John Milton

1
John Milton

• 1608-1674

2
Gods Poet

• Born 1608 to middle class family
• Father-highly cultured deeply religious
• Studied at Cambridge where he decided to be a
  great poet in the service of God
• Spends five years reading day and night to
  complete his education

3
Political Figure

• After overthrow of Charles I, Milton takes up the
  cause of Parliament and Puritans
• Pamphlet Wars
• Cromwell names him Latin Secretary of the
  Commonwealth
• Goes blind from the extensive work

4
Miltons Fall

• After the Restoration, Milton is imprisoned
• Friends intervened escaped with a fine and the
  loss of most of his property
• Spends the rest of his life in poverty

5
Paradise Lost

• justifying the ways of God to men
• Epic poemelevated style celebrating cultural
  values
• 12 books-the complexity of good and evil
• civil war in Heaven- civil war in England

6
Cosmic Correlations

• Paradise-----Hell
• Heavenly TrinityFather/Son/Holy Ghost
• Diabolic Trinity---- Satan/Sin/Death
• Adams fall-------Satans fall

7
Figure of Satan

• Heroic in his own way
• Alluring nature of evil
• Tragic Figure?