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JOHN MILTON (1608-1674). It would be reasonable to divide Milton’s literary activity into three groups: The first short poems written at Horton (After leaving the University Milton settled in Horton, Buckinghamshire, 1632-1637); Prose: “History of Britain” (1646);
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JOHN MILTON (1608-1674) It would be reasonable to divide Milton’s literary activity into three groups: The first short poems written at Horton (After leaving the University Milton settled in Horton, Buckinghamshire, 1632-1637); Prose: “History of Britain” (1646); The greatest epic poems: “Paradise Lost” (1667), “Paradise Regained” (1671). John Milton was a great Puritan poet and pamphleteer. His life was closely connected with the Bourgeois Revolution, the short-lived Commonwealth and the restoration of English Monarchy. The idea of a good marriage proved his high respect for women as an intellectual companion and comrade, rather then as merely a housekeeper and child bearer. These ideas were expressed in his work “The Doctrine And Discipline Of Divorce”.
Since 1646 he had been working on his “History of Britain” • Oliver Cromwell became Lord Protector • Milton considered his dictatorship a progressive one. Milton raised his voice boldly against the restoration of Monarchy. He spoke out in a published letter to general Monk. Then he wrote an open letter to a new Parliament. A politician and literary man, Andrew Marvell (1621-1678), played a great role in Milton’s life. His influence in Parliament protected Milton. • When Charles 2 became King the change in English literature was almost as great as the change in government : • theatres opened again • new dramatist appeared • The plays were written in heroic couplets • the men were brave and the women were beautiful • The public consisted mainly of the court and the wealthy • the actors themselves were fashionably dressed • women were allowed to play in the performances; they appeared on the stage in their modern clothes • The stage itself changed the shape: a ”picture-frame” • The plots of the plays centred around love and money
Milton wrote of life because he loved it enough to fight for it; he fought for freedom. In 1660’s the biographies and diaries became a form of literature. Some of them were written as a record of the main events of the day: The Great Plague (1665) killed more than 70.000 of total population of London; The Great Fire(1666) destroyed 13.000 houses.
OTHER REPRESENTATIVES • WILLIAM CONGREVE – the Master of the “Comedy of Manners” in which he described the manners of the age: “”Love for Love” and “The Way of the World” • SAMUEL PEPYS - diarist