密尔顿(1608～1674年)
Milton, John
英国诗人。密尔顿青年时期才华洋溢，就读剑桥大学（1625～1632），并在那里写作拉丁文、义大利文、英文诗歌；其中包括「快乐的人」和「幽思的人」，二者皆收录於後来的《诗歌》（1645）中。1632～1638年期间，他埋首在自己的书房中－－写出假面剧《科玛斯》（1637）和不寻常的悼诗〈利西达斯〉（1638）－－并旅行至义大利。关心英格兰的清教事业，他在1641～1660年的小册子写作中花了很多心力论述公民自由及宗教自由，并在克伦威尔的政府中任职。他最着名的散文收录於论述新闻自由的小册子《论出版自由》（1644）和《论教育》（1644）中。他在1651年左右失明，此後口述他的作品。他惨不忍睹的第一次婚姻在1652年妻子过世後结束，往後二次婚姻较为成功。王政复辟後他以国协着名扞卫者的身分被捕，但很快遭到释放。在他论述人类堕落而以无韵诗写成的史诗杰作《失乐园》（1667）中，他以超强的力道驾驭崇高的「伟大风格」，而他对撒旦的角色刻画是极致的成就。在《乐园复得》（1671）和《力士参孙》（1671）中，他进一步表达出自己对上帝的纯真信仰和个人灵魂重获的力量，在前一部史诗中基督战胜了诱惑者撒旦，而在後一部悲剧中这位《旧约》人物克服了自怜和绝望而成为上帝的勇士。在英诗历史中，他的地位被视为仅次於莎士比亚，密尔顿对往後文学拥有深远的影响；虽然在20世纪早期遭到攻击，在世纪中期已经重获西方教规中的地位。
English version：
1608～1674年
Milton, John
English poet. A brilliant youth, Milton attended Cambridge University (1625-32), where he wrote poems in Latin, Italian, and English; these included L'Allegro and Il Penseroso, both published later in Poems (1645). During 1632-38 he engaged in private study—writing the masque Comus (1637) and the extraordinary elegy “Lycidas” (1638)—and toured Italy. Concerned with the Puritan cause in England, he spent much of 1641-60 pamphleteering for civil and religious liberty and serving in Oliver Cromwell's government. His best-known prose is in the pamphlets Areopagitica (1644), on freedom of the press, and Of Education (1644). He lost his sight c. 1651, and thereafter dictated his works. His disastrous first marriage ended with his wife's death in 1652; two later marriages were more successful. After the Restoration he was arrested as a noted defender of the Commonwealth, but was soon released. In Paradise Lost (1667), his epic masterpiece on the Fall of Man written in blank verse, he uses his sublime “grand style” with superb power; his characterization of Satan is a supreme achievement. He further expressed his purified faith in God and the regenerative strength of the individual soul in Paradise Regained (1671), an epic in which Christ overcomes Satan the tempter, and Samson Agonistes (1671), a tragedy in which the Old Testament figure conquers self-pity and despair to become God's champion. Considered second only to William Shakespeare in the history of English-language poetry, Milton had an immense influence on later literature; though attacked early in the 20th century, he had regained his place in the Western canon by mid-century.