One of the greatest poets of the English language, best-known for his epic poem Paradise Lost (1667). John Milton's powerful, rhetoric prose and the eloquence of his poetry had an immense influence especially on the 18th-century verse. Besides poems, Milton published pamphlets defending civil and religious rights.

"Of Man's first disobedience, and the fruit
Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste
Brought death into the world, and all our woe,
With loss of Eden, till one greater Man
Restore us, and regain the blissful seat,
Sign, heav'nly Muse, that on the secret top
Of Oreb, or of Sinai, didst inspire
That shepherd, who first taught the chosen seed,
In the beginning how the Heav'ns and Earth
Rose out of Chaos!"
(Paradise Lost: A Poem, London: Orr and Smith, Paternoster Row,
MDCCCXXXVI)

John Milton was born in London, at his father's house. His mother, Sarah Jeffrey, a very religious person, was the daughter of a merchant sailor. Milton's father, named John, too, had risen to prosperity as a scrivener or law writer - he also composed madrigasl and psalm settings; he was not a very good poet.

The family was wealthy enough to afford a second house in the country. Milton's first teachers were his father, from whom he inherited love for art and music, and the writer Thomas Young, a graduate of St Andrews University. Milton took part in small domestic consorts, he played often a small organ and he had "delicate, tuneable voice".

At the age of twelve Milton was admitted to St Paul's School near his home. Five years later he entered Christ's College, Cambridge. While considering himself destined for the ministry, he began to write poetry in Latin, Italian, and English. One of Milton'e earliest works, 'On the Death of a Fair Infant' (1626), was written after his sister Anne Phillips had suffered from a miscarriage. 'In inventorem bombardae' (On the inventor of gunpowder), a piece in a series on the occasion of the Gunpowder Plot, contains Milton's first portrayal of Satan.

Milton did not adjust to university life. He was called, half in scorn, "The Lady of Christ's", and after starting a fist fight with his tutor, he was expelled for a term. On leaving Cambridge Milton had given up his original plan to become a priest. The following years he spent in Hammersmith. "At my father's house in the country, tom which he had gone to pass his old age, I gave myself up with the most complete leisure," he later recalled. (John Milton by Richard Bradford, 2001, p. 18)  During this period Milton completed L'Allegro, Il Penseroso (1632), Epitaph on Shakespeare (1632), and Comus (1637). Lycidas (1638), about the meaning of death, was composed after the death of his friend Edward King. His first published poem was the sonnet 'An Epitaph on the Admirable Dramatic Poet, W. Shakespeare', which was printed anonymously in the Second Folio of Shakespeare's works (1632).

The Miltons moved in 1635 to Horton, Buckinghamshire, where he pursued his studies in Greek, Latin, and Italian. Milton was a polyglot poet. His classical languages also included Hebrew, Aramaic and Syriac.

In the late 1630s, Milton traveled in France and Italy meeting in Paris the jurist and theologian Hugo Grotius. While in Florence, he made friends with Vincenzo Galilei, the illegitimate son of the astronomer Galileo Galilei, who introduced him to his father - there are references to Galileo's telescope in Paradise Lost. His conversation with the famous scientist Milton recorded in his celebrated plea for a free speech and free discussion, Areopagitica (1644), in which he stated that books "do preserve as in a vial the purest efficacy and extraction of that living intellect bred in them." ('Material Matters: The Past and Futurology of the Book' by Paul Duguid, in The Future of the Book, edited by Geoffrey Nunberg, with an afterword by Umberto Eco, 1996, p. 75)

In November 1638 Milton traveled from Rome to Naples, where he was introduced to Torquato Tasso's friend and patron, Giovan Battista Manso. "As long as I staid in Naples," Milton said, "I found him truly most friendly to me, he himself acting as my guide through the different parts of the city and the palace of the Viceroy, and coming himself more than once to my inn to visit me". (The Poetical Works of John Milton: Vol. II by David Masson, reprint of the original, first published in 1874, 1st edition 2024, p. 370) Manso gave him two cups, as a keepsake. Milton's Latin poem 'Mansus' praises him "for his patronage of Tasso and Marini, through whose immortality Manso's name too will be remembered." (The Italian Verse of Milton by Francisco Nahoe (dissertation, 2018, p. 51) Milton was in Naples for a month or so.

