C.D. Warner, et al., comp.
The Library of the World’s Best Literature. An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.
John Milton (1608–1674)
Milton, John. One of the greatest of English poets; born in London, Dec. 9, 1608; died there, Nov. 8, 1674. He graduated at Cambridge in 1629; traveled in Italy, 1638; was Latin secretary of the Commonwealth, 1649; became totally blind in 1652. His greatest works were the famous epics ‘Paradise Lost’ (1666) and ‘Paradise Regained’ (1671); the tragedy ‘Samson Agonistes’ (1671); the poems ‘Comus’ (1634), ‘Lycidas’ (1637); ‘L’Allegro’ (1645); ‘Il Penseroso’ (1645); and his various sonnets. Of his prose writings the most renowned were ‘Areopagitica’ (1644), advocating freedom of the press: ‘The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates’ (1649), justifying the execution of Charles I.; and the ‘Defence of the English People’ (1654). (See Critical and Biographical Introduction).