John Milton: A Literary and Historical Overview, Sintesi del corso di Inglese

Scarica John Milton: A Literary and Historical Overview e più Sintesi del corso in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! VAR NRE Milton was born in 1608 in London in a wealthy and puritan family. IN 1632 he retired in the family estate in Horton after his graduation, at this time he displayed his poetic abilities in his firt famous work: the twin poem L'Allegro e Il Penseroso, on the contrast between an active and a contemplative life. He then wrote: * Comus(1634) an allegoric masque on the importance of chastity ® Lycidas(1634) an elegy where he mourned the premature death of his dear friend. In 1638 he left for a two-year tour in Europe to complete his education. After he came back he settled in London where he became a succesful PROSE POLEMICIST and WRITER OF TREATISES on a religious, political and educational matters. In 1642 he married Mary Powell but she left him only a few weeks after the marriage. After this terrible experience Milton became an ADVOCATE FOR DIVORCE and he wrote 4 tracts, the most famous one is "The Doctrine and Discipline of Marriage". The first collected volume of his verse, in latin and english, appeared in 1645 under the title Poems of Mr. John Milton. Milton during the civil war took an active role as a supporter of Cromwell's republican cause. He justified the rebellion against an unworthy and unjust king in his Tenure of Kings and Magistrates and Pro Anglicano Defensio. After Cromwell's death in 1658 the Restoration in 1660 marked the end of Milton's public career, but defined the beginning of the third phase of his literary production, which is when he wrote his best-known works. Thanks to the care of his thir wife and three daughters he managed to complete his RELIGIOUS EPIC PARADISE LOST(1667). 4 years later this masterpiece was followed by PARADISE REGAINED, which is a debate between Jesus and Satan drawing upo the biblical episode of Christ's temptation in the desert and the tragedy Samson Agonistes.