Milton returned to England in the summer of 1639. The next year he set up a school in his home. Milton had planned to write an epic based on the Arthurian legends, but then gave up his literary pursuits, partly due to the Civil War, which divided the country as Oliver Cromwell fought against the king, Charles I.

Concerned with the Puritan cause, Milton published a series of pamphlets against episcopacy (1642), on divorce (1643), in defense of the liberty of the press (1644), and in support of the regicides (1649). He also served as the secretary for foreign languages in Cromwell's government. After the death of Charles I, Milton expressed in The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates (1649) the view that the people have the right to depose and punish tyrants.

In 1651 Milton became blind, but like Jorge Luis Borges centuries later, blindness helped him to stimulate his verbal richness. "He sacrificed his sight, and then he remembered his first desire, that of being a poet," Borges wrote in a lecture. (Selected Non-fictions by Jorge Luis Borges, edited by Eliot Weinberger, 1999, p. 479) One of Milton's assistants was the poet and satirist Andew Marvell (1621-78), who spoke for him in Parliament, when his political opinions stirred much controversy. After the Restoration of Charles II in 1660, Milton was arrested as a noted defender of the Commonwealth, but was soon released. However, for his opposition Milton was forced to pay a massive fine. Besides public burning of Eikonoklastes (1649) and the first Defensio (1651) in Paris and Toulouse, Milton escaped from more punishment, but he became a relatively poor man. The manuscript of Paradise Lost he sold for £5 to Samuel Simmons, and was promised another £5 if the first edition of 1,300 copies sold out. This was done in 18 months.

Milton was married three times. His first marriage started unhappily; this experience promted the poet to write his famous essays on divorce. He had married in 1642 Mary Powell, seventeen at that time. She grew soon bored with her busy husbandand went back home where she stayed for three years. Their first child, Anne, was born in 1646. Mary died in 1652 and four years later Milton married Katherine Woodcock; she died in 1658. For her memory Milton devoted the sonnet 'To His Late Wife'.

In the 1660s Milton moved with his third wife, Elizabeth Minshull, again a much younger woman, to what is now Bunhill Row. The marriage was happy, in spite of the great difference of their ages. Milton spent in Bunhill Row the remaining years of his life, apart from a brief visit to Chalfont St Giles in 1665 during a period of plague. His late poems Milton dictated to his daughter, nephews, friends, disciples, and paid amanuenses.

In Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce (1643), composed after Mary had deserter him, Milton argued that a true marriage was of mind as well as of body, and that the chaste and modest were more likely to find themselves "chained unnaturally together" in unsuitable unions than those who had in youth lived loosely and enjoyed more varied experience. Though Milton was morally austere and conscientious, some of his religious beliefs were very unconventional, and came in conflict with the official Puritan stand. It has been argued that Milton who did not believe in the divine birth, "believed perhaps nothing." (The March of Literature: From Confucius' Day to Our Own by Ford Madox Ford, 1st Dalkey Archive ed., 1994, p. 481) Milton's depiction of God changes from one work to the next; he seems to have doubted the traditional doctrine of Trinity.

Milton died on November 8, 1674. He was buried beside his father in the church of St Giles, Cripplegate. It has been claimed that Milton's grave was desecrated when the church was undergoing repairs. All the teeth and "a large quantity of the hair" were taken as souvenirs by grave robbers.

Milton's achievement in the field of poetry was recognized after the appearance of Paradise Lost. Before it the writer himself had showed some doubt of the worth of his work in The Reason of Church-Government (1641): ". . . by Labour and Intent Study (which I take to be my Portion in This Life), joyn'd with the strong Propensity of Nature, I might perhaps leave Something So Written to After times, as that they should not Willingly let it die." (Explanatry Notes and Remarks on Milton's Paradise Lost by J. Richardson, Father and Son, MDCCXXXIV, p. cvii)

Milton's cosmic vision has occasionally provoked critical discussion. Even T.S. Eliot attacked the author and described him as one whose sensuousness had been "withered by book-learning." Eliot claimed that Milton's poetry '"could only be an influence for the worse, upon any poet whatever." (Faithful Labourers: A Reception History of Paradise Lost,  1667-1970, Volume II: Interpretative Issues by John Leonard, 2013, p. 191)

The theme of Fall and expulsion from Eden had been in Milton's mind from the 1640s. His ambition was to compose an epic poem to rival the ancient poets, such as Homer and Virgil, whose grand vision in Aeneid left traces in his work. Originally it was issued in 10 books in 1667, and in 12 books in the second edition of 1674. Milton, who wanted to be a great poet, had also cope with the towering figure of Shakespeare, who had died in 1616 - Milton was seven at that time. In his own hierarchy, Milton placed highest in the scale the epic, below it was the drama.

