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
busy cities hum please
Towered cities please us then / And the busy hum of men.
astray behold head highest led near riding wandering wide
To behold the wandering moon, / Riding near her highest noon, / Like one that had been led astray / Through the heav'n's wide pathless way; / And oft, as if her head she bowed, / Stooping through a fleecy cloud.
ambition reign serve though worth
To reign is worth ambition though in hell: Better to reign in hell, than serve in heav'n
hath love offense regain strange though
Yet beauty, though injurious, hath strange power, After offense returning, to regain Love once possess'd
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.
obscure palpable uncouth
Through the palpable obscure find out / His uncouth way.
dost heart prefer pure temples thou upright
Thou O Spirit, that dost prefer Before all Temples th' upright heart and pure
might shape
The other shape, / If shape it might be called that shape had none.
add taking
We are at the max, ... We can't add anything out here without taking away something else.
necessity
With necessity, / The tyrant's plea, excused his devilish deeds.
cloud forth lining silver turn
Was I deceived, or did a sable cloud / Turn forth her silver lining on the night?
bottomless chains dwell
To bottomless perdition, there to dwell / In adamantine chains and penal fire.
consider dark days death half light spent talent
When I consider how my light is spent / Ere half my days in this dark world and wide, / And that one talent which is death to hide, / Lodged with me useless.
rule streaming thy
With thy long levelled rule of streaming light.