John Milton

(9 December 1608 – 8 November 1674 / London, England)

poet John Milton
#79 on top 500 poets
John Milton
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John Milton Poems

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John Milton was an English poet, polemicist, a scholarly man of letters, and a civil servant for the Commonwealth (republic) of England under Oliver Cromwell. He wrote at a time of religious flux and political upheaval, and is best known for his epic poem Paradise Lost.

Milton's poetry and prose reflect deep personal convictions, a passion for freedom and self determination, and the urgent issues and political turbulence of his day. Writing in English, Latin, and Italian, he achieved international renown within his lifetime, and his celebrated Areopagitica, (written in condemnation of pre-publication censorship) is among history's most influential and impassioned defenses of free ... more »

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Quotations

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  • ''None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but licence.''
    John Milton (1608-1674), British poet. repr. In Complete Prose Works of Milton, ed. Ernest Sirluck (1959). The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates (1649)....
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  • ''No man who knows aught, can be so stupid to deny that all men naturally were born free.''
    John Milton (1608-1674), British poet. repr. In Complete Prose Works of Milton, ed. Ernest Sirluck (1959). The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates (1649)....
    139 person liked.
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  • A man may be a heretic in the truth; and if he believe things only because his pastor says so, or the assembly so determines, without knowing other reason, though his belief be true, yet the very trut...
    John Milton (1608-1674), British poet. Areopagitica: a Speech for the Liberty of Unlicensed Printing to the Parliament of England (1644).
    40 person liked.
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  • I cannot praise a fugitive and cloistered virtue, unexercised and unbreathed, that never sallies out and sees her adversary, but slinks out of the race where that immortal garland is to be run for, no...
    John Milton (1608-1674), British poet. Areopagitica: a Speech for the Liberty of Unlicensed Printing to the Parliament of England (1644).
    38 person liked.
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  • ''Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties.''
    John Milton (1608-1674), British poet. Areopagitica: a Speech for the Liberty of Unlicensed Printing to the Parliament of England (1644).
    48 person liked.
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Comments about John Milton

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  • Fabrizio Frosini Fabrizio Frosini (10/15/2015 11:36:00 AM)

    Milton wrote some poems in Italian: 5 sonnets and a canzone:

    Canzone.

    Ridonsi donne e giovani amorosi
    M'accostandosi attorno, e perché scrivi,
    Perché tu scrivi in lingua ignota e strana
    Verseggiando d'amor, e come t'osi?
    Dinne, se la tua speme sia mai vana
    E de pensieri lo miglior t'arrivi;
    Così mi van burlando, altri rivi
    Altri lidi t'aspettan, & altre onde
    Nelle cui verdi sponde
    Spuntati ad hor, ad hor a la tua chioma
    L'immortal guiderdon d'eterne frondi
    Perché alle spalle tue soverchia soma?
    Canzon dirotti, e tu per me rispondi, -
    Dice mia Donna, e 'l suo dir, e il mio cuore
    Questa è lingua di cui si vanta Amore.

    172 person liked.
    		10 person did not like.
  • Nandkishor Dadhich (1/5/2012 4:55:00 AM)

    Milton it's my glee, I see thee through thy poems. Love thee it's my glee.

    67 person liked.
    		55 person did not like.
  • Kiyaga Lyttle Cephas (raheem) Kiyaga Lyttle Cephas (raheem) (10/15/2011 7:09:00 AM)

    Good writing and poetry.

    60 person liked.
    		62 person did not like.
  • p.a. noushad p.a. noushad (7/14/2008 3:43:00 AM)

    unique is your writing style, god, angels, satan all are characters in your poems.I love your poems.

    67 person liked.
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  • Rose Noir (9/4/2006 1:20:00 AM)

    'Did I request thee Maker from my clay to mould me man?
    Did I solicit thee from darkness to promote me? '

    -Adam's words after the fall quoted from Paradise Lost. I first read them years ago in the intro to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and they have remained with me ever since.

    58 person liked.
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Best Poem of John Milton

On His Blindness

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
Lodg'd 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-labour, 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 ...

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