Paradise Lost is not easy to read with its odd syntax, difficult vocabulary, and complex, but noble style. Moreover, its cosmic vision is not actually based on the Copernican system, but more in the traditional Christian cosmology of its day, where the Earth (and man) is the center of the universe, not the sun. In Book 10 God commands his Angels to change the parameters of the solar system: "The Sun / Had first his precept so to move, so shine, / As might affect the Earth with cold and heat / Scarce tollerable, and from the North to call / Decrepit Winter, from the South to bring / Solstitial summers heat." "Hovever disagreeable the results may have been, Adam could hardly help feeling flattered that such a vast astronomical phenomena should be brought about to teach him a lesson." ('An Outline of Intellectual Rubbish' by Bertrand Russell, in The Portable Atheist: Essential Readings for the Nonbeliever, selected and with introductions by Christopher Hitchens, 2007, p. 189)

The poem tells a biblical story of Adam and Eve, with God, and Lucifer (Satan), who is thrown out of Heaven to corrupt humankind. Satan, the most beautiful of the angels, is at his most impressive: he wakes up, on a burning lake in Hell, to find himself surrounded by his stunned followers. He has been defeated in the War of Heaven. "All is not lost; th' unconquerable Will, / And study of revenge, immortal hate, / And courage never to submit or yield . . . /" Milton created a powerful and sympathetic portrait of Lucifer, who bears similarities with Shakespeare's hero-villains. As an omniscient deity, God is less convincing. His tragedy is the punishment of the beings he has created; they just don't follow the rules. Karen Armstrong wrote in A History of God: The 4,000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity and Islam (1994): "Not only is Milton's God cold and legalistic, he is also grossly incompetent." (Ibid., p. 309)

Milton's view influenced deeply such Romantic poets as William Blake and Percy Bysshe Shelley, who regarded Satan as the real hero of the poem - a rebel against the tyranny of Heaven. The troubled times, in which Milton lived, is also seen on his theme of religious conflict. In The Marriage of Heaven and Hell Blake stated that Milton is "a true Poet, and of the Devil's party without knowing it." Many other works of art have been inspired by Paradise Lost, among them Joseph Haydn's oratorio The Creation, Alexander Pope's The Rape of the Lock and The Dunciad, John Keat's poem Endymion, Lord Byron's The Vision of Judgment, the satanic Sauron in J.R.R. Tolkien's saga The Lord of the Rings. Noteworthy, Nietzsche's Zarathustra has more superficial than real connections with Milton's Lucifer, although Nietzsche knew Milton's work.

For further reading: Life of Milton, Narrated in Connection with the Political, Ecclesiastical and Literary History of his Time by David Masson (1859-1880); The Miltonic Setting by E.M.W. Tillyard (1938); The Living Milton, ed. by F. Kermode (1960); Milton: A Biography by William Riley Parker (1968); Milton's Grand Style by C. Ricks (1963); Milton and the English Revolution by C. Hill (1977); also full biographies and W.R. Parker (1968); John Milton, a Literary Life by Cedric C. Brown (1995); Divided Empire: Milton's Political Imagery by Robert Thomas Fallon (1996); Milton Unbound by John P. Rumrich (1966); Eden Renewed: The Public and Private Life of John Milton by Peter Levi (1997); John Milton: The Prose Works by Thomas N. Corns (1998); John Milton: A Comprehensive Research and Study Guide, ed. by Harold Bloom (1999); Milton: Life, Work, and Thought by Gordon Campbell and Thomas N. Corns (2008); Is Milton Better Than Shakespeare? by Nigel Smith (2008); Milton and the Metamorphosis of Ovid by Maggie Kilgour (2012); Reading John Milton: How to Persist in Troubled Times by Stephen B. Dobranski (2022); Milton and Music by Seth Herbst (2023); John Milton among the Neapolitans: Mansus--Contexts, Texts, Intertexts by Estelle Haan (2023); Milton's Loves: from Amity to Caritas in the Paradise Epics by Rosamund Paice (2023); Paradise Lost and the Making of English Literary Criticism by David A. Harper (2024) - Note: Milton appears himself in William Blake's visionary Milton (c. 1814) and in Rober Graves's Wife to Mr Milton (1944) - Note: Alastair Fowler's annotated edition of Paradise Lost is considered among the best guides to Milton's poem - first edition in 1968, second edition in 1998.

