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
belated dreams fairy forest midnight moon overhead peasant side whose
Fairy elves, / Whose midnight revels, by a forest side / Or fountain, some belated peasant sees, / Or dreams he sees, while overhead the moon / Sits arbitress.
absolutely active books bred contain dead intellect life living preserve purest soul whose
Books are not absolutely dead things, but do contain a potency of life in them to be as active as that soul was whose progeny they are; nay they do preserve as in a vial the purest efficacy and extraction of that living intellect that bred them
absolutely active books bred certain contain dead intellect life living purest soul whose
Books are not absolutely dead things, but do contain a certain potency of life in them, to be as active as the soul whose progeny they are; they preserve, as in a vial, the purest efficacy and extraction of the living intellect that bred them.
bones fathers kept lie mountains pure scattered stocks thy truth whose worshipped
Avenge, O Lord, thy slaughtered saints, whose bones / Lie scattered on the Alpine mountains cold; / Even them who kept thy truth so pure of old / When all our fathers worshipped stocks and stones.
diminished hide sight stars whose
At whose sight all the stars / Hide their diminished heads.
dire entrance high immortal leads rocks verse whose
Storied of old in high immortal verse / Of dire chimeras and enchanted isles, / And rifted rocks whose entrance leads to Hell.
bright eyes judge rain store whose
Store of ladies, whose bright eyes / Rain influence, and judge the prize.
chronicle fighting fights-and-fighting wars
To chronicle the wars of kites and crows, fighting in the air.
flown forth insolence night sons wander wine
When night Darkens the streets, then wander forth the sons Of Belial, flown with insolence and wine
faith angel wings
O welcome pure-eyed Faith, white handed Hope, Thou hovering angel girt with golden wings.
music sweet lying
Such sweet compulsion doth in music lie.
ambition reign serve though worth
To reign is worth ambition though in hell: Better to reign in hell, than serve in heav'n
darkness discover flames hope peace rather regions rest served shades sights visible
Yet from those flames / No light, but rather darkness visible / Served only to discover sights of woe, / Regions of sorrow, doleful shades where peace / And rest can never dwell, hope never comes / That comes to all.
hath love offense regain strange though
Yet beauty, though injurious, hath strange power, After offense returning, to regain Love once possess'd