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'''John Milton''' (1608-74) was an English poet and writer; he was the chief literary spokesman for the [[Puritan]] revolution. Milton's most famous work is the epic poem ''[[Paradise Lost]]''; many experts consider it the greatest epic poem in the English language. The poem was written in blank verse in 1658-63, when Milton was totally blind and in hiding from the government.
'''John Milton''' (1608-74) was an English poet and writer; he was the chief literary spokesman for the [[Puritan]] revolution. Milton's most famous work is the epic poem ''[[Paradise Lost]]''; many experts consider it the greatest epic poem in the English language. The poem was written in blank verse in 1658-63, when Milton was totally blind.
He was a graduate of Christ College, Cambridge.
He was a graduate of Christ College, Cambridge.
He was an opponent of King [[Charles I]] and a leading spokesman for [[Oliver Cromwell]]. In politics he advocated [[republicanism]] and a form of [[Libertarianism]]. Kings were not needed to make a nation, he argued, because it was the cirtue of the people that mattered:
He was an opponent of King [[Charles I]] and a leading spokesman for [[Oliver Cromwell]]. In politics he advocated [[republicanism]] and a form of [[Libertarianism]]. Kings were not needed to make a nation, he argued, because it was the virtue of the people that mattered:
:The happiness of a nation consists in true religion, piety, justice, prudence, temperance, fortitude and the contempt of avarice and ambition. They in whomsoever these virtues dwell eminently, need not kings to make them happy, but are the architects of their own happiness, and whether to themselves or others are not less kings.
:The happiness of a nation consists in true religion, piety, justice, prudence, temperance, fortitude and the contempt of avarice and ambition. They in whomsoever these virtues dwell eminently, need not kings to make them happy, but are the architects of their own happiness, and whether to themselves or others are not less kings.
Milton's ''Areopagitica'' (1644) strongly condemned the censorship of ideas and has become a canononical work regarding [[Freedom of Speech]].
Milton's ''Areopagitica'' (1644) strongly condemned the censorship of ideas and has become a canonical work regarding [[Freedom of Speech]]. In 1651 he became the chief of censorship for the new government, but used a light hand, suppressing only hose publications which directly incited the overthrow of the government. The Cromwellian system collapsed in 1660 with the Restoration of King Charles II, and Milton went into retirement to write his poem.
==Further reading==
==Further reading==
* Bradford, Richard. ''The Complete Critical Guide to John Milton'' (2001) [http://www.questia.com/read/107429480?title=The%20Complete%20Critical%20Guide%20to%20John%20Milton online edition]
* Bradford, Richard. ''The Complete Critical Guide to John Milton'' (2001) [http://www.questia.com/read/107429480?title=The%20Complete%20Critical%20Guide%20to%20John%20Milton online edition]
* Wilson, A.N. ''The Life of John Milton'' (1983), a conservative interpretation that makes Milton a kind of counterbalance for the late twentieth-century state of dissolute, irreligious philistinism,
* Wedgwood, C.V. '' Milton and his world'' (1969) good introduction
* [http://www.questia.com/library/literature/literature-of-specific-countries/british-literature/17th-century/john-milton.jsp online books and articles on Milton]
* [http://www.questia.com/library/literature/literature-of-specific-countries/british-literature/17th-century/john-milton.jsp online books and articles on Milton]
===Primary sources===
===Primary sources===
*[http://www.dartmouth.edu/~milton/reading_room/areopagitica/ ''Areopagitica''] text and commentary from Dartmouth College
*[http://www.dartmouth.edu/~milton/reading_room/areopagitica/ ''Areopagitica''] text and commentary from Dartmouth College