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
armies arms clad ran
Ran on embattled armies clad in iron, / And weaponless himself, / Made arms ridiculous.
begin god great himself manner period reforming reveal
God is decreeing to begin some new and great period in His Church, even to the reforming of the Reformation itself. What does he then but reveal Himself to His servants, and as His manner is, first to His Englishmen?
affected cloak dull fear luke name seldom themselves
Fear and dull disposition, luke warmness and sloth, are not seldom wont to cloak themselves under the affected name of Moderation.
appeared excess form glory less lost nor original
His form had yet not lost / All her original brightness, nor appeared / Less than archangel ruined, and th' excess / Of glory obscured.
build himself knew lofty
He knew / Himself to sing, and build the lofty rhyme.
art knitting listen loose thou thy train twisted
Sabrina fair, / Listen where thou art sitting/ Under the glassy, cool, translucent wave, / In twisted braids of lilies knitting / The loose train of thy amber-dropping hair.
create ear might ribs soul took
I was all ear / And took in strains that might create a soul / Under the ribs of Death.
feed move voluntary
Then feed on thoughts, that voluntary move / Harmonious numbers.
hear slow sullen swinging
I hear the far-off curfew sound, / Over some wide-watered shore, / Swinging slow with sullen roar.
fight fought servant thou
Servant of God, well done; well hast thou fought The better fight
change dim disastrous eclipse fear half twilight
In dim eclipse disastrous twilight sheds / On half the nations, and with fear of change / Perplexes monarchs.
dark deserts hid night silent sun
The sun to me is dark / And silent as the moon, / When she deserts the night / Hid in her vacant, interlunar cave.
dear fame great heir son thou thy weak witness
Dear son of memory, great heir of fame, / What need'st thou such weak witness of thy name?
changed heaven hell itself mind
A mind not to be changed by place or time, the mind is its own place, and in itself can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven.