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
loneliness eye men
It is not good for man to be alone. Hitherto all things [in Genesis] that have been named, were approved of God to be very good: loneliness is the first thing which God's eye named not good.
reason sanctity
Indu'd With sanctity of reason.
tongue reason hollow
But all was false and hollow; though his tongue Dropp'd manna, and could make the worse appear The better reason, 4 to perplex and dash Maturest counsels.
singing fancy reason
A poet soaring in the high reason of his fancies, with his garland and singing robes about him.
science moon night
By night the Glass Of Galileo ... observes Imagin'd Land and Regions in the Moon.
moving science moon
He scarce had ceased when the superior fiend Was moving toward the shore; his ponderous shield Ethereal temper, massy, large and round, Behind him cast; the broad circumference Hung on his shoulders like the moon, whose orb Through optic glass the Tuscan artist views At evening from the top of Fésolè, Or in Valdarno, to descry new lands, Rivers or mountains in her spotty globe.
fall voice evil
More safe I sing with mortal voice, unchang'd To hoarse or mute, though fall'n on evil days, On evil days though fall'n, and evil tongues.
beauty opportunity christian-inspirational
Beauty is God's handwriting-a wayside sacrament.
firsts rafters courtesy
Courtesy which oft is found in lowly sheds, with smoky rafters, than in tapestry halls and courts of princes, where it first was named.
unwise servitude
This is servitude, To serve the unwise.
faithful suffering victory
Suffering for truth's sake Is fortitude to highest victory, And to the faithful death the gate of life.
virtue chimes teach
Love Virtue, she alone is free, She can teach ye how to climb Higher than the sphery chime; Or, if Virtue feeble were, Heav'n itself would stoop to her.
men virtue admire
Most men admire Virtue who follow not her lore.
kings people derivatives
The power of Kings and Magistrates is nothing else, but what is only derivative, transferrd and committed to them in trust from the People, to the Common good of them all, in whom the power yet remaines fundamentally, and cannot be takn from them, without a violation of thir natural birthright.