John milton1608 1674

John Milton 1608-1674

Presented by;
Mehwish Rana

Who was Milton?
 Milton is one the greatest poets of English
language.
 Paradise Lost.
 Influence on 18th century verse.
 Pamphlets defending civil and religious
rights.

Background
 Born in London on December 9 in 1608.
 Born into a middle class family, son of a
composer and musician.
 Home tutored till the age of 12-13.
 Mastered Greek, Latin and Hebrew.
 He was determined to be a priest but gave up
the idea.
 Stanch puritan.
 Unsuccessful marriage. Married thrice.

 Poet, author, civil servant for Commonwealth of
England.
 Wrote treatise defending the execution of
Charles I.
 Lost eyesight while serving as Secretary of State
for Foreign Tongues.
 1660: Monarchy restored; hard times
(imprisoned, stripped of his property).
 Died 1674 and buried next to his father in Giles
Church in London.

Influences
 BIBLE.
 Puritan upbringing.
 Roman poets.
 Greek poets.
 Italian poets.
 Traditional epic poetry.
 Lucifer, a play by Joost van den Vondel.

Milton as a Puritan
 Published many pamphlets.
 Episcopacy (1642)
 Divorce (1643)
 Liberty of press (1644)
 Regicides (1649)
 Peoples rights to punish tyrants.

Influences on Milton's themes
before blindness
 Sister’s miscarriage.(1626)
 Shakespeare. (1632)
 Invention of gunpowder.
 First marriage. (1643)
 Death of Katherine 2nd wife. (1658)

Work after blindness
 Returned to his first desire; poetry.
 Late poems dedicate to daughter.
Nephew, disciples and friends.
 Influence of the political scene.
 Paradise lost.
 Paradise regained.

Miltonic Sonnet
 The Miltonic sonnet keeps the Petrarchan
length and rhyming scheme, but does
away with the stanza break between the
octave and the sestet. Otherwise,
the Miltonic sonnet is a normal sonnet.
 Milton kept the distinction between the
octave and sestet in terms of function, but
merged them into one 14-line stanza.

WHEN I consider how my light is spent,
Ere half my days in this dark world and wide,
And that one talent which is death to hide
Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent
To serve therewith my Maker, and present
My true account, lest He returning chide,
'Doth God exact day-labor, light denied?
‘ I fondly ask. But patience, to prevent
That murmur, soon replies, 'God doth not need
Either man's work or his own gifts.
Who best Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best.
His state Is kingly: thousands at his bidding speed,
And post o'er land and ocean without rest;
They also serve who only stand and wait

Grand style and Sublimity
 The subject matter, the imagination,
outstanding expression and sublimity of
though mark a great style.
 The lofty tone is maintained in the speeches
of Satan. One can not help noting the
rhetorical eloquence with which Satan
encourages the fallen angels. The same
sublimity of style marks all the descriptions in
the book.

Style
 Extensive use of enjambments (the
continuation of a sentence from one line to
the next)
 Use of Latinisms, inversions
 Darkness and light to depict hell and
heaven.
 Elevated style, some critics gave the
poem a political dimension.

Blank verses
 blank verse requires no rhyme scheme,
the poet is more likely to choose words
because of meaning rather than what fits
the rhyme scheme. Also blank verse
which usually is fitted to iambic
pentameter provides the rhythm most
suited to English sentences.

Of man’s first disobedience, and the fruit

Of that forbidden tree whose mortal taste

Brought death into the world, and all our woe,

With loss of Eden, till one greater Man

Restore us and regain the blissful seat,

Sing, Heavenly Muse, that, on the secret top

Of Oreb, or of Sinai, didst inspire

That shepherd who first taught the chosen seed

In the beginning how the Heavens and Earth

Conclusion
 “Milton's style can be described as;
what Jonson says of Spenser, that "he wrote no
language," but has formed what Butler calls a
"Babylonish dialect," in itself harsh and
barbarous, but made by exalted genius and
extensive learning the vehicle of so much
instruction and so much pleasure, that, like other
lovers, we find grace in its deformity.
 Whatever be the faults of his diction, he cannot
want the praise of copiousness and variety. He
was master of his language in its full extent; and
has selected the melodious words with such
diligence, that from his book alone the Art of
English Poetry might be learned.”

John milton1608 1674

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