Author History - Support of Religious and Political Freedoms in Sonnet XV
John Milton, born December 9, 1608, is considered one of England’s greatest poets. But Milton was not only a poet, he was also a political figure. Milton supported the British Civil War and the Puritan government of Oliver Cromwell. Knowing this background, it is no surprise that many of Milton’s writings contain his strong religious and political beliefs. Sonnet XV, a plea to Lord Fairfax to help the new Commonwealth government be successful, displays Milton’s concern with holy and virtuous ideals, his disdain for the rule of the English monarchy, and his pro-Puritan republican political beliefs.
Milton’s holy and virtuous values were influenced by his study for the ministry at Christ’s College, Cambridge. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in 1629, and a Master of Arts in 1632. During his time at Christ’s College his religious views became more radical, causing him to further dislike the hierarchy of the established church (Danielson 6). Upon graduation he did not enter the ministry. He said that he was so ...
Nonetheless, this sonnet greatly relates, as it wonderfully demonstrates, how individuals can change their perspectives. Knowing what one has or what one is capable of, better enables anyone to identify with oneself. Though Milton’s experience in finding himself does not provide him with a new love or appreciation for another individual, it more importantly offers him love for himself and his God. He learns to appreciate the art of patience and what he still has and uses it to make his existence worth while. Milton experiences a world in which half of his days are spent “in this dark world” (line 2), yet he continues to carry out his poetry writing - the “talent” (3) God has given him.
...the existence of a perfect superlunar realm, and realized that the planets’ movements pointed to a heliocentric universe. Milton’s Paradise Lost lets the prime fiend of Western and Arab religion into God’s perfect playpen for His perfect creations, and does not condemn Eve for picking sensory knowledge and reason over God’s demands. After centuries of the church and God dictating thought, science, art, and moral, Galileo chose to ignore doctrine of the Church, and a few decades afterward, Milton picked up on these ideas in his great epic, both of them fearlessly challenging the iron grip of the Church on intellectualism and ushering in a new era of freedom, knowledge, and artistic expression.
Just as everything in my life seemed to be straightening itself out, everything began to fall apart again. Sir William died suddenly in 1669, leaving me once again almost without a family. Jonathon was all I had left in the world. During this time, the two of us grew very close. He called me Stella, oh how I loved that name. We shared everything with one another. We had a lot in common, for Jonathon was also raised without a father. His died two months before he was born. He talked of his early childhood in Dublin, Ireland, and then of how he moved to London, England. Jonathon used to write me the most beautiful letters; I still have them all. He used to write about his job as Chief Journalist and Principal Pamphleteer for Robert Harley, the Earl of Oxford. He would tell me how even though he enjoyed his job, what he really desired was more political power. I told him that his day would come. I knew he would soon get the power and fame that he deserved.
The system of government we have today was starting to developed centuries ago by the Athenians and Romans. Both governments were established with the intent to give power to the people, even though it did not always play out that way in society. The Athenian democracy and the Roman republic were two very different governments in practice, but also maintained similar characteristics in both systems of government.
Milton’s Paradise Lost was written in a time period known as the Interregnum period. During this time period, “church attendance was mandatory” and the Puritans “generally garbed themselves in black and white” (UTPB Faculty “The Interregnum and Milton’s Paradise Lost”). The Puritans strongly believed there was a right and wrong answer for everything and rarely questioned anything. John Milton was a Renaissance man who wrote
Williamson, George. ed. Milton: Formal Essays and Critical Asides. Cleveland: Case Western Reserve Univ. Press, 1970.
Jeremy Bentham was born on February 15, 1748 in Houndsditch, London. He was raised in a period of social, economic, and political prosperity that impacted his take on society. Being the son and grandson of attorneys, he was influenced to practice law in his family. By age 12, Bentham attended Queen’s College, Oxford, pursued law and graduated four years later. However, he soon discovered that he had a real passion for writing and on most days, he spent eight to twelve hours devoted to writing. Bentham composed an essay that criticized and ridiculed America’s take on political philosophy after the Declaration of Independence was published in 1776. Although he gained many admirers over the years, most people still weren’t accepting of the ideas
First to consider is that the poem used in The Norton Anthology of English Literature is an edited version from The Complete Poetry and Major Prose of Milton, edited by Merritt Y. Hughes. The poem that will be considered here is the 1673 text printed in The Riverside Milton, edited by Roy Flannagan. The decision of Riverside was not to intervene into the text, but to leave as it was written. Hughes’ changes insert punctuation, capitalization and spelling to update it to a modern audience. By modernizing the poem Hughes has effectively changed the meaning to what he as the editor had in mind. Milton wanted good readers, readers that read deeper than surface meanings and by changing the text the art of Milton’s words are compromised for the poem was designed to confuse the reader. Milton as a wordsmith is preparing the reader for a spiritual confusion that leads one to a question. Hughes’ editing reinforces the binary aspects of the poem that sets up one speaker in the octave and one speaker in the sestet, the problem in the octave then the solution in the sestet, if one likes. If one leaves out the editorial changes, the octave speaker and the sestet speaker become erased...
Is a Democracy Really What You Think It Is? What is considered an ideal democracy? Would it be where the people rule directly or where there are representatives who organize the government?
John Milton's great epic poem, Paradise Lost, was written between the 1640's and 1665 in England, at a time of rapid change in the western world. Milton, a Puritan, clung to traditional Christian beliefs throughout his epic, but he also combined signs of the changing modern era with ancient epic style to craft a masterpiece. He chose as the subject of his great work the fall of man, from Genesis, which was a very popular story to discuss and retell at the time. His whole life had led up to the completion of this greatest work; he put over twenty years of time and almost as many years of study and travel to build a timeless classic. The success of his poem lies in the fact that he skillfully combined classic epic tradition with strongly held Puritan Christian beliefs.
Milton returned to England about 1641 when the political and religious affairs were very disturbing to many. He started to apply his work in practice for that one great work like Paradise Lost when penning the Sonnets. Not every sonnet is identical but they can be difficult in interpretation, styles, word use, and so forth. The purpose of this paper is to analyze Milton’s Sonnet 8 (ca 1642), “Captain or Colonel.” This will be done by explaining the type of theme and then separating the sonnet into three sections: lines 1-4, 5-8, and 9-14 for a better understanding of how Milton used the development of ongoing events to present problems with a mystical resolution.
Milton: Modern Essays in Criticism. Ed. Arthur E. Barker, b. 1875. New York: Oxford University Press, 1965. 205-217.
In conclusion, Paradise Lost can be seen through a historically contextual lens that allows us to see the parallels between Milton’s life and experiences during the reign of Charles I, and the predominant themes in his epic poem. Many of the themes in Paradise Lost, from the broader situational occurrences to the behavior of individual character’s and their attitudes toward the situations in which they find themselves can be seen as directly influenced by Milton’s time as a Parliamentarian in 17th century England.
Guibbory, Achsah. "Milton and English Poetry." A Companion to Milton. Thomas N. Corns, ed. Blackwell Publishing, 2003.
Reichert, John. Milton's Wisdom: Nature and Scripture in Paradise Lost. Ann Arbor, The University of Michigan Press. 1992