John Milton
John Milton
John Miltonwas an English poet, polemicist, and man of letters, and a civil servant for the Commonwealth of England under Oliver Cromwell. He wrote at a time of religious flux and political upheaval, and is best known for his epic poem Paradise Lost, written in blank verse...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionPoet
Date of Birth9 December 1608
spirit easy intercourse
The spirits perverse with easy intercourse pass to and fro, to tempt or punish mortals.
sweet looks flow
Sweet intercourse of looks and smiles; for smiles from reason flow.
son men slavery
O execrable son! so to aspire Above his brethren, to himself assuming Authority usurped, from God not given. He gave us only over beast, fish, fowl, Dominion absolute; that right we hold By his donation; but man over men He made not lord; such title to himself Reserving, human left from human free.
shadow world woe
Anger and just rebuke, and judgment given, That brought into this world a world of woe, Sin and her shadow Death, and Misery, Death's harbinger.
children fancy sweetest
Or sweetest Shakespeare, Fancy's child!
deserving-it missing age
Among the writers of all ages, some deserve fame, and have it; others neither have nor deserve it; some have it, not deserving it; others, though deserving it, yet totally miss it, or have it not equal to their deserts.
dark darkness
Dark with excessive bright.
book censorship ifs
Knowledge cannot defile, nor consequently the books, if the will and conscience be not defiled.
night reign chaos
A shout that tore hell's concave, and beyond / Frightened the reign of Chaos and old Night.
pain venture way
Who would not, finding way, break loose from hell, . . . . And boldly venture to whatever place Farthest from pain?
feet velvet
Thus I set my printless feet O'er the cowslip's velvet head, That bends not as I tread.
men mind body
Man hath his daily work of body or mind Appointed, which declares his dignity, And the regard of Heav'n on all his ways.
two eagles bird
The bird of Jove, stoop'd from his aery tour, Two birds of gayest plume before him drove.
nymphs echoes shells
Sweetest Echo, sweetest nymph, that liv'st unseen Within thy airy shell, By slow Meander's margent green, And in the violet-embroidered vale.