He fought against autocracy and censorship, and struck down political opponents with caustic pamphlets. At home, the tribune of the people fought with his wife and tyrannized the grandchildren.
His name may have been on the list of the great poets of England, but the turbulent time of revolutions attracted Milton to public activities. He never received high government officials, but it was his ideas that inspired the supporters of parliamentarism. Even banal household chores could inspire him to work.
Childhood
In the vicinity of London there was the estate of a landed nobleman, Richard Milton. He sent his son John to study at Oxford, and then he was able to forgive him for changing religion from Catholicism to Protestantism and preferring the arts to military service. The spoiled aristocrat grew up and became a father himself. In December 1608, the heir to a noble family, the younger John, was born. He already had an older sister, Anna, and soon a brother was added.
The boy was raised by his father. Being grateful to his dad for giving him an excellent education and freedom of choice, he hired several teachers for the kid and spent a lot of time with him himself. In 1615, Milton the Younger came to the school of St. Paul, being able to read and write, knowing several languages. The teachers could not keep this prodigy for a long time, therefore, as soon as the boy turned 16, they gave him a document confirming his graduation from their institution and sent it to the University of Cambridge.
Youth
Student Milton did not appear to be a wonder child to university teachers. Children much younger than him also entered Cambridge. Only now, most of the adolescents did not want to study, and this young man was drawn to knowledge. For 6 years John has been gnawing the granite of science. Having received his diploma, he returned to his father's house and found out that his sister had been married, and she had already managed to give her husband her first-born.
For several years, the Cambridge graduate was engaged in self-education and practiced versification. The parents were happy watching their child sit with books. John's peers preferred a more eventful life. In 1637, the stay-at-home decided to see the world and show himself - he went on a trip to Europe. There Milton met the famous scientist Galileo Galilei.
Homecoming
During his wanderings, our hero realized that he knew practically nothing about life. He did not want to return to the family nest, so he settled in London at his sister's house. To make his contribution to Anna's household, John took up raising her children. The result of hard work was the publication of the book "On Education".
With such a baggage of knowledge, yesterday's book boy has become an enviable groom. In 1642 he went to the altar with Mary Powell. A talented teacher and thinker in everyday life turned out to be a helpless person, and his wife, disappointed in him, fled to her parents. John sincerely loved her, he managed to save the marriage and achieve her return, but the treatise "On Divorce", which described all the "delights" of living together with scandalous persons, he published.
Politics
Difficulties in his personal life tempered the character of John Milton. He decided to take part in a grand squabble that at that time swept the political elite. The people and Parliament rose up against the absolutist monarchy. The army intervened in the conflict, which wanted to see a dictator at the head of the state. Milton chose the side of the Independists - parliamentarians who demanded that all parties to the conflict adhere to the laws, and declare the country a republic, or at worst a constitutional monarchy.
For a man who entered politics at a very mature age and did not have influential relatives behind him, John Milton made a good career in Parliament - he took the post of government secretary for Latin correspondence. His work was connected with diplomatic correspondence, he received, among other things, statements full of anger from Rome and from monarchs who condemned the English who had renounced Catholicism. Our hero always answered directly and sharply, not limited to the strict framework of a formal dialogue.
Influence
Based on polemics with ideological opponents, Milton wrote pamphlets. His most famous work was Areopagitics. In this work, the author opposed censorship and forceful methods of combating dissent. His style and thoughts fascinated readers, and the Independent Party became more and more radical. Nobody wanted to put up with the monarchy.
In 1652, the ruler of thoughts went blind. This heavy blow of fate was received by him with amazing resilience - Milton did not lose heart, he dictated the texts, where he condemned the king and the clergy, and spoke to the public. However, the treatment and the increase in the staff of servants seriously hit the wallet of an already not rich aristocrat.
Sunset
By 1660, revolutionary events had exhausted the country and the son of the executed King Charles II was able to return to England and found many supporters. He was a Catholic, he hated those who sent his father to the scaffold, so a number of Members of Parliament immediately fell out of favor. Biography of John Milton made him the enemy of the throne No. 1. The monarch tried to expel the ardent Republican from the offices of power, leaving him penniless.
Milton knew how to take a punch. By that time, he was just a widow, and his older children started their own families. Our hero got married and took up the upbringing of his grandchildren. The tribune of the people went too far - science was not given to kids. The old man died in 1674, grieving over defeat in the field of pedagogy, surrounded by children who will remember their grandfather as the most terrible tyrant.
