A Note On Milton's Life and Works

John Milton (1608--1674)

                     

The garden House in Pretty France,Westminster (Milton lived here from 1651 to 1660)
  later it became No. 19, York street.

                   

Milton's Cottage at Chalfont St. Giles where Milton completed "Paradise Lost."

St. Giles Church, Without Cripplegate , London

                                       

St.Giles' Church, Without Cripplegate

John Milton acknowledged as the greatest poet of grand poetry was born on 9th December, 1608 to senior John Milton and Sarah Jeffrey in Bread Street, Cheapside in London. His father was very much fond of music and his mother was known for her charities. His father followed his own convictions and ideals and converted himself from a Roman catholic to a protestant and consequently he was disowned by his father Richard. Milton Sr. started his life as a solicitor and prospered well. In 1632 he retired from his profession and settled in countryside. Milton’s brother, Christopher, a lawyer, was a Catholic by faith and was a Royalist. Yet he maintained cordial relations with his brother. Milton, after his preliminary education in a non-conformist school in Essex, took up private tuition from Thomas Young who taught Milton to write Latin verse. Thomas Young, a Scottish Presbyterian, might have influenced Milton in religion and politics as they had correspondence in later decades. 

In 1625 Milton joined Christ’s College, Cambridge, where he stayed for seven years to procure his Master’s degree. Milton’s intention was to become a priest after completing his degree. He was rusticated temporarily for quarreling with his tutor, William Chappell. He was reinstated under another tutor, Nathaniel Tovey. Though he was not popular, he was “loved and admired by the whole university particularly by the Fellows and most ingenious persons”for his erudition and disciplined behavior. His genius was beginning to be known. Before he left Cambridge in 1632, he wrote several poems Like “On the death of a fair infant”,” ode on the Nativity”, “Song on May Morning’, and “Epitaph on the marchioness of Winchester”. Milton disliked the rigid control of the established church and refused to work as teaching faculty in Cambridge University. He lost interest in priesthood and decided to be a poet. He spent the next six years of his life in Horton, Buckingham shire, immersed in study of great works on various subjects.

In 1632 after his stay in Cambridge for seven years Milton returned to his family in Hammersmith. After three years the family shifted to Horton, Buckinghamshire. During the six years of his stay at Horton Milton studied various subjects and classical authors. His mother died on 3rd of April, 1637. He wrote poems like “A Sonnet to the Nightingale’, “L’Allegro, IL Penseroso in 1633. ‘Comus” was written in 1634 and “Lycidas’ in 1637. These poems written during six years in Horton surely show his rank as one of the greatest poets of England. Milton cherished the ideal of becoming an immortal poet by writing some great work of universal significance. His stay at Horton gave him an opportunity to enrich his knowledge. 

He was on his grand tour to Europe in April, 1638. He went to Paris and was entertained by Grotius, Swedish ambassador at that time and by Lord Scudamore, the English ambassador. In August he went to Florence and was welcomed by the literary circles and academic clubs. He met the great famous Italian Physicist, mathematician, astronomer and Philosopher, Galileo.  In Rome Milton spent two months  and there he was entertained well by the distinguished scholars .At Naples he was welcomed by Giovanni Manso, a wealthy patron of arts, who had supported poets like Tasso and Marini. Milton cancelled his visit to Greece as he wished to go back to England which was in great turmoil due to Civil war. After spending a few months at Florence, Bologna, Ferrara, Venice and Geneva he returned to England at the end of July, 1639 when he heard about the news of his close friend, Charles Didodati who was buried in Black friars on August 27, 1638.

Milton learnt many languages such as Greek, Latin, Italian, French, Spanish and Hebrew and wrote poems and tracts in Latin and Italian. During his stay in Cambridge he wrote academic treatises proclusions(oratorical performances blending logic and rhetoric) and he published seven of them in his later in 1674. At the age of fifteen he translated psalms from original Hebrew into English and Greek.He wrote his first elegy in Latin on the death of his college friend, Charles Didati under the title “Epitaphium Damonis’. Between 1648 and 1653 he composed pamphlets against the Church of England and monarchy. He also composed letters in Latin Elegiac metre. In 1628 he wrote a sonnet “on the death of a fair infant dying of cough’ about the death of his sister’s daughter. The nativity ode written in 1629 shows Milton’s deft handling of the ode with varying rhythm and meter. His sonnet ‘On Shakespeare’ written 1630 first appeared anonymously as one of the tributes in the second Folio of Shakespeare’s plays. The two poems “L’allegro” (the happy man in Italian) and “Il penseroso”(the melancholy man) show the lyrical skills of Milton who employed varying lengths of lines with change in meter to bring out the merry mood of the youth and his activities in spring time in one poem and the serious and calm mood of contemplation in twilight time in the other poem. Both these poems are later included in his 1645 collection of poems.

