Milton, John II (EN)

Milton John II, *9 December 1608 London, †8 November 1674 London, English poet and politician, son of John I. He received a broad education in the humanities, obtaining a Master of Arts degree from Christ’s College, Cambridge, in 1632. During his studies, in addition to numerous Latin poems, he wrote his first poem in English, On the Morning of Christ’s Nativity (1629), as well as the lyric poems L’Allegro and its companion piece Il Penseroso. He then spent six years at Horton, his father’s country residence, deepening his knowledge of general history, literature, philosophy and the natural sciences. It was during this time that he wrote the plays Arcades (1632) and Comus (1634), both set to music by H. Lawes, as well as the elegy on the death of a friend, Lycidas (1637). A journey to Italy (1638–39) marked the end of the first phase of the poet’s life.

During the English Civil War, Milton abandoned poetry for a period of 20 years (1640–60), devoting himself to political journalism. A Puritan, opposed to the Church of England and the king, he fought with his pen, writing numerous treatises, including: on the necessity of introducing the Reformation in England (Of Reformation touching Church Discipline in England 1641), on education (Of Education 1643), against censorship (Areopagitica, 1644), against the king (Eikonoklastes, 1649), and against the rule of the Church of England (Defensio pro populo Anglicano, 1651; Defensio secunda, 1654). Caught up in an unhappy marriage to Mary Powell, the daughter of a royalist, he set out his views on the right to divorce in his treatise The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce (1643). He became actively involved in the country’s political life: appointed in 1649 by Cromwell to the post of Latin Secretary of the Council of State, he held this office despite losing his sight (1652) until the Restoration. Among the few poems he wrote during this period, his sonnets occupy a prominent place. All are linked to current events and are characterised by remarkable diversity and originality. Following the return of the Stuarts to the throne (1660), Milton was arrested but was subsequently pardoned thanks to the intercession of friends. Removed from public affairs, he devoted the rest of his life to his poetic work. It was during this time that he wrote the epic poems Paradise Lost (1667) and Paradise Regained (1671), as well as the classical tragedy Samson Agonistes (1671).

Milton’s most important work, and indeed one of the greatest achievements of English epic poetry, is the epic Paradise Lost. Drawing on ancient models of epic poetry (Homer) and the tradition of the Christian epic (Tasso, Du Bartas), and drawing on the Bible, theosophy and cosmogony for his subject matter, the poet created an erudite poem which is at the same time a grand philosophical and worldview vision. In the history of the creation and fall of man, the main problem is the endless struggle between the elements of good and evil; Milton’s Puritanism finds expression in his fascination with evil; in making the figure of Satan the main character.

Milton carried over the blank verse typical of dialogue in Elizabethan drama into the realm of the epic, which was a bold and innovative move. In unrhymed, iambic decasyllabic verse, long sentence structures prevent prosodic monotony, whilst skilful use of caesura and the exploitation of word rhythms add variety to the poem’s melody. Milton’s language is characterised by a rich vocabulary full of archaisms, vulgarisms, and words of Latin and Greek origin, as well as by complex syntax, elaborate epithets, striking metaphors, periphrasis, antithesis, and oxymorons.

Milton’s work had a significant influence on the development of literature in the 18th and 19th centuries; it contributed to formal and thematic innovations in English poetry (the heroic couplet was replaced by blank verse, whilst the Bible came to be regarded as a new source of inspiration); it sparked an interest in subjective modes of lyrical expression, in moods of contemplation and melancholy (Il Penseroso), and established a new model of poetry in which the most important factor is not reason but imagination (Herder, Klopstock), and contributed to the development of French Romantic poetry (Lamartine, de Vigny, Hugo). Milton’s Satan played a particular role (Schiller, Byron, Shelley, the French Romantics), being close to the concepts of the Romantic hero. Milton’s poetry did not reach Poland until the Enlightenment; Paradise Lost was assessed mainly from an ethical point of view, with the author being criticised for choosing Satan as the hero (Krasicki). Milton’s work did not have a direct influence on Polish Romantic poetry.

Of all Milton’s works, Paradise Lost has most frequently inspired musicians. Most adaptations (oratorios), however, do not draw on Milton’s original poetry, but are based on librettos that are dramatised versions of the epic or its fragments (in accordance with the demands of the genre). It is therefore difficult to speak of the influence of Milton’s style on music; rather, the multi-layered nature of the work’s religious and myth-creating concepts has created many interpretative possibilities, whilst the subject matter itself remains relevant to this day (Penderecki).

Literature: R. Dyboski Milton i jego wiek, Krakow 1909; S. Helsztyński Życie i dzieła Johna Miltona, Warsaw 1939; Ch. Ricks Milton’s Grand Style, Oxford 1963; Th. Eliot Milton, in: Szkice krytyczne, ed. M. Niemojewska, Warsaw 1972; C. Grece-Dąbrowska John Milton. 1608–1674, Krakow 1975; R. Vlad “Paradise Lost” di K. Penderecki…, Milan 1979; A.N. Wilson The Life of John Milton, Oxford 1983; R. Chłopicka “Raj utracony” –sacra rappresentazione K. Pendereckiego, in: Dramat i teatr sakralny, ed. I. Sławińska et al., Lublin 1988; Z. Sinko Twórczość John Milton w Oświeceniu polskim, Warsaw 1992.