Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Happy Birthday John Milton!



HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOHN MILTON!
Hey there marauders. We wanted to do a post today honoring one of our very favorite authors of all time John Milton. We love him so much that we even took a quote by him to use for our header (look up at the top of the page) ^. For those of you who are living under a literary rock John Milton is the author of the epic story Paradise Lost (one of Padfoot and Prongs most cherished books). Paradise Lost tells the story of Satan's fall from paradise from his point of view, making him quite possible one of the coolest characters ever written. If you have not read it we STRONGLY suggest picking yourself up a copy and devoting yourself to reading it over the next month.

Here is a bit about John Milton for those of you who might be looking to follow in this masters footsteps.

"John Milton (9 December 1608 – 8 November 1674) was an English poet author, polemicist and civil servant for the Common Wealth of England . He is best known for his epic poem Paradise Lost and for his treatise condemning censorship, Areopagitica.

He was both an accomplished, scholarly man of letters and polemical writer, and an official serving under Oliver Cromwell. His views may be described as broadly, Protestant, if not always easy to locate in a more precise religious category. Milton was writing at a time of religious and political flux in England, and his poetry and prose reflect deep convictions, often reacting to contemporary circumstances. He wrote also in Latin and Italian, and had an international reputation during his lifetime." (Wikipedia)

Also for those of you who have not read Paradise Lost (or for those of you who miss it as much as we do) here are some of our all time favorite quotes.

  • "So farewell hope, and with hope farewell fear/ farewell remorse; all good to me is lost;/ evil, be thou my good." IV 108-10
  • "Eased the putting off/ these troublesome disguises which we wear." IV 750-51
  • "Freely we serve/ because we freely love, as in our will/ to love or not; in this we stand or fall." V 538-540
  • "Grace was in all her steps, heav'n in her eye/ in every gesture dignity and love." VII 488-89
  • "Her virtue and conscience of her worth/ that would be wooed and not unsought, be won." VII 502-3
  • "Among the faithless, faithful only he." V 897
"So dear I love him that with him all deaths/ I could endure, without him live no life." IX 832-33.

Hope you enjoyed those folks! To honor this literary master make sure to stop by our new Etsy shop and check out our bookmarks inspired by illustrations from parts of Paradise Lost. Do you have some of your own favorite John Milton Quotes? Love Paradise Lost? Tell us about it!

Happy John Milton's Birthday to eveyone!

-mischief managed-

8 comments:

  1. I'm sorry but I can no longer see that picture nor can I hear John Milton's name without "John! John! John MILton!" going through my head. The Poet Puppet Pals have ruined me forever. :D

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  2. Um it has ruined us don't you worry. I kid you not padfoot and I were in the store the other day and I saw something to do with him and I started singing that!

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  3. Nice - in honor of this, I may have to watch The Devil's Advocate tonight. You know, that late-90s movie that pretends it's smart by including a John Milton character and using Paradise Lost references ("Better to reign in hell, than serve in heaven"). However, how could any movie with Keanu Reeves be considered "smart"?

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  4. That is hilarious. Yes I love throwing out obscure literary quotes and to make myself seem better than everyone haha. But in all seriousness, I think I would love to see a Paradise Lost movie if it was done right. Satan is such a badass and with CGI I feel like they could pull off a fairly epic pandemonium. Maybe Keanus will play God -_-

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  5. Oooooohhh sexy he is ... (NOT).

    You guys always impress me with your favorite authors. I'm just not that deep!

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  6. Haha well Milton is easy to love. Paradise Lost is one of the most kick ass things ever written. Satan is possibly my favorite character ever written. You feel so much sympathy for him! Only a great writer could do that.

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  7. Man, that guy's old...

    I haven't read Milton in a long, long time. In fact, not since university. I really must invest in some more Milton.

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  8. Ok, old guy against old guy: my favourite is Rabelais (so funny and now probably easier to read in English translation than in the original French text) and I promise I'll have a look at Milton. I always thought it would be kind of boring - but I guess I was wrong!

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