milton was blind when he composed Paradise Lost, so he had to rely on others to record his masterpiece for him. There must have been piles of paper to hold the thousands of lines dictated by the poet, but this is the only manuscript that has survived. It is a fair copy of Book 1, written by a professional scribe around 1665. The text was probably transcribed from assorted notes made by Milton’s friends and family...
- Paradise Lost: BritannicaParadise Lost, epic poem in blank verse, one of the late works by John Milton, originally issued in 10 books in 1667 and, with Books 7 and 10 each split into two parts, published in 12 books in the second edition of 1674...
Paradise Lost
- Films on Demand This link opens in a new windowPatterned on Greek and Roman classics, yet achieving a voice of its own by defying the strict dictates of classical subject matter, Milton’s epic poem is a masterpiece of monumental proportions. His diverse and often awesome use of language creates an effect as surreal and powerful as Dante’s Inferno. This program features probing analysis by Professors Thomas Winnifrith, University of Warwick, and Robert Wilcher, University of Birmingham. Topics include Milton’s creation of hell as one of the great imaginative accomplishments of literature. Also examined are the poem’s anti-Catholic tone; the use of the Narcissus myth; the weak, headmaster-like characterization of God; Eve as the strong, archetypal woman; Satan as hero; and criticism of Milton as a misogynist. A brief biography of Milton highlights philosophical debates of the period. (30 minutes)
Perspectives
John Milton, Paradise Lost
John Milton (1608-1674) was arguably one of the best-read persons of his epoch. Miltonâ¿¿s commonplace book reveals that in addition to the thoroughly humanistic education that he received at Trinity College Cambridge (1625-1632), he also conducted an extensively broad reading program of his own immediately after concluding his university studies which included forays into nearly every branch of learning in a period that he affectionately referred to as his â¿¿studious
retirementâ¿¿ (1632-38).
For over 400 years, many literary critics have declared this monumental work, Paradise Lost, to be the greatest poem in the English language. Dr. Stallard contends that a full understanding of the Bible as the poemâ¿¿s primary inter-text is essential to appreciating the poem in its Puritan context. John Miltonâ¿¿s Bible is lavishly annotated with Biblical references that demonstrates that Milton was
mining a wide variety of translations including the 1540 Great Bible, the 1560 Geneva Bible, the Bishops Bible of 1568, the Douay-Rheims of 1582, and the revised Authorized Version of 1612. This Biblically annotated edition of Paradise Lost will be useful to all scholars and students of Milton alike. That a lack of familiarity with the Bible should discourage students of English literature from reading the pinnacle achievement of one of the finest poets and minds in the English language is both sad and avoidable. This edition makes Milton more accessible, comprehensible, and
enjoyable for everyone.
Paradise regained
Derived from the Modern Library’s esteemed The Complete Poetry and Essential Prose of John Milton, this new volume, extensively revised and updated by its editors, contains Milton’s two late masterpieces, the brief epic Paradise Regained and the tragic drama Samson Agonistes. Age after age, these works have inspired new controversy and exciting interpretive debates. With expert commentary to guide the reader through historical contexts and verbal details, as well as the larger political and philosophical implications, the concerns of these canonical pieces live once again for today’s audiences. The volume also contains Milton’s complete shorter poems, which include such major achievements as “Lycidas,” “A Masque Presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634,” “L’Allegro,” and “Il Penseroso,” and the author’s twenty-four influential sonnets. Thoughtfully edited and carefully designed, this is an essential publication of Milton’s classic poetry.
Milton by Himself
- Films on Demand This link opens in a new windowThis program examines the life and times of John Milton through his major and autobiographical writings. The visuals—period art and location photography of the London and Cambridge sites associated with Milton—combined with the music of the time and Milton’s own words, together trace the rise and fall of a tragic figure caught between the worlds of ancient glory and contemporary politics—a Renaissance man in the maelstrom of the Baroque. Produced by Hugh Richmond, directed by Paul Shepard. (27 minutes)
Paradise Lost by John Milton | Plot Summary
- Paradise Lost by John Milton | Plot Summary: Course HeroKristen Over, Associate Professor at Northeastern Illinois University, provides an in-depth summary and analysis of John Milton's Paradise Lost. Paradise Lost is a famous epic poem from 1667 that deals with the expulsion of the first humans, Adam and Eve, from the Garden of Eden after they commit the sin of eating from the forbidden Tree of Knowledge. We encounter God, Archangel Michael, Adam and Eve, Sin, and Death and Satan/Lucifer as well. Paradise Lost is told by a third-person omniscient narrator, whom readers later learn is in fact the author, John Milton. Milton peppers his unrhymed, iambic pentameter with evocative symbolism, including the Scales of Justice, the Tree of Knowledge, and Adam's Wreath for Eve.