Discuss the importance of John
Milton as a poet and prose writer.
Answer: Undoubtedly Milton is regarded
as one of the greatest poets in English literature. He is second only to
Shakespeare. He was born in London in 1608, and educated at Christ’s College,
Cambridge. As a youth, Milton was very attractive, so at the College he was
known as The Lady of Christ’s. He was a highly learned man who had made a
thorough study of the Bible at home during his childhood.
After leaving
the University, he studied at home in Horton. He lived a very moral and pure
life. He was a very ambitions man who wanted to write something remarkable
which would bring glory to his own country. In order to fulfill this great aim,
he wrote Paradise Lost, which is comparable to almost all the great epic of
classical writers. His literary works can be divided into three groups for
convenience. At first, he wrote his shorter poems at Horton. Next, came his
prose work inspired by his Puritanism and his political sympathies. His three
greatest works belong to the last group.First Group- Shorter Poems
At Horton, Milton studied Greek, Latin, English, French, and Italian poets. His pastoral shorter poem L Allegoro (the happy man) describes the joy of life in the country in spring season. The IL Penseroso (the thoughtful man) describes his study during the day and his visits to a church in the evenings of autumn season. Milton also wrote many sonnets and lyric poems. ‘On Shakespeare’ and ‘On His Blindness’ are his famous sonnets. The second one is his autobiographical poem written after his blindness. Lycidas is a sorrowful pastoral on the death of his college friend Edward King.
Second Group- Prose Work
Milton’s prose work belongs to his second group of his work. They are mainly concerned with church affairs, divorce and freedom. His best prose work is probably The Areopagitica, A Speech for the Liberty of Unlicensed Printing. In this work Milton is pleading for the freedom of expression.
