Born Dec. 9, 1608, in London; died there Nov. 8, 1674. English poet; political figure; thinker.
Milton was the son of a scrivener who was close to Puritan circles. In 1632 he graduated from Cambridge University with a master of arts degree. Even his early works, including philosophical writings and English and Latin poetry, reflected his acquaintance with the thought of philosophers such as F. Bacon and revealed his familiarity with Puritan poetry (for example, “L’Allegro” and “II Penseroso,” a lyric diptych; and the dramatic poem Comus, an allegory of the struggle between chastity and vice). In 1638 he published the elegy “Lycidas,” which contained many allusions to the religious and political struggle in England. From 1638 to 1639 he lived in Italy, but in 1639 he returned to England to express his opposition to the Anglican Church. The fight against the church was the prelude to the struggle against the monarchy.
During the English Bourgeois Revolution of the 17th century Milton was an outstanding publicist and a supporter of the Independents. In defense of the freedom of the press against the censorship law passed by the Long Parliament he wrote the pamphlet Areopagitica (1644; Russian translation, 1907). The book Eikonoklastes (1649), a justification of the conviction and execution of King Charles I as a tyrant, a murderer, and an unmitigated enemy of the English state, opened a debate with the royalist pamphleteers of England and Europe. In the two pamphlets entitled Defense of the People of England (1650 and 1654), Milton emerged as an adherent of 16th-century antityranny theories and a champion of the sovereignty of the English republic. From 1649 to 1652 he held the post of Latin secretary, conducting international state correspondence and working on the semiofficial journal Mercurius Politicus. Repeatedly, he voiced concern about the state of affairs in England, condemning the violation of parliamentary prerogatives, the absence of religious freedom, and the persecution of the democratic movement. In pamphlets written in 1659–60, Milton warned that the triumph of the Restoration would lead to a revival of tyranny. During this period he also translated the psalms and wrote sonnets.
After the restoration of the Stuarts (1660), Eikonoklastes and the pamphlets entitled Defense of the People of England were publicly burned. Avoiding prison and death, Milton led a reclusive life. Although he suffered from blindness, during this period of intense creativity he wrote Paradise Lost (1667) and Paradise Regained (1671), poems inspired by the Bible, and completed The History of Britain (1670). Paradise Lost discusses the lawfulness of rebelling against god. Despite Milton’s contradictory evaluations of his actions, the rebellious Satan is a titanic, profoundly attractive character, as are the people who violated god’s commandment. The poem’s complex, contradictory ideological and artistic variety stem from the struggle within the poet between the humanist and the god-fearing Puritan. Paradise Regained is a weaker poem, even though it contains the idea of struggle.
Milton’s creative work culminated in the brilliant tragedy Samson Agonistes (1671; Russian translation, 1911), which glorified the inexhaustible forces of popular resistance to tyranny. His creative powers evolved from a reliance on Late Renaissance traditions into an independent style that revealed a proclivity for classicism.
Milton’s influence on the development of European poetry can be traced from his own time to the 1830’s. The English poet and thinker was known and highly esteemed in Russia during the 18th and 19th centuries. Milton himself had shown an interest in Russia in the work A Brief History of Moscovia (1682; Russian translation under the title John Milton’s Muscovy, 1875).
R. M. SAMARIN