The man behind the Satan A little background on John Milton, author of Paradise Lost
1608-1674 London M.A. Christ’s College at Cambridge revolted against curriculum Believed Anglican church under Charles I corrupt, puritan Italy- Claudio Monteverdi; visit Galileo Epic poem to rival Iliad or Odyssey Mary Powell, 5 kids Radical pamphlets, “Milton the divorcer”
Wrote, Married, Wrote Published poems in Latin, Greek, Italian (fluent)- Hebrew prior 1649 Defend execute bad king- Oliver Cromwell’s Commonwealth Politics, blind by 1652, Mary dies, baby John 1 month later Katherine Woodcock 1656, Elizabeth Minshull 1663 Charles II spares Milton, Paradise Lost 1665 “justify the ways of God to men” glorify country, language, belief
Paradis Lost-Death Dictated much of PL, languages, idioms Divided 12 like Homer, Virgil “What about Paradise found?” wilderness, conquer Dies old age 1674, London, Mary Powell lives 1688 wealthy, 1700 classic, greatest English epic