MILTON, JOHN

MILTON, JOHN
   poet, born in London, son of a scrivener; graduated at Cambridge, and settled to study and write poetry in his father's house at Horton, 1632; in 1638 he visited Italy, being already known at home as the author of the "Hymn on the Nativity," "Allegro," "Penseroso," "Comus," a mask, and "Lycidas," an elegy on his friend King, who was drowned in the Irish Sea in 1637, besides much excellent Latin verse; the outbreak of the Civil War recalled him, and silenced his muse for many years; settling in London he took pupils, married in 1643 Mary Powell, and became active as a writer of pamphlets on public questions; his first topic was Church Government, then his wife's desertion of him for two years called forth his tracts on Divorce, a threatened prosecution for which elicited in turn the "Areopagitica, a Speech for the Liberty of Unlicensed Printing"; his father died in 1647, his wife in 1652; under the Common wealth he was "Secretary of Foreign Tongues," and successfully defended the execution of Charles I. in his Latin "Defence of the English People," and other bitter controversial works; he married in 1656 his second wife, who died two years later; the Restoration gave him back to leisure and poetry; his greatest work, "Paradise Lost," was composed rapidly, dictated to his daughters, and completed in 1663, but not published till 1667; 1671 saw "Paradise Regained" and "Samson Agonistes"; he had been blind since 1652; he married Elizabeth Minshull in 1663, who comforted him in his closing years; a man of fervent, impulsive temperament, and a lover of music, he was sincere in controversy, magnanimous in character, and of deep religious faith; the richness, melody, and simplicity of his poetry, the sublimity of his great theme, and the adequacy of its treatment, place him among the greatest poets of the world; in later years he leaned to Arianism, and broke away from the restraints of outward religious practice; his last prose work, a Latin treatise on "Christian Doctrines," was lost at the time of his death, and only recovered 150 years later (1608-1674).

The Nuttall Encyclopaedia. . 1907.

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  • MILTON, JOHN° — (1608–1674), English Puritan poet, whose works contain an unusual concentration of biblical and Judaic sentiments. Milton may have learned Hebrew while he was at Cambridge from the Semitic scholar, Joseph Mede (1586–1638). His knowledge of Hebrew …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • Milton, John — Milton, John, John, der Dichter des verlorenen Paradieses, ward 1608 in London geb., empfing eine sorgfältige Erziehung, hielt sich nach beendigten Studien zu Cambridge einige Zeit auf dem Landgute seines Vaters auf, schrieb dort einige Komödien …   Damen Conversations Lexikon

  • Milton, John — born Dec. 9, 1608, London, Eng. died Nov. 8, 1674, Chalfont St. Giles, Buckinghamshire English poet. A brilliant youth, Milton attended Cambridge University (1625–32), where he wrote poems in Latin, Italian, and English; these included L Allegro… …   Universalium

  • Milton, John — ( 1608 167 4)    British Puritan poet    John 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… …   Encyclopedia of Protestantism

  • Milton, John — (1608 1674)    Born in London, he was educated St. Paul s School and graduated M.A. from Christ s College, Cambridge, in 1632. He aligned himself with the Parliamentarians and for ten years he was Latin secretary to Cromwell s Council of State… …   British and Irish poets

  • Milton, John — (1608–74)    Poet.    Milton was born in London and was educated at the University of Cambridge. During the English Civil War, he supported the Parliamentary cause and he wrote various pamphlets, urging Church reform, freedom of the press and a… …   Who’s Who in Christianity

  • Milton, John — (1608 1674)    English poet, political figure, and au thor of tracts on political and religious issues. Though his life is to tally contained in the 17th century and so falls chronologically into a post Renaissance age, his prodigious mastery of… …   Historical Dictionary of Renaissance

  • Milton, John — ► (1608 74) Poeta inglés. Recibió una gran formación humanística. Autor del famoso poema bíblico El Paraíso perdido (1667), narración de la caída de Adán y Eva y de El Paraíso reconquistado (1671). * * * (9 dic. 1608, Londres, Inglaterra–8 nov.… …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Milton, John — (1608 1674)    Poet, was b. 9th December 1608 in Bread Street, London. His f., also John, was the s. of a yeoman of Oxfordshire, who cast him off on his becoming a Protestant. He had then become a scrivener in London, and grew to be a man of good …   Short biographical dictionary of English literature

  • Milton,John — Mil·ton (mĭlʹtən), John. 1608 1674. English poet and scholar who is best known for the epic poem Paradise Lost (1667), an account of humanity s fall from grace. * * * …   Universalium

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