Shelf life

Maybe you studied Milton at school, or perhaps you are aware of him as an historical figure. But for many of us the name means very little. Even in the 400th anniversary of his birth this year, a Google search reveals very little bar the publication of a new biography.

I’ve just finished said biography, a weighty and extremely well-written 400-page tome, and my undergraduate admiration for Milton has been reawakened. So let me educate you!

Confused young man

Milton was born in 1608 into a middle class aspirational family, in the city of London; a buzzing hive of religious and intellectual activity. By the time he finished St. Paul’s School ready for Cambridge, he was fluent in Latin, Greek and Hebrew, his tutor at home was a Presbyterian pastor who remained in contact with him through his teens, even sending him a Hebrew Bible. John Milton, it seems, was a genuinely confused young man immersed in the classical literature, much of which elevated homosexual behaviour, elegance of expression and ambition, yet conscious of spiritual reality and the necessity of holiness. The choices he would make would shape the course, not just of his life, but of English literature, and would also give powerful voice to the turbulent times of the English church.

Freedom priority

Aware of his own ability, it nevertheless took years for Milton to find a voice and purpose. After the publication of a few Latin poems and a play, it was in fact the death of a close friend which prompted a new direction. He married and began writing pamphlets addressing the political and religious world around him. Milton’s religion is intrinsically political, so it is hard to see where his heart is. In this way he is a man of his time, when the nature and role of the established church was a political issue. Milton attacks corrupt ministers and he condemns the Episcopacy, showing his Presbyterian colours as the Civil War approached. Then in a more radical move, which would be dangerous to his reputation for the rest of his life, he wrote The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce, supporting divorce for reasons other than adultery. His priority was freedom of speech and religion.

The fame of these and other pamphlets meant that John Milton was employed by the Commonwealth when the Civil War concluded. His job was to promote the Commonwealth through propaganda, and in communication with its near international neighbours. As Cromwell took power, Milton, though loyal, became clearly disillusioned with a return to state censorship and the diminishing of Parliament’s role. At the Restoration Milton was a wanted man, but, though fearing for his life and by now completely blind, he didn’t entirely retire from public life. There were a few more pamphlets, but more importantly, he began work on Paradise Lost.

Justifying God

It is amazing to think that these ten books of blank verse, full of extended metaphors and classical allusions, could have been composed at night and then dictated to a servant. In Paradise Lost, Milton’s professed intent is to ‘justify the ways of God to men’ as he tells the story of Creation and Fall, but as well, it seems, he is seeking to explore his personal themes of freedom and government. Many critics have argued about Milton’s depiction of Satan, a dominant, charismatic presence in the poem. But, for the Christian reader, the main question is, surely, how can man ever justify the ways of God to man? As oft-quoted Spurgeon said: ‘Defend the Bible? I’d rather defend a lion!’ By putting the story of the Bible into a classical epic form, extra-biblical details are added, such as the wars in Heaven, conversations between God the Father and His Son are imagined, and into the gaps slip all kinds of suppositions and half-truths. I think it clear in the poem that Milton’s view of the Trinity is unorthodox, and, in seeking keep a strong hold on freewill, his view of salvation is set awry. It’s a great poem, full of powerful drama, tenderness and beautiful description, but don’t expect the gospel.

Before his death Milton followed Paradise Lost with the shorter Paradise Regained, the story of Christ’s temptation, and Samson Agonistes, Samson’s story from Judges.

In agony from gout in 1674, Milton died. His political hopes had been dashed by the end of the Commonwealth and the dissolute Restoration, and any personal faith diluted into a form of Unitarianism. And yet his legacy has been huge. His great Areopagatica was consulted in the formulation of the US Constitution, and Paradise Lost achieved such fame in the 18th and 19th centuries that it influenced many in their understanding of the gospel. Milton stands as example and warning to us; a man courageous and concerned for political justice, ready to use the language of faith, yet one who seems often removed from the faith he writes about and defends. It seems his belief in the power of books triumphed over a trust in the Book of Books.

Milton

Confused young man

Freedom priority

Justifying God

Sarah Allen

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