On December 9^th in the year 1605 there was born into a comfortable household one who was to become, alongside William Shakespeare, one of the greatest of all English poets, John Milton. King Charles I was on the throne and the house of Stewart seemed secure. However, during Milton’s life England would be torn by Civil War, monarchy set aside and the king executed, a period of republican rule and the restoration of the Stewart king, Charles II.

Milton was educated at St Paul’s School and later Christ’s College Cambridge where he received a classical education. Throughout his lifetime his outspokenness and radical ideas were to bring him into clashes with authority on various levels, beginning with his tutor at Cambridge, which brought about his temporary expulsion. While rusticated at home he pursued his studies and began to produce his poetry. L’Allegro, Il Penseroso, Comus and Lycidas are probably the most famous examples composed while he was living in Buckinghamshire with his father. At the same time he devoted himself to furthering his education in history, literature and philosophy and later mathematics and music. In effect he was the complete scholar and as such it was thought he would be destined for a career in the Church. However, he was vehemently opposed to the structure of the Anglican Church and produced several pamphlets attacking episcopacy with other leading Presbyterians.

In 1638, he embarked on a tour of Italy where he was entertained by the leading writers and artists and he met with the astronomer Galileo, under arrest for his views. Although a staunch Protestant he was a guest of Cardinal Francesco Barberini and doubtlessly Milton’s anti-Catholic views were aired! Rising political unrest brought him back to England where he settled in London and began to take pupils. He was deeply concerned with the Puritan cause and for several years he devoted his writings to the production of pamphlets on civil and religious liberties. In 1643 he published his "Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce". He had made what may be considered an unsuitable marriage to Mary Powell, half his age and certainly not of his temperament! On making a visit home, she declined to return. The pamphlet brought a storm of condemnation upon Milton and he was attacked by both Royalists and Presbyterians alike. However, the couple were not only reconciled but when, after the Battle of Naseby, Mary’s family had lost everything, the whole family of ten were taken into the Milton household. Three daughters were born and a son who died in infancy. Sadly Mary died a few days after the birth of her last child. Several years later he married his second wife Katherine Woodcock ,who also died two years later after childbirth. His third wife Elizabeth Minshall who had married him in 1662, survived him.

After the Civil Wars, Milton found himself working for the new government. He became Latin secretary to the Council of State due, one assumes, to his classical education. As a true Puritan he had been in favour of the execution of Charles I and a stanch supporter of Cromwell. After the restoration of the monarchy Milton was in extreme danger of his life and he was arrested. Fortunately friends intervened on his behalf. By now his health was suffering. All his life he had suffered poor sight which he put down to the fact that from an early age he had spent an inordinate amount of time poring over his books until midnight. He finally lost his sight at the age of 43, which curtailed his secretarial work, and his great masterpiece, always his intention to write, had not yet come into being. Disillusioned by the Restoration he now devoted himself to his poetry once more and in 1667 his great epic "Paradise Lost" was published. It is Man’s struggle against the power of evil. Later, its sequel ‘Paradise Regained’ was written and ‘Samson Agonistes’ - considered to be the greatest English drama written in the classical Greek mould. In this drama the blind poet likens himself to the blinded Samson

Milton and his family had moved to Chalfont St, Giles to escape the Plague of London and here he spent his remaining years still writing, teaching and receiving visitors. Towards the end of his life he was plagued by gout. He died on November 8^th 1674 just before his sixty sixth birthday and he was buried next to his father in St Giles, Cripplegate, in London.

He was a man of vision and of high principles and it had been his dream to see mankind freed from the shackles of ignorance, prejudice and injustice. The restoration of the monarchy with all that that entailed was probably the heaviest of his disillusionments. However, in spite of the political situation and his blindness, he had produced in his last years the poetical masterpiece ‘Paradise Lost’ - an account of the struggle between good and evil. It is a brilliant piece of poetic writing and his portrayal of Satan was considered one of the supreme achievements in English literature. His literary output was prodigious and the range of his writings vast. Although the bulk of his prose is studied mainly by scholars today, its influence is still felt. His defence of the freedom of the Press is still quoted.

He has been in and out of favour down the centuries since his death, with scholars and critics for various reasons but it is most unlikely that he will ever be entirely marginalised or forgotten. Another poet, Alfred Tennyson wrote in 1863 "Milton, a name to resound for ages" Indeed, it is!