“Arcades” is a masque ( a courtly entertainment with rich costumes combined with acting, singing and dancing) written by John Milton and performed on 4th may, 1634 at the Harefield Estate to celebrate the seventy-fifth birthday of Alice Spencer, Countess Dowager of Derby and widow of Ferdinando Stanley, the fifth Earl of Derby. This masque served as a basis for Milton’s later masque   ”Comus.

In 1634 Milton wrote a masque in honor of chastity and it was presented on Michelmas Night (29th September) at Ludlow castle before the Earl of Bridgewater, Viscount Brackly, who was promoted as the Lord President of Wales. He was also one of the members of the Royal Privy Council. Bridgewater’s own children were the principal actors in this masque. Unlike other courtly masques which dealt with flattery, sensuous love and jokes, Milton used this form for a moral purpose glorifying chastity. Though Comus was printed anonymously in 1637, Milton included the work in his poems of 1645 and 1673. “Lycidas” is a pastoral elegy written in 1637 on the death of his friend, Edward King, shows Milton attitude towards death, fame, clergy, church and immortality of soul. Following the tradition of pastoral poetry he describes the happy state of shepherds feeding their in sheep amidst nature; he uses many allusions and names of many Greek gods to enrich the theme of his elegy and also to glorify the noble personality of his friend.

 He married Mary Powell, a seventeen-year old girl hailing from a Royalist family in 1642 when was thirty four years of age. She suddenly left him as she was not able to adjust with the frugal and Puritan mode of life. Milton waited patiently for three years. During this period he wrote essays in support of divorce; “The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce’(1643) and “The Judgment of Martin Bucer concerning Divorce”(1644). Milton wrote a treatise on the ideal of education in “of Education’(1644). He took a house and garden in Aldergate Street to teach his nephews(Edward and John Philips) and some other pupils interested in classical subjects.The same year he wrote “Areopagitica” protesting against the licensing order of 1643 which required the every written document had to be approved by the government before it could be printed. This speech was addressed to the Parliament of England. In Milton’s view “A good book is the precious life-blood of a master-spirit embalmed and treasured up on purpose to a life beyond life.” This speech was modelled on the classical oration of the same title addressed to Areopagus, the Athenian Council by Isocrates(436 B.C.—338 B.C.). 

 After the execution of King Charles on 25th October, 1648 the Commonwealth of England led by Oliver Cromwell ruled the nation. On 13th February Milton’s pamphlet called “Tenure of Kings and Magistrates’ was published in which he justified the execution of a wicked tyrant. On 15th march, 1649 Milton was appointed as the secretary of foreign tongues to the council of state. He was paid a handsome salary with a lavish accommodation at the Whitehall Palace. He wrote “Eikonoklastes” as a counter reply to “Eikon Basilike’ written by Royalists defending the king. He worked hard for one year to write a fitting reply to the pamphlet “Defensio Regia Carolo I” written by Salmasius, one of the greatest Latin scholars of the time commissioned by Charles II, son of King Charles I. Milton lost his vision owing to his studious work in writing the his work “Pro Populo Anglicano defensio’ which  claimed much applause from all over Europe. By March 1652 he became completely blind.

 Milton’s first wife died leaving three daughters behind. In 1656 he married Katherine Woodcock who died soon in February, 1658. Her infant child also died in March, 1658. Busily involved in his secretarial duties Milton had no time to devote for his wife, daughters and nephews. Milton still wrote many speeches for Cromwell and as the secretary of the Commonwealth his work included censoring the books that were against his party’s interests. In April 1655 his salary was greatly reduced. In May 1659 he left his job. In Feb.1659 Milton’s pamphlet “Civil Power in ecclesiastical causes” was published. In August a sequel “Considerations on the likeliest means to remove hirelings out of the church’ was published. He advocated many church reforms in these two articles. On 3rd March, 1660 he wrote the pamphlet “The ready and easy way to establish a free commonwealth” advocating that the family of Charles I should be permanently excluded from the royal power. In May, 1660. The publisher was arrested and Milton went into hiding for the next few months. 

In May, 1660 Charles II regained his throne and rebels against the king were arrested. His friends and pupils saved him from death by hanging. His books were burnt in public and he was imprisoned. He was later released due to the interference of his friends . Milton was also suffering from gout by this time. Milton was deprived of his power, position and wealth. 

 His rigid notion about inferior status of women estranged his daughters from him. He thought that one language was enough for a woman and he did not heed to educate his daughters ( Anne, Mary and Deborah). He forced them to learn only the alphabets of different languages so that they could read to him various books but without understanding a single word.  His daughters became unkind and used to sell some of his precious books to rag pickers. He lost two thousand pounds invested in government securities and another great sum given to his nephew in, Philip was also lost in business. For the last twelve years of his life Milton lived in Bunhill Row, Finsbury. In his own words “I dark in light exposed to daily fraud, contempt, abuse and wrong. / Within doors, or without, still as a fool/ In power of others, never in my own.” It was here he started his epic “Paradise Lost” and the sequel “Paradise Regained”. During the great plague he shifted to a cottage at Chalfont St.Giles in Buckinghamshire.

