- 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 (Andrew Marvell [see entry] was his assistant for part of this time). At the Restoration in 1660 he was forced into hiding, but was arrested and fined for his part in the Commonwealth and for his controversial writings on political, social and religious subjects. He lost a fortune, but got off with lighter punishment than many others of his party. By 1663 he was blind. He was buried at St. Giles's, Cripplegate, London, and a monument was erected in Poets' Corner, Westminister Abbey, in 1737. He was among the first to advocate freedom of the press (in the pamphlet Areopagitica). His three main publications: Paradise Lost, 1667. Paradise Regained, 1671. Samson Agonistes, 1671. Some of his poems: "That Nature Does Not Grow Old," "To Leonora Singing at Rome," "To My Father," "Upon the Circumcision," "When the Assault Was Intended to the City," "Woman."Sources: Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997. Encyclopædia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite DVD, 2006. English Poetry: Author Search. Chadwyck-Healey Ltd., 1995 (http://www.lib.utexas.edu:8080/search/epoetry/author.html). Invisible Light: Poems about God. Diana Culbertson, ed. Columbia University Press, 2000. The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, Columbia University Press, 2005 (http://www.columbiagrangers.org). The Complete Poetry of John Milton. John T. Shawcross, ed. Doubleday, 1971. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 6th edition. Margaret Drabble, ed. Oxford University Press, 2000. The Penguin Book of English Christian Verse. Peter Levi, ed. Penguin Books, 1984. Westminster Abbey Official Guide (no date).
British and Irish poets. A biographical dictionary. William Stewart. 2015.