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
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
flat moon radiant sea sun though virtue
Virtue could see to do what Virtue would / By her own radiant light, though sun and moon / Were in the flat sea sunk.
ambition choice heaven hell reign serve though worth
Here we may reign secure, and in my choice To reign is worth ambition though in hell: Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven
dangers days evil mortal mute safe sing though unchanged
More safe I sing with mortal voice, unchanged / To hoarse or mute though fall'n on evil days, / On evil days though fall'n, and evil tongues; / In darkness, and with dangers compassed round, / And solitude.
dark foul hides himself secrets soul thoughts walks
But he that hides a dark soul and foul thoughts benighted walks under the mid-day sun; Himself is his own dungeon.
audience fit govern thou though
Still govern thou my song, / Urania, and fit audience find, though few.
oft though
All is best, though we oft doubt, / What the unsearchable dispose.
enduring incapable miserable
It is not miserable to be blind; it is miserable to be incapable of enduring blindness.
deep devour fly hell lower lowest opens seems suffer
Which way I fly is Hell; myself am Hell; And in the lowest deep a lower deep Still threat'ning to devour me opens wide, To which the Hell I suffer seems a Heav'n
angel golden hovering thou welcome
O welcome pure-eyed Faith, white-handed Hope, / Thou hovering angel girt with golden wings.
country wherever
Our country is wherever we are well off
deadly found restless rush sooner
Restless thoughts, like a deadly swarm of hornets arm'd, no sooner found alone, but rush upon me thronging.
brought shadow sin
Man's disobedience) brought into this World a world of woe, Sin and her shadow Death, and Misery, Death's Harbinger