John Milton

John Milton (1608-1674)

1. was born in London in 1608
2. Studied at Paul’s School at Cambridge. Was known as The Lady of Christ’s during his Cambridge years.
3. He became friend of Edward King, to whom he dedicated an elegy, Lycidas.
4. Milton was appointed Secretary for Foreign Tongues by the council of State in March 1649.
5. 1652, he lost his eyesight and first wife died.
6. After the restoration of Charles II to the throne in 1660, Milton was arrested as a defender of the Commonwealth.
7. Spent his rest of the life writing his most famous works, Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained and Samson Agonistes.
8. Seen as the last major poet of the English Renaissance.
9. William Hayley’s 1796 biography called him the ‘great English author’
10. Works:
    1. Poems:
       1. On the Morning of Christ’s Nativity
       2. Epitaph on the admirable Dramatick PoetW. Shakespeare
       3. L’ Allegro (the happy man) 1631
       4. Il Penseroso (the melancholy man) 1631
       5. A Mask Presented at Ludlow Castle, 1632 commonly known as Compus (a masque 1634)
       6. Lycidas 1637:
          1. A pastoral elegy published in 1638. The poem is also lebeled as a ‘monody’ a lyrical lament for one voice.
          2. first appeared in a 1638 collection of elegies entitled justa Edourdo King Naufrago.
          3. dedicated to the memory of Edward King,  his Cambridge friend.
          4. The name Lycidas is derived from Theocritus’ Idylls, where Lycidas was a poet and goatherd.
          5. The poem begins with Milton invoking the Muse and explaining the reasons for writing the poem. The speaker is a Shepherd.
          6. Written in Iambic pentameter
       7. Poems of John Milton, Both England and Latin (1645)
       8. When I Consider how my light spent (commonly referred to as ‘On his Blindness)
       9. On the Late Massacre in Piedmont (1655)
       10. Paradise Lost (1667)
           1. originally published in ten books in 1667
           2. second edition came out in 12 books in 1674
       11. Paradise Regained (1671)
       12. Samson Agonister (1671)
       13. Poem, and c, Upon Several Occasions (1673)
       14. Arcadas: A Masque
    2. Prose
       1. Of Reformation (1641)
       2. Of Prelatical Episcopacy (1641)
       3. Animadversions (1641)
       4. the Reason of Church-Government Urged against Prelaty (1642)
       5. Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce (1643)
       6. Judgement of Martin Bucer Concerning Divorce (1644)
       7. of Education (1644)
       8. Areopagitica (1644)
       9. Tetrachordon (1645)
       10. Colasterion (1645)
       11. The Tenure of King and Magistrates (1649)
       12. Eikonoklastes (1649)
       13. Defensio Pro Populo Anglicano (First Defence) (1651)
       14. Defenso Secunda (Second Defence) 1654
       15. The Treatise of Civil Power. (1659)
       16. The Likeliest Means to Remove Hirelings from the Church (1659)
       17. The Ready and Easy Way to Establish a Free Commonwealth (1660)
       18. Brief Notes Upon a Late Sermon 1660
       19. Accedence Commenced Grammar (1669)
       20. History of britain (1670)
       21. Artis logicae Plenior institutio (Art of Logic 1672)
       22. Of True Religion (1673)
       23. Epistolae Familiaries (1674)
       24. Prolusiones (1674)
       25. A brief History of Moscovia and other less known countries lying Eastward of Russia as far as Cathay, gathered from the writings of several Eye-witnesses 1682
       26. De Doctrina Christiana 1823.
    3. One Liners
       1. Milton lived through: The Caroline, Commonwealth and Restoration Ages.
       2. What post did Milton hold during the Commonwealth Government? Latin Sacretary.
       3. At what age Milton became blind? At the age of 44.
       4. How many times did Milton marry? Three times.
       5. How many books are there in paradise Lost? 12
       6. Milton’s Samson Agonistes is: A poetic play.
       7. Milton wrote Areopagitica: to defend people’s Freedom of Speech.
       8. Name the woman whom Samson Agonistes loved and who betrayed him: Delilah
       9. In which Book of Paradise Lost Adam and Eve meet for the first time? Book IV
       10. “Fame is the last infirmity of the noble mind.” In which poem of Milton does this line occur? Lycidas.