 In 1663 he married Elizabeth Minshull thirty years younger to him. She, like Milton, was interested in Music and arts. He spent his last years happily in her company.  He followed a systematic daily routine in his work schedule.  In his book “Daily Rituals” Mason Currey described John Milton’s daily routine.  He used to get up at 4.00 a.m every morning and at 5.00 a.m. in winter season. His aide used to read from the Hebrew Bible for half an hour. Then he was left alone to compose as many lines as he could retain in his memory. At 7.00 a.m. he used to dictate the lines. Later his aide used to read to him until lunch was served at noon. Then he would spend some time walking in the garden. Later he used to play on the organ and sing. he used spend time in study till 6.00 p.m. In the evening he spent his time in the company of his friends. He ate a light supper, smoked a pipe and went to bed at about 9.00 p.m. He found time to compose his long cherished dream of writing an epic. He published the epic in ten books containing nearly ten thousand lines of verse on 27th April, 1667 though he completed it in 1665. The sole copy rights of the book were sold for five pounds. A second edition followed in 1674 arranged in twelve books (in the manner of Virgil’s Aeneid) with minor revisions and a note on versification. Dryden, on reading this epic said, “This man cuts us all out and the ancients too.” He praised the epic poem “Paradise Lost” as “one of the greatest, most noble, and most sublime poems which either this age or nation has produced.”  On his friend’s suggestion (Thomas Ellwood, a Quaker) Milton wrote a sequel ‘Paradise regained’ in 1666 and published it in 1671.

Samson Agonistes, in the form of Greek tragedy, was published in 1671. We find many similarities between Samson, the tragic hero and Milton. Samson was also old, blind, helpless and miserable in failure of his ideals and faced his destiny with his strong faith in God and by his own unconquerable spirit. In 1670 he sent his daughters away to learn some work and make a living of their own. He went on writing several little works which were not so significant. In 1670 he published ‘History of Britain”.

 Surrounded by his friends and admirers Milton led a peaceful and contented life in spite of severe gout. On 8th November late at night he passed away peacefully in his home.  He was buried beside the pulpit near his father’s grave at St.Giles Church without Cripplegate within the modern Barbican. In 1790 when the repairs were carried out to the church, it was rumored that his grave was desecrated. William Cowper in his poem ‘stanzas on the late indecent liberties taken with the remains of Milton dealt with this theme. There is also a commemorative window to Milton in St.Margaret’s Church in Westminster Abbey.

 Milton elevated the English language to a sublime level and made it a fit vehicle to write an epic surpassing the other epics written in Greek and Italian languages. For this purpose he used a flowing complex sentence structure (verse paragraph) expressing a series of thoughts in a grand manner with many allusions and lengthy similes. He used many Latin words in their original sense and coined many words (nearly 630) to enrich the English language. He made the blank verse a fit instrument by using a flowing marching rhythm with a variety of pauses and substitution of classical metrical feet. He combined words in such a manner that a sense of musical delight is felt on reading his verse. 

He revived the old sonnet form and wrote 23 sonnets in Petrarchan form extending the range of themes. Previously the sonnet was used mostly to express love and appreciation of beauty. Milton wrote on political, religious and personal feelings and his lines flow without any break between the octave (first eight lines) and the sestet (next six lines). Milton kept the distinction between the octave and the sestet in terms of function but merged them into one 14-line stanza. Many later poets like Wordsworth, Keats and Shelley were inspired by Miltonic sonnet and composed sonnets in their characteristic style. In Wordsworth’s words, the sonnet became “a trumpet; whence he blew soul-animating strains” in Milton’s hands.  “On His being Arrived to the age of twenty-three” , “On His Blindness”, “On the late massacre in Piedmont’, ‘On His Diseases Wife” ‘To the Lord General Cromwell”, are some of the most memorable sonnets. And as the author of "Lycidas," "L'Allegro" and "Il Penseroso" he established himself as a master of the shorter poem. 


The two epics of Milton will inspire as holy books the readers of Milton to understand his devotion, love of freedom and concepts of  divine justice and mercy  to man. One should have patience and careful attention to delve deep into his treasure of knowledge, wisdom, verbal harmony and enchanting charm of his poetry. None equaled him in any age to write with such grandeur, diction and style.Samuel Johnson,  in spite of viewing poetry as too learned and artificial, admired his creative ability and mastery of the grand style.
"Whatever be the faults of his diction he cannot want the praise of copiousness and variety; he was master of his language in its full extent, and has selected the melodious words with such diligence that from his book alone the Art of English Poetry might be learned."—Samuel Johnson  

                **********************************


    17th May, 2019                    Somaseshu Gutala