John Milton

John Milton (December 9, 1608 – November 8, 1674) was an English poet, most famous for his blank verse epic Paradise Lost. He is also remembered for authoring the brief epic Paradise Regained, the closet drama Samson Agonistes, the monody Lycidas, and Areopagitica, a prose work that condemns pre-publishing censorship.

Years Abroad

After completing his six years of private study in early 1638, Milton embarked upon a tour of France and Italy in May of the same year that was cut short 13 months later by what he later termed ?sad tidings of civil war in England.?{{fn|8}} On his travels through France, Milton visited Paris where he met Hugo Grotius, before he moved on through to Orleans, Lyons, and Nice. However, he spent very little time in France; Cyriack Skinner, student, friend and early biographer of Milton, suggests that Milton travelled quickly through the country because he had ?no admiration? for French ?manners and Genius.? {{fn|9}} Leaving France behind, Milton sailed to Genoa, and quickly took in Pisa before he arrived in Florence around June. Milton?s time in Florence was a resounding success: he was particularly well received in the numerous academies of Florence, where records testify to the enthusiastic reception of Milton?s neo-latin poetry. It was during his stay in Florence that Milton?s much recounted conversation with Galileo, who lived under House arrest at nearby Arcetri, probably took place. After enjoying two months engaged with the intellectual milieu of the Florence, Milton arrived in Rome. With letters of introduction from his newly acquired Florentine friends, Milton probably gained access to the Roman academies as soon as he arrived, and was later allowed to visit the Vatican library through his acquaintance with Lukas Holste. After staying in Rome for two months, he moved onto Naples where he met Giovanni Battista Manso, Marquis of Villa, who is remembered for his literary patronage of Torquato Tasso. Milton later wrote that while he stayed in Naples the Marquis of Villa treated him with ?all the warmth of friendship: for he conducted me himself over the city and the viceregent?s court.? {{fn|10}} In a debt of a gratitude, Milton penned Mansus,' a latin panegyric that celebrated Battista Manso?s patronage and hospitality and was published in the 1645 volume of Milton?s poems. {{fn|11}}

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