Tomorrow, December 9th, John Milton would have turned 400 years old. As a result, Milton aficionados around the world are celebrating in various appropriately literary ways.
Milton, who died in 1674, was an English writer, whose poetry was known for its pastoral and religious imagery. While he is most famous today for poetry, Milton also wrote much in the way of editorial prose for the time. His most well-known work is Paradise Lost.
Paradise Lost is an epic behemoth of blank verse, telling of the story of man’s transition from innocence to experience, from the Garden of Eden to the sulfuric fires of hell. Tackling allegorical references to Greek mythology, classical religious writings and challenging theological ideas, Paradise Lost is considered by many to be one of the finest pieces of writing about creationism in existence.
“Paradise Lost is more remarkable for the way it was created: When Milton began writing the poem in 1658, he had been blind for four years. He recited the entire work to an assistant, 40 lines each morning for five years, says William Kerrigan. When the secretary was late, Milton was said to have grumbled around the house, “I want to be milked. I want to be milked.’”
A