Throughout his life, John Milton faced many challenges and personal disasters. He was born into a transitional time period, in which he had to find his own identity. He often had disagreements that would get him into trouble with tutors, professors and even his dad. He also had losses that would be difficult for any person to handle: he lost wives, children, and even his eyesight. Although he was a well-known writer, his personal life was not-so known. How could a man deal with all of that, keep faith, and continue writing? This essay will explore his life, evaluate his work, and examine his impact on literature.
John Milton’s early life was spent in London, where he was born December 9th, 1608. He was the son of Sara Jeffrey and John Milton
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Arguably his most influential tutor was Thomas Young, who taught him religion in politics. Young departed from England when Milton was eleven years old, but the impression he left on Milton was long-standing (Milton 3). Around the age of twelve, Milton was enrolled in St. Paul’s School, where he learned Latin and Greek. From a young age our poet showed a strong interest in and talent for academic subjects, particularly languages, and from the age of twelve, he regularly stayed up past midnight to study. It was at this school that Milton met his closest childhood friend Charles Diodati. On April 9th, 1625 a 16 year old John Milton was enrolled into Christ’s College, Cambridge University in preparation for the ministry. At Cambridge he had a disagreement with his first tutor, William Chappell, and was suspended. During his suspension, he returned to his family home where he begins to write his first poetry, then later returns to Cambridge, but assigned a new tutor and continued to study logic, ethics, Greek, Latin, and Hebrew. Due to his lack of maturity, and his commitment to studying rather than athletics and socializing, he was known around Cambridge as “the Lady of Christ’s.” Milton excelled academically at Cambridge, and after seven years of assiduous studying got his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1629, then his Master of Arts degree in