In his prose works he defended religious, civil and domestic liberties, freedom of the press, Parliament and divorce. In the second part he spent his time writing political pamphlets and taking part in the political activities. To the first period belong some Italian poems, L’Allegro and Il Penseroso,written under the influence of Petrarch, in which he shows an excellent knowledge of the Italian language, and some Latin and English poems: Pro Populo Anglicano Defensio (defending the execution of Charles I and supporting Cromwell’s regime ) On the Morning of Christ’s Nativity, Lycidas (a lament for a drowned friend ). Works: we may divide his works according to the three periods of his life: a period devoted to study, a period in which he took an active part in the political struggles of his time and the last period in which, completely blind, he retired from public life. It was during this period that he started to write his best poetry. In the meanwhile he had troubles with his eyesight. When the Puritan power ended, he was first arrested and then released. He chose the Puritans only because he believed that in a Republic, more than in a monarchy, there were the ideal conditions for independent religion. He wrote for the liberty of the press while the Puritans forbade free discussion. He supported Cromwell but he had very little of the strict Puritan. During the Civil War between Royalists and Republicans he became involved in the religious debate of the time and he took an active part on the side of the Puritans. In 1638 he made a tour on the Continent travelling above all in France and Italy where he met Galileo Galilei. He was very much interested in the Latin, Greek and Italian culture. From a literary point of view, he was not a man of the age. His poetry was influenced by the historical events of his time. John Milton is the most important poet and the most representative of the Puritan Age.
0 kommentar(er)