Selected works:

• Ode on the Morning of Christ's Nativity, 1627
• L'Allegro, 1632
• Il Penseroso, 1632
• Epitaph on Shakespeare, 1632
• Arcades, 1633
• A Maske presented at Ludlow Castle, 1637 (Comus; acted 1634)
  
• Lycidas, 1638
• The Reason of Church-Government Urg'd against Prelaty, 1641
• An Apology against a Pamphlet call'd A modest Confutation of the Animadversions upon the Remonstrant against Smectymnuus, 1642
• The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce, 1643
• Of Education, 1644
• Areopagitica; A Speech of Mr. John Milton for the Liberty of Unlicenc'd Printing, To the Parlament of England, 1644
• Colasterion, a Reply to a Nameles Answer against "The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce," 1645
  
• Tetrachordon: Expositions upon the Foure Chief Places in Scripture, which Treat of Mariage, or Nullities in Mariage, 1645
• The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates: Proving That it is Lawfull, and hath been held so through all Ages, for any, who have the Power, to call to account a Tyrant or wicked King, and after due conviction to depose, and put him to death, 1649
• Eikonoklastes, 1649
• Defensio pro Populo Anglicano, 1651
• Defensio Secunda / The Second Defence of the People of England, 1654
• A Treatise of Civil Power in Ecclesiastical Causes, Shewing That It Is Not Lawfull for Any Power on Earth To Compell in Matters of Religion, 1659
• The Ready and Easy Way to Establish a Free Commonwealth, 1660
• Paradise Lost, 1667
  - Kadotettu paratiisi: runoelma (suom. Yrjö Jylhä; elämäkerran ja selitykset kirj. Eino Railo, 1933)
• History of Britain, 1670
• Samson Agonistes, 1671
• Paradise Regained, 1671
• Poems, &c. Upon Several Occasions, 1673
• Of True Religion, Haeresie, Schism, Toleration, and what Best Means May be Us’d Against the Growth of Popery, 1673
  
• A Brief History of Moscovia, 1682
• The Poetical Works of Mr. John Milton, 1695
  
• The Poetical Works of Mr. John Milton, 1705 (2 vols.)
  
• De Doctrina Christiana, 1825 - A Treatise on Christian Doctrine: Compiled from the Holy Scriptures Alone (translated from the original by Charles R. Sumner, 1825)
  
• The Poetical Works of John Milton, 1874 (edited, with introductions, notes, and an essay on Milton’s English, by David Masson)
• Commonplace Book, 1874
• Milton’s Minor Poems, 1913 (ed. by Robert T. Kerlin)
• Complete Poems and Major Prose, 1957 (edited, with notes and introduction, by Merritt Y. Hughes)
• Selected Prose, 1974 (edited by C.A. Patrides)
• John Milton, 1994 (edited by Jonathan Goldberg and Stephen Orgel)
• The Complete Poems, 1998 (edited with a preface and notes by John Leonard)
• The Poetical Works of John Milton, 2000- (edited by Helen Darbishire)
• The Complete Works of John Milton, 2008- (edited with introduction, notes, and commentary by Laura Lunger Knoppers)
  
• Paradise Lost: Books 1 and 2, 2009 (edited by Anna Baldwin)
• Milton’s Latin Poems, 2011 (translated by David R. Slavitt; introduction by Gordon Teskey)
• The Complete Works of John Milton. Vol. III: The Shorter Poems, 2012 (edited by Barbara Lewalski and Estelle Haan)
  
• The Complete Works of John Milton. Vol. VIII: De Doctrina Christiana, 2012 (edited by John Hale and J. Donald Cullington)
  
• Young Milton: The Emerging Author, 1620-42, 2012 (edited by Edward Jones)
  
• John Milton's Prose: Major Writings on Liberty, Politics, Religion, and Education, 2013 (edited by David Loewenstein)
• John Milton epistolarum familiarium liber unus and Uncollected Letters, 2019 (edited with introduction, translation, and commentary by Estelle Haan)
  
• Paradise Lost, 2021 (with an introduction by Grant Horner)
  
• Paradise Lost, 2022 (edited by Stephen B. Dobranski)