AS SEEN ON TV: JOHN MILTON

Last week we featured the major players in the 'You Are There' episode of "The Tragedy Of John Milton (August 13, 1660)". That is, all but one: the main man, Milton himself.

I decided to save his ASOTV showcase for his 401st birthday.....

JOHN MILTON

AS SEEN IN:
"The Tragedy of John Milton (August 13, 1660)"
- 'You Are There'


AS PLAYED BY:
Barry Jones

John Milton (9 December 1608 – 8 November 1674) was an English poet, author, polemicist and civil servant for the Commonwealth of England. He is best known for his epic poem "Paradise Lost" and for his treatise condemning censorship, "Areopagitica".

He was both an accomplished, scholarly man of letters and polemical writer, and an official serving under Oliver Cromwell. His views may be described as broadly Protestant, if not always easy to locate in a more precise religious category. Milton was writing at a time of religious and political flux in England, and his poetry and prose reflect deep convictions, often reacting to contemporary circumstances. He wrote also in Latin and Italian, and had an international reputation during his lifetime. Though Cromwell’s death in 1658 caused the English Republic to collapse into feuding military and political factions, Milton stubbornly clung to the beliefs that had originally inspired him to write for the Commonwealth. In 1659 he published A Treatise of Civil Power, attacking the concept of a state-dominated church (the position known as Erastianism), as well as Considerations touching the likeliest means to remove hirelings, denouncing corrupt practises in church governance. As the Republic disintegrated, Milton wrote several proposals to retain a non-monarchical government against the wishes of parliament, soldiers and the people.


Upon the Restoration in May 1660, Milton went into hiding for his life, while a warrant was issued for his arrest and his writings burnt. Re-emerging after a general pardon was issued, he was nevertheless arrested and briefly imprisoned before influential friends, such as [Andrew] Marvell, now an MP, intervened.
(From Wikipedia) BCnU!