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John Milton: Difference between revisions
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'''John Milton''' (9 December 1608 - 8 November 1674) was an English poet and pamphleteer with a turbulent relationship with his country's religion and politics. He studied at Cambridge to become a minister, but ended up [[Honor Before Reason|not taking his orders]] because of [[Corrupt Church|certain fundamental disagreements with the Church]]. Having next decided to become a poet, believing poetry to be closely linked with prophecy (in the religious sense), he spent a good portion of his youth traveling across Europe, mastering different languages, and meeting prominent academics (such as Galileo, who would later be [[Shout-Out|featured]] in ''[[Paradise Lost]]'').
Very soon, however, Milton heard the [[Call to Adventure|call]] (or, possibly, stopped being so completely egotistic), and decided to apply himself for [[The Fettered|the good of his country]]. He hung up his poet's hat and started writing [[Badass Bookworm|political tracts]], sometimes in service of Presbyterianism, sometimes for [[La Résistance|Oliver Cromwell's Commonwealth]], sometimes about personal and touchy subjects such as [[Author Filibuster|divorce]], but always for a propagation of free thought and overall tolerance. In 1644, he wrote an important defense of free expression, called ''Areopagitica'', which attacked censorship on philosophical and theological grounds.
Other important works of this time period - ''The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates'', ''[[What's Up, King Dude?|Eikonoklastes]]'', and the two [[My Country, Right or Wrong|Defenses of the English People]] - nearly cost Milton his [[Off with His Head|head]]. At the request of Cromwell's government, these were meant to retroactively justify the execution of Charles I on the basis that if a king acts like a tyrant towards his people, he forfeits the rights of kingship; so when [[Rightful King Returns|Charles II waltzed back into England]] and decided to kill everyone personally involved with his father's regicide, Milton was fucked. Thankfully, some heavy lobbying from [[Andrew Marvell|his friends]] saved him from execution, and Milton, having learned his lesson, decided that the rest of his days should be spent [[The Last DJ|low-key]]. Returning to scribbling relatively non-incendiary poetry, he completed two heavily religious [[The Epic|epic]] [[Narrative Poem|poems]] - ''Paradise Lost'' and ''Paradise Regain'd'', and the tragedy ''Samson Agonistes'' - [[What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic|all written after]] [[Blind Seer|he lost his sight in 1654]].
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Poetry]]
[[Category:Print Long Runners]]
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