       11. Lycidas is a pastoral elegy written by Milton on the death of his friend: Edward King.
       12. Who said of Milton: “Thy soul was like a star, and dwelt apart”? Wordsworth
       13. “Milton, tou shouldst be living at this hour!” Who remembers Milton in his sonnet? Wordsworth.
       14. Milton’s paradise Lost is divided into the same number of books as: Divine Comedy
       15. Who is the next in command after Satan in The paradise Lost? beelzebub.
       16. “What in me is dark/ illumine, what is low raise and support.” In which book of Paradise Lost do these lives appear? In Book I
       17. Which book of paradise Lost begins with an invocation to light? Book III
       18. In which book of paradise Lost does Milton discuss the principles of Free Will and Divine Justice? In Book III
       19. How many English sonnets in all were written by Milton? 18 sonnets.
       20. What is Milton’s Comus? A Masque
       21. “captain or Colonel, or Knight in Arms” This is the first line of a sonnet written by Milton, what is the title? When the Assault was Intended to the City
       22. Milton wrote a sonnet on the death of his wife. The sonnet is entitled On His Deceased Wife. What was the name of his wife? Catherine Woodcock.
       23. “They also serve who only stand and wait.” This is the concluding line of a sonnet written by Milton. What is the title of the sonnet? On His Blindness.
       24. What is Milton’s On the Nativity of Christ? An Ode.
       25. Milton has written a poem entitled L’Allegro, what is the meaning of the title? A very cheerful man.
       26. Milton has written a poem entitled II Penseroso. What is the meaning of the title? A very melancholic man.
       27. In Milton’s famous Mosque Comus, an important character is Circe. Who was Circe? The mother of Comus.
       28. Milton borrowed the theme for comus from: Homer’s Odyssey
       29. Milton derived the title for his Areopagitica from the Greek word “Areopagus”. What was Areopagus? A Greek hill where a tribunal for liberty of speech was held.
       30. Milton wrote a large number of political pamphlets and treatise. What were they called? Tracts.
       31. “Of Man’s first disobedience, and the fruit / Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste / Brought death in the World, and all our woe.” The fruit was: Apple.
       32. “What though the field be lost? / All is not lost – the unconquerable will / And study of revenge … ” Who encouraged his followers in these lines? Satan.
       33. “A mind not to be changed by place or time, / The mind is its own place, and in itself / Can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven.” These lines show the spirit of: Renaissance.
       34. “O mighty mouth’d inventor of harmonies, / O skill’d to sing of Time or Eternity, / God-gifted organ-voice of England / Milton, a name to resound for ages.” Who praised Milton by these lines? Tennyson.
       35. “Nor second he that rode sublime / Upon the seraph-wings of poesy, The secrets of the abyss to spy, / … / Where angles tremble when they gaze, / He saw.” Who praised Milton in these lines? Thomas Gray.
       36. ” … he died / Who was the sire of an immortal strain, / Blind, old and lovely, when his country’s pride, / the priest, the slave, and the liberticide / Trampled and mocked with many loathed rite of lust and blood.” Who praised Milton in these lines? Shelley.
       37. “Three poets, in there distant ages born, / Greece, Italy and England did adorn. ? The first in loftiness of thought surpassed, / the nest in majesty: in thought the last. / The force of nature could no further go, / To make a third, she joined the other two.” Who praised Milton in these lines? Dryden
       38. “Thou hast a voice whose sound was like the sea: / Pure as the naked heavens, majestic free, / So didst thou travel on life’s common way, / In cheerful godliness.” Who praised Milton here? Wordsworth.
       39. “Before the greatness displayed in Milton’s poem, all other greatness shrinks away. the weakest of his agents are the highest and noblest of human beings, the original parents of mankind.” Who admired Milton’s Paradise Lost in these words? Dr. Johnson
       40. “Though fallen on evil days, / On evil days though fallen and evil tongues, / In darkness, and with dangers compass’d round, / And solitude,” In these lines Milton described a certain stage in his own life, when did such a stage occur in his life? During Restoration