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
bore champion faithful hath hide oft returns seems witness
Oft he seems to hide his face, / But unexpectedly returns / And to his faithful champion hath in place / Bore witness gloriously.
approach face human returns seasons sight sweet thus year
Thus with the year / Seasons return, but not to me returns / Day, or the sweet approach of ev'n or morn, / Or sight of vernal bloom, or summer's rose, / Or flocks, or herds, or human face divine.
best retirement return short solitude sweet urges
For solitude is sometimes best society, And short retirement urges sweet return
change art return
But oh the heavy change, now thou art gone, Now thou art gone and never must return!
sweet retirement return
A short retirement urges a sweet return.
art dust return
Know thy birth! For dost thou art, and shalt to dust return.
light return earth
There swift return Diurnal, merely to officiate light Round this opacous earth, this punctual spot.
change dim disastrous eclipse fear half twilight
In dim eclipse disastrous twilight sheds / On half the nations, and with fear of change / Perplexes monarchs.
cannot knows people talk
Everyone knows that you cannot talk about people by name,
bloody infant mother
The bloody Piedmontese that rolled / Mother with infant down the rocks.
audience fit govern thou though
Still govern thou my song, / Urania, and fit audience find, though few.
against apology best deeds dishonest false honest silence words
The best apology against false accusers is silence and sufferance, and honest deeds set against dishonest words
highest middle sat tree
Thence up he flew, and on the Tree of Life,/ The middle tree and highest there that grew, / Sat like a cormorant.
best gentle modest reluctant required sway sweet
Implied / Subjection, but required with gentle sway / And by her yielded, by him best received; / Yielded with coy submission, modest pride, / And sweet reluctant amorous delay.