Значение слова MILTON в Литературной энциклопедии

MILTON

JOHN (1608-1674).-Poet, was _b._ 9th December 1608 in Bread Street, London. His _f._, also John, was the _s._ of a yeoman of Oxfordshire, who cast him off on his becoming a Protestant. He had then become a scrivener in London, and grew to be a man of good estate. From him his illustrious _s._ inherited his lofty integrity, and his love of, and proficiency in, music. M. received his first education from a Scotch friend of his father's, Thomas Young, a Puritan of some note, one of the writers of _Smectymnuus_. Thereafter he was at St. Paul's School, and in 1625 went to Christ's Coll., Camb., where for his beauty and his delicacy of mind he was nicknamed "the lady." His sister Anne had _m._ Edward Phillips, and the death of her first child in infancy gave to him the subject of his earliest poem, _On the death of a Fair Infant_ (1626). It was followed during his 7 years' life at the Univ., along with others, by the poems, _On the Morning of Christ's Nativity_ (1629), _On the Circumcision_, _The Passion_, _Time_, _At a Solemn Music_, _On May Morning_, and _On Shakespeare_, all in 1630; and two sonnets, _To the Nightingale_ and _On arriving at the Age of Twenty-three_, in 1631. In 1632, having given up the idea of entering the Church, for which his _f._ had intended him, he lived for 6 years at Horton, near Windsor, to which the latter had retired, devoted to further study. Here he wrote _L'Allegro_ and _Il Penseroso_ in 1632, _Arcades_ (1633), _Comus_ in 1634, and _Lycidas_ in 1637. The first celebrates the pleasures of a life of cheerful innocence, and the second of contemplative, though not gloomy, retirement, and the last is a lament for a lost friend, Edward King, who perished at sea. _Arcades_ and _Comus_ are masques set to music by Henry Lawes, having for their motives respectively family affection and maiden purity. Had he written nothing else these would have given him a place among the immortals. In 1638 he completed his education by a period of travel in France and Italy, where he visited Grotius at Paris, and Galileo at Florence. The news of impending troubles in Church and State brought him home the following year, and with his return may be said to close the first of three well-marked divisions into which his life falls. These may be called (1) the period of preparation and of the early poems; (2) the period of controversy, and of the prose writings; and (3) the period of retirement and of the later poems. Soon after his return M. settled in London, and employed himself in teaching his nephews, Edward and John Phillips, turning over in his mind at the same time various subjects as the possible theme for the great poem which, as the chief object of his life, he looked forward to writing. But he was soon to be called away to far other matters, and to be plunged into the controversies and practical business which were to absorb his energies for the next 20 years. The works of this period fall into three classes-(1) those directed against Episcopacy, including _Reformation of Church Discipline in England_ (1641), and his answers to the writings of Bishop Hall (_q.v._), and in defence of _Smectymnuus_ (_see_ under Calamy); (2) those relating to divorce, including _The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce_ (1643), and _The Four Chief Places of Scripture which treat of Marriage_ (1645); and (3) those on political and miscellaneous questions, including the _Tractate on Education_ (1644), _Areopagitica_ (1644), _A Speech for the Liberty of Unlicensed Printing_ (his greatest prose work), _Eikonoklastes_, an answer to the _Eikon Basilike_ of Dr. Gauden (_q.v._), _The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates_ (1649), in defence of the execution of Charles I., which led to the furious controversy with Salmasius, the writing of _Pro Populo Anglicano Defensio_ (1650), the second _Defensio_ (1654), which carried his name over Europe, and _The Ready and Easy Way to establish a Free Commonwealth_, written on the eve of the Restoration. In 1643 M. had _m._ Mary Powell, the _dau._ of an Oxfordshire cavalier, a girl of 17, who soon found her new life as the companion of an austere poet, absorbed in severe study, too abrupt a change from the gay society to which she had been accustomed, and in a month returned to her father's house on a visit. When the time fixed for rejoining her husband arrived, she