Friday, July 6, 2007

John Milton - Poet, Priest and Prophet

Milton was born in London on December 9, 1609 as the son of a wealthy notary. He was educated at St. Paul's School. Milton received a Masters degree from Cambridge University in 1632.

Milton is the legendary poet in Literature. One of his best piece of work is "Paradise Lost". It contains 12 books.
Here are the first few lines of the greatest epic :

"Of Man's first disobedience, and the fruit
Of that forbidden tree whose mortal taste
Brought death into the World, and all our woe,
With loss of Eden, till one greater Man
Restore us, and regain the blissful seat, "

These lines gives the gist of whole poem.
As Men was also an immortal creature before, like God. But the sheer blunder by Adam and Eve(i.e. by eating the fruit of a Forbidden Tree) caused Men to fall into the misery of Life and Death.
A very common topic presented in the most uncommon and tactful manner, only Milton can do.
Beautiful Art of Literature.

Enjoy!!!

6 comments:

Cindrella said...
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Cindrella said...
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Pritika Gupta said...

hmm.. well gr8 knwledge sharingg

All Is Whole said...

Hmmmmmmm
now i know more of Milton

Smiles :)

ReadnRyte said...

Hi,

We may call Adam's n Eve's consuming of the fruit of knowledge as a blunder, but I believe it has more to do with freewill in conflict with rigid norms. Paradise Lost, I believe was about Satan, 'the hero' or chief protagonist of Paradise Lost and his epic journey from the fires of hell to a world being built for Man.

'The mind is its own place, and in it self
Can make a Heav'n of Hell, a Hell of Heav'n.
What matter where, if I be still the same,
And what I should be, all but less then hee
Whom Thunder hath made greater? Here at least
We shall be free; th' Almighty hath not built
Here for his envy, will not drive us hence:
Here we may reign secure, and in my choyce
To reign is worth ambition though in Hell:
Better to reign in Hell, then serve in Heav'n.

Delicious...comparable to the best rousing speeches in literature.

Thanks Cindrella...It's been a while since I read Paradise Lost...it was almost a lost glass slipper. Thanks for bringing it back once again :)

Rahul

Cindrella said...

@Pritika & Prashant: Thanks!
@Rahul: Well it seems u have read Paradise Lost.I still believe Satan is chief Protagonist in the book 2.

"Better to reign in Hell, then serve in Heav'n." is one of the best lines in the whole epic.
Thanks for ur views