John Milton was an English poet, author and civil servant for the Commonwealth of England. He is best known for his epic poem Paradise Lost and for Areopagitica, his treatise condemning censorship.
John Milton was born December 9, 1608 to a prosperous and cultured middle class Puritan family. John Milton's father, also named John Milton, was born in 1562 and died in 1647. He was cast out of his family when his father, Richard Milton, discovered him reading through an English bible. Sara Jeffrey (1572-1637), Milton's mother, was the eldest daughter of a merchant tailor. She has been described as a "woman of purest reputation, celebrated throughout the neighborhood for her acts of charity."
At a very young age, Milton became conscious of the political, religious and cultural strains on the nation. While his earliest years were spent with a tutor, in 1625 John Milton enrolled at Christ's College, Cambridge, England, studying to enter the ministry. He was temporarily expelled because of a conflict with one of his tutors; however, he did graduate with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1629 and a Master of Arts degree in 1632. While studying at Cambridge, he recognized that poetry and life are closely related.
Despite his intentions to enter the ministry, he did not;instead, he returned home to live with his parents for an intense period of study and travel which lasted nearly six years. Some of his most important works were written during this time.
Supported by his father's wealth, Milton then became a private school tutor. In June 1642, Milton took a mysterious trip into the countryside and returned with Mary Powell, his16-year-old bride. As life with the severe 33-year-old schoolmaster and pamphleteer proved quite difficult, Mary returned to her family. Because of the outbreak of the Civil War, she did not come back to her marriage, and her husband, until 1645. During her three year absence, Milton began to publish a series of pamphlets arguing for the legality and morality of divorce.
Despite obvious marital problems, he and Mary had four children together: Anne, Mary, John and Deborah. His wife, Mary, died on May 5, 1652 from complications following Deborah's May 2 birth. In June of 1652, John died at age 15 months. While his daughters survived to adulthood, records indicate that his relationship with them was always strained. On November 12, 1656, Milton married again, this time to Katherine Woodcock. She died on February 3, 1658, less than four months after giving birth to their daughter, Katherine, who also died.
After the restoration was firmly in place, Milton continued to advocate freedom of worship and republicanism of England while he supervised the publication of his poems. While the exact date and location of his death is not known, he is thought to have died in London on November 8, 1674 from complications from gout or, possibly, renal failure. He was buried inside St. Giles Cripplegate Church in London.
Milton was both an accomplished, scholarly man of letters and an official serving under Oliver Cromwell. His views may be described as broadly Protestant. Milton was writing at a time of great religious and political flux in England, and his poetry and prose reflect deep convictions, often reacting to contemporary circumstances. He wrote also in Latin and Italian, enjoying a widely international reputation during his lifetime.
Milton's views were developed from his very extensive reading, as well as travel and experience. By the time of his death in 1674, Milton was impoverished and relegated on the margins of English intellectual life, yet unrepentant for his political choices, and of Europe-wide fame.