showed no disposition to do so, upon which he began to aim at a divorce, and to advocate in the works above mentioned "unfitness and contrariety of mind" as a valid ground for it, views which incurred for him much notoriety and unpopularity. A reconciliation, however, followed in 1645, and three _dau._ were born of the marriage. In 1649 the reputation of M. as a Latinist led to his appointment as Latin or Foreign Sec. to the Council of State, in the duties of which he was, after his sight began to fail, assisted by A. Marvell (_q.v._) and others, and which he retained until the Restoration. In 1652 his wife _d._, and four years later he entered into a second marriage with Katharine Woodcock, who _d._ in child-birth in the following year. To her memory he dedicated one of the most touching of his sonnets. At the Restoration he was, of course, deprived of his office, and had to go into hiding; but on the intercession of Marvell (_q.v._), and perhaps Davenant (_q.v._), his name was included in the amnesty. In 1663, being now totally blind and somewhat helpless, he asked his friend Dr. Paget to recommend a wife for him. The lady chosen was Elizabeth Minshull, aged 25, who appears to have given him domestic happiness in his last years. She survived him for 53 years. The Restoration closed his second, and introduced his third, and for his fame, most productive period. He was now free to devote his whole powers to the great work which he had so long contemplated. For some time he had been in doubt as to the subject, had considered the Arthurian legends, but had decided upon the Fall of Man. The result was _Paradise Lost_, which was begun in 1658, finished in 1664, and _pub._ in 1667. A remark of his friend, Thomas Ellwood (_q.v._), suggested to him the writing of _Paradise Regained_, which, along with _Samson Agonistes_, was _pub._ in 1671. Two years before he had printed a _History of Britain_, written long before, which, however, is of little value. The work of M. was now done. In addition to his blindness he suffered from gout, to which it was partly attributable, and, his strength gradually failing, but with mind unimpaired and serene, he _d._ peacefully on November 8, 1674. In M. the influences of the Renaissance and of Puritanism met. To the former he owed his wide culture and his profound love of everything noble and beautiful, to the latter his lofty and austere character, and both these elements meet in his writings. Leaving Shakespeare out of account, he holds an indisputable place at the head of English poets. For strength of imagination, delicate accuracy and suggestiveness of language, and harmony of versification, he is unrivalled, and almost unapproached; and when the difficulties inherent in the subject of his great masterpiece are considered, the power he shows in dealing with them appears almost miraculous, and we feel that in those parts where he has failed, success was impossible for a mortal. In his use of blank verse he has, for majesty, variety, and music, never been approached by any of his successors. He had no dramatic power and no humour. In everything he wrote, a proud and commanding genius manifests itself, and he is one of those writers who inspire reverence rather than affection. His personal appearance in early life has been thus described, "He was a little under middle height, slender, but erect, vigorous, and agile, with light brown hair clustering about his fair and oval face, with dark grey eyes." SUMMARY.-_B._ 1608, _ed._ at St. Paul's School and Camb., and while at the latter wrote earlier poems including _The Nativity_ and Sonnets, lived for 6 years at Horton and wrote _L'Allegro_, _Il Penseroso_, _Arcades_, _Comus_, and _Lycidas_, travelled in France and Italy 1638, settled in London, entered on his political and controversial labours, and wrote _inter alia_ on _Reform of Discipline_ 1641, _Divorce_ 1643-45, _Education_ 1644, _Areopagitica_ 1644, and the two _Defences_ 1650 and 1654, appointed Latin Sec. 1649, this period closed by Restoration 1660, _Paradise Lost_ written 1658-64, _pub._ 1667, _Paradise Regained_ and _Samson Agonistes_ 1671, _d._ 1674, _m._ first 1643 Mary Powell, second 1652 Katharine Woodcock, third 1663 Eliz. Minshull, who survived till 1727. _Life_ by Prof. Masson (_6_ vols. 1859-80), also short Lives by M. Patteson (1880), Garnett (1889). Ed. of _Works_ by Boydell, Sir E. Brydges, and Prof. Masson.

Литературная энциклопедия. 2012