Biography of john milton in short

John Milton wrote poetry during the English Renaissance. He was born on 9 December 1608 to John and Sara Milton. Only three of their children survived infancy. Anne was the oldest, John was the middle child, and Christopher was the youngest.

John Milton was educated under a strong Protestant influence and attended Christ's College, Cambridge, with the intention of pursuing a career as a minister. During his college years, Milton produced his poems L'Allegro and Il Penseroso. After leaving Cambridge, Milton changed his mind about his future, and hesitated during many years of study. Instead, he spent time composing poetry, which led to the production of the dramatic verse of Arcades and Comus.

After the death of his mother, Milton left England to tour Europe. Upon returning, Milton was brought into the realm of political writing and he began a career composing political tracts which put forth his views on state and religious matters. He first supported the presbyterian leaders who were lining up in England behind Stephen Marshall; a few years later he would promote more radical views.

Parents

Milton's parents were John Milton, Sr. (1562–1647), a composer and scrivener, and his wife Sara Jeffrey (1572–1637). John Milton, Sr.'s business owned many properties and was involved in making loans. He was from a yeoman family and was raised in Oxford, where he trained as a chorister. However, when Richard Milton, his father and a staunch Roman Catholic, discovered that John Milton, Sr. had Protestant leanings, he disinherited his son. John Milton, Sr., left for London and became a scrivener apprentice in 1583. Little is known about Sara Jeffrey besides the fact that Paul Jeffrey, her father, was a tailor and her mother Ellen lived with the Miltons until her death in 1611. The two married around 1600 and buried an unnamed child on 12 May 1601.

John Milton, Sr.,

John Milton (December 9, 1608 – November 8, 1674) was an English poet and intellectual who wrote during a period of political and religious turmoil. He’s best known for his epic poem Paradise Lost, which depicts the fall of Lucifer and the temptation of mankind.

Early Life

Milton was born in London, the eldest son of John Milton, a skillful composer and professional scrivener (a professional who wrote and copied out documents, as literacy was not widespread), and his wife Sarah. Milton’s father was estranged from his own father, since the older generation was Catholic and Milton Sr. had become a Protestant. As a boy, Milton was privately tutored by Thomas Young, a well-educated Presbyterian whose influence was likely the beginning of Milton’s radical religious views.

After leaving private tutoring behind, Milton attended St. Paul’s, where he studied classical Latin and Greek, and eventually Christ’s College, Cambridge. His first known compositions are a pair of psalms written when he was only fifteen years old. Although he had a reputation for being especially studious, he came into conflict with his tutor, Bishop William Chappel. The extent of their conflict is disputed; Milton did leave the college for a time—either as punishment or because of wide

John Milton was born in London on December 9, 1608, into a middle-class family. He was educated at St. Paul’s School, then at Christ’s College, Cambridge, where he began to write poetry in Latin, Italian, and English, and prepared to enter the clergy.

After university, however, he abandoned his plans to join the priesthood and spent the next six years in his father’s country home in Buckinghamshire, following a rigorous course of independent study to prepare for a career as a poet. His extensive reading included both classical and modern works of religion, science, philosophy, history, politics, and literature. In addition, Milton was proficient in Latin, Greek, Hebrew, French, Spanish, and Italian, and obtained a familiarity with Old English and Dutch as well.

During his period of private study, Milton composed a number of poems, including “On the Morning of Christ’s Nativity,” “On Shakespeare,” “L’Allegro,” “Il Penseroso,” and the pastoral elegy “Lycidas.” In May of 1638, Milton began a thirteen-month tour of France and Italy, during which he met many important intellectuals and influential people, including the astronomer Galileo, who appears in Milton’s tract against censorship, “Areopagitica.”

In 1642, Milton returned from a trip into the countryside with a sixteen-year-old bride, Mary Powell. Even though they were estranged for most of their marriage, Powell bore him three daughters and a son before her death in 1652. Milton later married twice more: Katherine Woodcock in 1656, who died giving birth in 1658, and Elizabeth Minshull in 1662.

During the English Civil War, Milton championed the cause of the Puritans and Oliver Cromwell, and wrote a series of pamphlets advocating radical political topics including the morality of divorce, the freedom of the press, populism, and sanctioned regicide. Milton served as secretary for foreign languages in Cromwell’s government, composing official statements defending the Commonwealth. During this t

(1608-1674)

Synopsis

John Milton is best known for Paradise Lost, widely regarded as the greatest epic poem in English. Together with Paradise Regained, it formed his reputation as one of the greatest English writers. In his prose works he advocated the abolition of the Church of England. His influence extended through the English civil wars and also to the American and French revolutions.

Early Life & Education

John Milton was born in London on December 9, 1608 to John and Sara Milton. He had an older sister Anne, and a younger brother Christopher, and several siblings who died before reaching adulthood. As a child, John Milton attended St. Paul’s School, and in his lifetime he learned Latin, Greek, Italian, Hebrew, French, and Spanish. He attended Christ’s College, Cambridge, graduating in 1629 with a Bachelor of Arts degree, and 1632 with a Master of Arts.

Poetry, Politics, and Personal Life

After Cambridge, Milton spent six years living with his family in Buckinghamshire and studying independently. In that time, he wrote “On the Morning of Christ’s Nativity,” “On Shakespeare,” “L’Allegro,” “Il Penseroso,” and "Lycidas," an elegy in memory of a friend who drowned.

In 1638, John Milton went to Europe, where he probably met the astronomer Galileo, who was under house arrest at the time. He returned to England earlier than he had planned because of the impending civil war there.

Milton was a Puritan who believed in the authority of the Bible, and opposed religious institutions like the Church of England, and the monarchy, with which it was entwined. He wrote pamphlets on radical topics like freedom of the press, supported Oliver Cromwell in the English Civil War, and was probably present at the beheading of Charles I. Milton wrote official publications for Cromwell’s government.

It was during these years that Milton married for the first time. In 1642, when he was 34, he married 17-year-old Mary Powell. The two sepa