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Life of John Milton EssayMilton continued to import poetry during this period of schooling his Arcades and Comus were both commissi nonpareild for masques composed for noble patrons, connections of the Egerton family, and performed in 1632 and 1634 respectively. Comus argues for the virtuousness of temperance and chastity. He contri excepted his pastoral requiem Lycidas to a memorial collection for one of his Cambridge classmates. Drafts of these poems are preserved in Miltons poetry businessbook, cognize as the Trinity Manuscript because it is now kept at Trinity College, Cambridge. FamilyMilton and his initiative wife, Mary Po hygienic (16251652) had quaternity children * Anne (born 7 July 1646)* Mary (born 25 October 1648)* John (16 March 1651 June 1652)* Deborah (2 whitethorn 1652 ?)Mary Powell died on 5 May 1652 from complications following Deborahs birth. Miltons daughters survived to adulthood, but he had al focal points a strained relationship with them. On 12 N ovember 1656, Milton was marital again, to Katherine Woodcock. She died on 3 February 1658, less than four months after giving birth to a daughter, Katherine, who also died. Milton married for a third time on 24 February 1662, to Elizabeth Mynshull (16381728), the niece of Thomas Mynshull, a wealthy apothecary and altruist in Manchester. Despite a 31-year age gap, the marriage seemed happy, according to John Aubrey, and was to last more than 11 years until Miltons death. (A plaque on the wall of Mynshulls House in Manchester describes Elizabeth as Miltons 3rd and Best wife.) 2 nephews, John Phillips and Edward Phillips, were well known as writers. They were sons of Miltons sister Anne. John acted as a secretary, and Edward was Miltons first biographer. craftnessBut in the course of his recreate for the g all overnment, his eyesight had begun to fail, and by 1651 (43) he was completely blind.DeathHe ended his days in a small house near Bunhill Fields, alone with his wife and a m aid. He died in ++1674 (66) with egress pain or emotion, according to testimony at the time no one in the room noticing his passing.-Published poetryMilton is the author of dramas such as Samson Agonistes (1671) as well as lyrical sonnets, of which the finest were in fact inspired the the death of his second wife. Altogether John Milton would write twenty- three sonnets. In a very real sense on that pointfore these can be considered as exceptions. He uses such moments to express his thoughts and feelings on specific change surfacets, historical or personal. In his lifetime, moreover, he was chiefly known for his political pamphlets. As a poet during the age of Shakespeare, he was born less than a cristal after the death of this one. Milton might kick in been less appealing than such a master of the position language but he was nonetheless destined to become one of the best writers England would ever know. Having sided with the parliamentarians against the monarchists, Milton w ould start a political career with responsibilities comparable to that immediately of an at a lower placesecretary of state for foreign affairs.However the restoration of the monarchy in 1660 will mean that he is both fined and imprisoned in the famous still standing today Tower of London. eveningntually pardoned, Milton would from then on lead a rather retired life devoted on the whole to writing until his death in 1674. Miltons poetry was slow to see the light of day, at least under his name. His first promulgated poem was On Shakespear (1630), anonymously included in the Second Folio reading of Shakespeare. In the midst of the excitement attending the possibility of establishing a new English government, Milton collected his work in 1645 Poems. The anonymous discrepancy of Comus was published in 1637, and the publication of Lycidas in 1638 in Justa Edouardo King Naufrago was sign-language(a) J. M. Otherwise the 1645 collection was the only poetry of his to see print, unti l heaven confounded appeared in 1667. nirvana anomicMain article Paradise confoundedMiltons magnum opus, the blank-verse desperate poem Paradise Lost, was composed by the blind and impoverished Milton from 1658 to 1664 (first edition) with small but significant re resourcefulnesss published in 1674 (second edition). As a blind poet, Milton dictated his verse to a series of aides in his employ. It reflects his personal despair at the ill fortune of the Revolution, yet affirms an ultimate optimism in hu patch potential. Milton encoded existencey references to his unyielding support for the Good Old Cause.31 Milton followed up Paradise Lost with its sequel, Paradise Regained, published onside the tragedy Samson Agonistes, in 1671. Both these deeds also resonate with Miltons post-Restoration political situation. Just before his death in 1674, Milton supervised a second edition of Paradise Lost, accompanied by an explanation of why the poem rhymes not and introductory verses by Marvell. Milton republished his 1645 Poems in 1673, as well a collection of his letters and the Latin prolusions from his Cambridge days.A 1668 edition of Paradise Lost, reported to have been Miltons personal copy, is now housed in the archives of theUniversity of Western Ontario. Paradise Lost is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton. It was originally published in 1667 in ten books, with a total of over ten thousand individual lines of verse. A second edition followed in 1674, changed into twelve books (in the manner of the division of Virgils Aeneid) with minor revisions by dint ofout and a note on the versification.1 The poem concerns the Biblical storey of the Fall of Man the temptation of ten and Eveby the fallen saint ogre and their expulsion from the Garden of Eden. Miltons purpose, stated in Book I, is to justify the ways of god to men.2 Paradise Lost is widely considered one of the greatest literary works in the English language.3The poem begins infrangible as followsOf Mans first disobedience, and the fruitof that forbidden tree, whose mortal tastebrought death into the world, and all our woe(with expiry of Eden, till one greater Manrestore us, and regain the blissful seat)Some of the famous verses from Paradise Lost includeThe mind is its own place, and in itselfCan make a heavn of hell, a hell of heavn.The context of this passage is that of Satan not yet really considering revenge. At that point he is instead deciding to make