JOHN MILTON
(1608-1674)
The troubled times of the Bourgeois Revolution and the Restoration Period saw the activity of John Milton , England''s greatest epic poet and a great democratic force in English literature.in John Milton''s work , the humanistic traditions and classical learning of the Renaissance combined with the revolutionary spirit and the puritanic faith of his day.
After sound classical studies at Cambridge University , Milton came out as the poet of several memorable longer lyrical
poems.For one year Milton travelled to Italy where he met the great scientist Galileo, and where he also learned about the tyranny of the Inquisition and its violent suppression of free thought The news of the Revolution in England made Milton return home.
He always sided with Parliament and the republican forces.During the Republic, Milton actively participated in the political and religious controversies of the time , writing a large number of democratic prose
pamphlets.As Oliver Cromwell''s Latin Secretary, in his letters and pamphlets , John Milton courageuosly defended the politics of the Republic against the reactionary foreign enemies;he supported the execution of Charles I.Later on he was one of the few thinkers and writers who protested against the restorationof the monarchy in 1660.When reactionary Parliamentary groups tried to introduce the censorship of the press, Milton wrote his well-known prose pamphlet "Areopagitica"(1644).It is a courageous plea for the liberty of the democratic press.During this busy period of political writing, Milton also composed a number of sonnets.One of them was"To the Nightingale"
NIGHTINGALE that on yon bloomy spray
Warbl''st at eve, when all the woods are still,
Thou with fresh hope the lover''s heart dost fill,
While the jolly hours lead on propitious May.
Thy liquid notes that close the eye of day,
First heard before the shallow cuckoo''s bill,
Portend success in love. O, if Jove''s will
Have linked that amorous power to thy soft lay,
Now timely sing, ere the rude bird of hate
Foretell my hopeles doom, in some grove nigh;
As thou from year to year hast sung too late
For my relief, yet hadst no reason why.
Whether the Muse or Love call thee his mate,
Both them I serve, and of their train am I.
During the Restoration Period , poor, blind and lonely , Milton remained true to the cause of the liberty of his people , to the cause of the Revolution which had been betrayed by the bourgeoisie .Milton;s great epic poems "Paradise Lost" and "Paradise Regained", his dramatic poem in the form of a Greek tragedy "Samson Agonistes" were written in this period of the poet;s moral and phisical sufferings.In these poems , biblical themes and legends are rechandled and are given a new content , a content symbolical of the political struggle of Milton''s day , when the revolutionary forces had to counter the reactionary forces , when political freedom was threatened by tyranny .With Milton, Puritanism itself is a form of political protest.
Milton''s majestic descriptions , his stirring speeches, the variety and harmony of his blank verses-whether in epic orhis dignified style with numerous classical allusions are the characteristics of his poetic genius.The democratis messages of these poems and the perfection of their form have made Milton''s name immortal.