Summary
Melvyn Bragg examines the literary and political career of the poet John Milton. If it wasn't for the poet Andrew Marvell we wouldn't have his later works; Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained and Samson Agonistes. Milton spent the English Civil Wars as a prominent politician and right hand man to Oliver Cromwell. When the Monarchy was restored in 1660 it was only Marvell's intervention that saved Milton from execution. By then, Marvell argued, Milton was old and blind and posed no threat to Charles II. But as a young man Milton had been an activist and pamphleteer extraordinaire. Allegedly inspired by a meeting with Galileo he wrote in passionate defence of Liberty. He detested the Church's insistence on empty ritual. And most dramatically for his time he demanded that the state serve its people rather than the people serve the state. How then should we remember Milton - as poet or politician - as an idealist or an apologist for a revolutionary yet intolerant regime? And was he a man at one with the people or an elitist who preached to the masses but lived his own life only in the most rarefied of circles? With John Carey, Emeritus Professor of English Literature at Oxford University; Lisa Jardine, Professor of Renaissance Studies at Queen Mary College, University of London and Honorary Fellow of King's College Cambridge; Blair Worden, Professor of Early Modern History at the University of Sussex.
Transcript
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| 0:47.5 | Hello if it wasn't for the poet Andrew Marvel, it's unlikely that we would have the later works of John Milton, Paradise Lost Paradise Regained in Samson Agonisties. Milton spent the English Civil Wars as a prominent political pamphlet here and apologist for Oliver Cromwell. |
| 1:06.1 | When the moniker was restored in 1660 he was put in prison and it was only Marvel's intervention that |
| 1:10.9 | saved Milton from execution. By then, Marvel argued, Milton was |
| 1:14.8 | old and blind and posed no threat to Charles II, and really he was a classicist and the poet. |
| 1:20.8 | But as a younger man, Milton had been an activist and propagandist for a radical and intolerant regime. |
| 1:26.0 | He wrote in passionate defense of liberty, he detested bishops, |
| 1:30.0 | most dramatically for his time he demanded that the state serve its people rather than the people serve the state |
| 1:35.7 | Yet he was an uncompromising elitist who despised the herd confused |
| 1:41.3 | With me to discuss the political life of John Milton at John Carey confused. of Milton's Complete Poems. These are Jardine, Professor of Renaissance Studies at Queen Mary University |
| 1:55.7 | of London, an honorary fellow of King's College, Cambridge. And Blair Worden, Professor of Early Modern |
| 2:00.6 | History at the University of Sussex and author of Roundhead |
| 2:03.9 | reputations the English civil wars and the passions of posterity. John Carrick |
| 2:08.8 | and we just set Milton in his early context born in six to eight Shakespeare still alive the great Bible |
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