the most of the situation. This is confirmed only a few lines later when he makes the very famous utterance Better to reign in hell, than serve in heavn.The following quotation is from a point in the work when God is talking with his son and holy mans active the fact that since angels and man were given free will, it would have been meant changing their nature to have intervened and prevented their sin The first sort by their own suggestions fell,Self-tempted, self-depraved man fal ls deceivedBy the otherwise first man therefore shall find grace,The other noneFinally, let us consider the following quotation mark where Milton tells us about Eve having been deceived jealously she engorged without restraint,And knew not eat deathIt interesting to note that even though Paradise Lost was to become considered as a major influential work, it did not meet immediate success when it was first published in 1667. It was not until 1688, a little over ten years after Miltons death that the poem would start to be widely recognized. Perhaps such late recognition has partly to do with the fact that by the time of his death Milton was not only broke, but he had been estrange out of intellectual life in his own country. In 1670 he would publish his controversial The narrative of Britain, and in 1671 Paradise Regained, dealing with the temptation of Christ. Milton would die in London on November 8 1674. The akin year would appear the second edition of Paradise Lost.-Charac tersSatanSatan is the first major reference introduced in the poem. Formerly the most beautiful of all angels in Heaven, hes a tragic figure who describes himself with the now-famous quote Better to reign in Hell than to serve in Heaven. He is introduced to Hell after he leads a failed rebellion to wrestle control of Heaven from God. Satans desire to rebel against his creator stems from his unwillingness to be subjugated by God and his Son, claiming that angels are self-begot, self-raised,4 thereby denying Gods agency over them as their creator. exaltationAdam is the first human created by God. though initially alone, Adam demands a mate from God. Considered Gods prized creation, Adam, along with his wife, rules over all the creatures of the world and reside in the Garden of Eden. He is more intelligent and suspicious about external ideas than Eve. He is completely infatuated with Eve, which while pure in and of itself, eventually contributes to his reasons for joining Eve in dis obedience to God.EveEve is the second human created by God, taken from one of Adams ribs and shaped into a female form of Adam. In her innocence, she is the model of a good wife, graceful and submissive to Adam. Though happy, she longs for knowledge and, more specifically, self-knowledge. Her first act in existence is to turn away from Adam and number at and ponder her own reflection. Eve is extremely beautiful and thoroughly in love with Adam, though may feel suffocated by his constant presence. One day, she convinces Adam that it would be good for them to split up and work different parts of the Garden. In her solitude, she is tempted by Satan to sin against God. Adam shortly follows along with her.The Son of GodThe Son of God is the spirit that will become Jesus Christ, though he is never named explicitly, since he has not yet entered human form. The Son of God shares total union with God, and and so is understood to be a person of the Godhead, along with the Father and the Sp irit. He is the ultimate hero of the epic and infinitely powerful, singlehandedly defeating Satan and his followers when they violently rebel against God and driving them into Hell. The Son of God tells Adam and Eve about Gods judgment after their sin. However, he sacrificially volunteers to eventually journey to the World, become a man himself, and redeem the Fall of Man through his own death and resurrection. In the final scene, a vision of Salvation through the Son of God is revealed to Adam by Michael. Still, the name, Jesus of Nazareth, and the details of Jesus story are not depicted in the poem.7God the FatherGod the Father is the creator of Heaven, Hell, the World, and of everyone and everything there is. He desires glory and praise from all his creations. He is an all-powerful, all-knowing, infinitely good being who cannot be overthrown by even the great army of angels Satan incites against him. The poem begins with the purpose of justifying the ways of God to men, so God of ten converses with the Son of God concerning his plans and reveals his motives regarding his actions. The poem portrays Gods process of creation in the way that Milton believed it was done, that God created Heaven, Earth, Hell, and all the creatures that inhabit these separate planes from part of Himself, not out of nothing.8 Thus, according to Milton, the ultimate authority of God derives from his being the author of creation. Satan tries to justify his rebellion by denying this aspect of God and claiming self-creation, but he admits to himself this is not the case, and that God deserved no such return/ From me, whom He created what I was.910RaphaelRaphael is an angel who is sent by God to warn Adam about Satans infiltration of Eden and to warn him that Satan is going to try to curse Adam and Eve. He also has a lengthy discussion with the curious Adam regarding creation and events which transpired in Heaven.MichaelMichael is a mighty archangel who fought for God in the Angelic War. In the first battle, he wounds Satan terribly with a powerful sword that God designed to even cut through the substance of angels. After Adam and Eve disobey God by eating from the Tree of Knowledge, God sends the angel Michael to visit Adam and Eve. His duty is to escort Adam and Eve out of Paradise. But before this happens, Michael shows Adam visions of the future which cover an outline of the Bible, from the story of Cain and Abel in Genesis, up through the story of Jesus Christ in the New Testament.Interpretation and criticismThe Creation of Man, engraving from the 1688 edition, by John Baptist Medina The writer and critic Samuel Johnson wrote that Paradise Lost shows off Miltons peculiar power to astonish and that Milton seems to have been well acquainted with his own genius, and to know what it was thatNature had bestowed upon him more bountifully than upon others the power of displaying the vast, illuminating the splendid, enforcing the awful, darken the gloomy, and aggrava ting the dreadful.