Life of John Milton

John Milton was born in December 1608 in London. He was brought up at the Bread Street of Cheapside. Other than being a scrivener, his father, Jam Milton Sr. was a real estate investor. The financial affluence of Milton’s family allowed him to achieve education in classical languages initially by private tutors at his home such as called Thomas Young (Duran 218). This was followed by an enrolment into St. Paul’s School in 1620. When Milton joined the school its chief master was Alexander Gill (Duran 218).

In 1625, he joined the Christ College in Cambridge and despite his hardworking nature, he was argumentative and this led into his suspension from the school due to a disagreement he had with his instructor William Chappell (Duran 220). As he was serving suspension, Milton developed an interest in plays which led to his first incursions in poetry. When he went back to college he was assigned a different instructor, Nathaniel Tovey. Despite the change, life in the institution was not comfortable due to the feeling of dislike from fellow students. While at the institution, the students referred to him as The Lady of Christ’s. This was because he concentrated much on his studies withdrawing himself from typical male activities such as sports, and this he refers to in the sixth of his prolusions (Duran 222). Milton had developed a negative attitude towards the curriculum arguing that it was mediocre (Shawcross 60).

When Milton acquired his M.A. at Cambridge, he decided to retire back to his family’s home in London at Horton Hammersmith. While at home he conducted private studies and composed his literary works ranging from poems to prose. One of the reasons why he was reluctant to seek employment was because of the patronage he enjoyed from his father’s investments (Shawcross 61). During this period his poem On Shakespeare was made public with the progression of time, Milton kept developing more literary works and from the time when his first poem was published his L,Allegro and II Penseroso were also published. These companion poems were composed as poetic versions of his prolusions. In 1634, Milton’s first opera Comus, was performed at Ludlow Castle (Lewalski 53-54). The Opera was however published anonymously in 1637 while the background music was famed by the then famous court composer Henry Lawes (Forsyth 67).

Milton’s interest in joining the church as a minister in while in London was negatively influenced by among other factors the sentiments by Archbishop of Canterbury William Laud who by enforcing and establishing ecclesiastical and other religious regulations drew Milton away from the church. One of the best sources on Milton’s perspective on this vocation is Sonnet VII which states reasons for choosing poetry over church ministry (Lewalski 54). The year 1637 can be said to be tragic to Milton since he lost his mother and later his friend, Edward King, through sicknesses and other unpleasant circumstances. His mother dies earlier that year and was buried at Horton. After a few months Milton received news that there was a ship that was wrecked in the seas and his friend King was among the passengers on board who died by drowning. The sad memories of his friend led to the composition of the poem Lycidas which was later published in 1638 as part of a memorial collection in Cambridge (Lewalski 55).

Being a young man with sizeable amount of wealth it was a common thing for Milton and other in the same class as his to occasionally take trips and tours to different countries. Milton made a decision to take a trip around Europe. His tour began in the spring of 1638 when he went to France and met one of the famous scholars of that time Hugo Grotius before proceeding to Italy. Milton’s Italian Journey began in Florentine where he met with the then famous scientist and thinker Galileo who was then under house arrest. As part of his tour, he visited Rome where he became a guest to Cardinal Barberini, who was a relative to the Pope. His friendship with the cardinal enabled him to acquire access to the Vatican library. He also visited Naples where he met Giovani Batista, the famous biographer of Torquato Tasso. In the honour of this great biographer and friend Milton wrote Mansus (Lewalski 55).

When he left Italy he travelled to Switzerland and upon arrival at Geneva, he received news about the demise of one of his friends Charles Diodati back in London. During this period in 1939, there were rumours of looming civil war in England. This made him shorten his tour and he decided to go back to his home in London. As a way of moaning his childhood friend Diodati, he composed a Latin poem Epitaphium Damonis (Duran 222). He then decided to settle in England in late 1939. During this time the civil war was brewing especially under the leadership and the personal rule of Charles 1 (Forsyth 40). By 1940 Milton was leaving poetry to write pamphlets about puritanism as a cause with the right aspects of liberty (Forsyth 41).

Works cited

Forsyth, Neil. John Milton: A Biography. Oxford: Lion, pp. 40-41, 67-68, 2008. Print.

Duran, Angelica. A Concise Companion to Milton. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub, pp, 218,

222, 224, 2007. Internet resource.

Lewalski, Barbara K. The Life of John Milton: A Critical Biography. Malden, MA:

Blackwell, pp. 53-55, 2003. Internet resource

Shawcross, John T. John Milton: The Self and the World. Lexington, Ky: University Press of

Kentucky, pp. 60-61, 2001. Print.

Duran, Angelica. A Concise Companion to Milton. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub, 2007. Internet resource.