Biography
John Milton in English, like Alexander Pushkin in Russian, is the greatest poet and thinker whose achievements are invaluable. His personal life and creativity depended directly from the political situation in Britain: he began as a Pamfletist Karl I, and finished the impoverished and blind, but famous throughout Europe the author.Childhood and youth
The poet was born on December 9, 1608 in London, the heart of Britain, in the Union of Composer John Milton and Sarah Jeffrey.
Revenues from music allowed John Milton to hire the best private tutor in the city of Thomas Yang, Master of St. Andrews University, a native of Scotland, Presbyterian. It is believed that precisely under his influence the work of John Milton - the younger went along the path of religious radicalism.
Basic sciences John Milton compound in St Paul's School in London. Then he entered Christ's College in Cambridge, who graduated in 1629 in the 4th place among 24 excellent students.
The study was given to John Milton, not without difficulty, which is confirmed by the quotation of his younger brother Christopher:
"He was very diligently studied, stayed behind the textbooks - until midnight, and then in the night."The fact is that not by the years, an erudite poet was uninteresting to comprehend the essence of the debates on zeacious themes, analyze which they were forced to rhetoric. In an effort to overcome boredom, John Milton began to compose poems.
Personal life
In 1642, Mary Powell became his wife John Milton. She ran several times to her parents, unfortunately to put up with gradi prepared: the difference between the spouses was 17 years.Nevertheless, Marriage Mary Powell gave birth to four children - Anna (July 7, 1646), Maria (October 25, 1648 R.), John (March 16, 1651) and Debora (May 2, 1652 . R.). Last gods were unsuccessful, and on May 5, 1652, Mary Powell left the world of living.
The only son of John Milton died in infancy. The daughters lived to maturity, but the poet could not establish a warm relationship with them.
Catherine Woodkok, who became the wife of John Milton on November 12, 1656, also destroyed the desire to have children. The victim was in vain: the woman died on February 3, 1658, and her newborn daughter Catherine is just 4 months later.
On February 24, 1663, John Milton found Elizabeth Minshall - "Third and Best Wife", as shown in the house in Manchester, where spouses lived. Despite the difference in 31 years, the marriage turned out to be happy and lasted for more than 12 years, up to the death of the poet.
Philosophy and creativity
The most famous work in the work of John Milton is the poem "Lost Paradise" (1667). Modern art historians of the United Kingdom and the English-language world consider it one of the greatest works of literature ever created.
Poem in 12 volumes that John Milton wrote from 1658 to 1664 is devoted to the physical deprivation of man. In the center of the plot - God and the Satan opposing him, the history of the creation of Adam and Eve.
Contemporaries (for example, Daniel Defo) criticized the ideas of John Milton and branded radical mainly because of his views on religion and politics. Most embodied in the "Lost Paradise" poem.
For example, in one of the books Adam, seeking to redeem the sins, thinks to build hundreds of altars to worship God. Archangel Mikhail explains the first one, that physical objects will not help feel the presence of the Lord. In other words, John Milton condemns the current tendency to embody the faith not in thoughts to God, but in stone buildings.
The enemies criticized John Milton, saying: Really Pantheon and St. Peter's Cathedral in Rome is also a manifestation of idolatry, not related to faith.
John Milton really camowed his time. One of the first, he began to argue about marriages and divorces without much to the church. Considering the history of Adam and Eve, which were formally in civil, but not heavenly union, the poet claimed: marriage is a contract concluded between a man and a woman. John Milton paid special attention to the mutual consent of the parties both for marriage and divorce.
The biblical theme launched in the "lost paradise", John Milton continued in the "Returned Paradise" poem (1671). This time in the center of the plot - Jesus Christ, which turns out to be more resistant to Satan's temptations than Adam and Eve. In the understanding of the poet, the Son of God is an example of an ideal citizen: despite the vicinations of the surrounding world and the complexity of politics, he remains faithful to its principles and avoids falling.
The lion's share of John Milton's works contains the idea of God, but there is in his bibliography and purely political treatises. The most popular of them is "Areopagitika" (1644). In this work, the poet stands for freedom of speech and press.
"Areopagitika" rigidly criticizes the decision of the Parliament of 1643 on the introduction of preliminary censorship. John Milton notes that this practice was not used even into turbulent ancient times: in Greece and Rome, even the most crazy texts were spent by society, and not "burned" at the spell stage.
John Milton also notices that the struggle with the carriers of the truth by the authors will not correct the situation in society: the eradication of those who write about corruption will not help eradicate the corruption itself.
As a compromise, John Milton proposes not to impose a preliminary censorship publication, but to introduce a duty to indicate information about the author and the publisher in the books so that in the case of admission to the light of slanderous or blasphemous literature, guilty could be punished.
It is worth noting that "Areopagitika" did not convince the parliament to cancel the decision on preliminary censorship. In fact, the freedom of speech was banned until 1695.
In addition to these monumental works, John Milton left behind hundreds of poems (the most famous - "twin poems" "funny" and "thoughtful"), dozens of pamphlets and plays. Despite the fact that the world knows John Milton as a poet, most of their works he composed in prose.
Death
The cause of the death of John Milton was renal failure. The disease began to torment the poet back in the 1660s, and ended only on November 8, 1674. The body burned in the Church of Saint-Giles Cryptgate in London. In 1793, the grave decorated the monument created by John Bacon.
The last decade of his biography, John Milton spent in poverty and fear to be arrested for innovative ideas.