Editing John Milton (section)

== Early life and education ==
{{Main|Early life of John Milton}}
[[File:The poet and statesman John Milton was born 1608 in Bread Street.jpg|thumb|Blue plaque on 1 [[Bread Street]], [[London]], commemorating Milton's birthplace]]
[[File:John Milton portrait.jpg|thumb|Portrait of Milton at age 10 in [[Milton's Cottage]], [[Chalfont St Giles]], Buckinghamshire, painted by [[Cornelis Janssens van Ceulen]]]]
John Milton was born in [[Bread Street]], London, on 9 December 1608, the son of composer [[John Milton (composer)|John Milton]] and his wife Sarah Jeffrey. The senior John Milton (1562–1647) moved to London around 1583 after being disinherited by his devout [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] father Richard "the Ranger" Milton for embracing [[Protestantism]].<ref name=":3" /> In London, the senior John Milton married Sarah Jeffrey (1572–1637) and found lasting financial success as a [[scrivener]].<ref name=Forsyth16>{{cite book |last=Forsyth |first=Neil |title=John Milton A Biography |edition=1st |year=2008 |publisher=[[Lion Hudson]] |location= Oxford |isbn=978-0745953106 |page=[https://archive.org/details/johnmiltonbiogra0000fors/page/16 16] |chapter=St. Paul's |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/johnmiltonbiogra0000fors/page/16 }}</ref> He lived in and worked from a house in [[Cheapside]] at Bread Street, where the [[Mermaid Tavern]] was located. The elder Milton was noted for his skill as a composer of music, and this talent left his son with a lifelong appreciation for music and friendships with musicians such as [[Henry Lawes]].<ref>Lewalski 2003 p. 3.</ref>

The prosperity of Milton's father allowed his eldest son to obtain a private tutor, [[Thomas Young (1587–1655)|Thomas Young]], a Scottish Presbyterian with an [[Master of Arts|MA]] from the [[University of St Andrews]]. Young's influence also served as the poet's introduction to religious radicalism.<ref>Skerpan-Wheeler, Elizabeth. "John Milton." British Rhetoricians and Logicians, 1500–1660: Second Series. Ed. Edward A. Malone. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Dictionary of Literary Biography Vol. 281. Literature Resource Center.</ref> After Young's tutorship, Milton attended [[St Paul's School (London)|St Paul's School]] in London, where he began the study of Latin and Greek; the classical languages left an imprint on both his poetry and prose in English (he also wrote in Latin and Italian).

Milton's first datable compositions are two psalms written at age 15 at [[Long Bennington]]. One contemporary source is ''[[Brief Lives]]'' of [[John Aubrey]], an uneven compilation including first-hand reports. In the work, Aubrey quotes Christopher, Milton's younger brother: "When he was young, he studied very hard and sat up very late, commonly till twelve or one o'clock at night". Aubrey adds, "His complexion exceeding faire—he was so faire that they called him the Lady of Christ's College."<ref name=OLD>Dick 1962 pp. 270–275.</ref>

In 1625, Milton gained entry to [[Christ's College, Cambridge|Christ's College]] at the [[University of Cambridge]], where he graduated with a [[Bachelor of Arts|BA]] in 1629,<ref>{{acad|id=MLTN624J|name=Milton, John}}</ref> ranking fourth of 24 honours graduates that year in the University of Cambridge.<ref>Hunter 1980 p. 99.</ref> Preparing, at that time, to become an [[Anglicanism|Anglican]] priest, he stayed on at Cambridge where he received his [[Master of Arts|MA]] on 3 July 1632.

Milton may have been [[rustication (academia)|rusticated]] (suspended) in his first year at Cambridge for quarrelling with his tutor, Bishop [[William Chappell (bishop)|William Chappell]]. He was certainly at home in London in the Lent Term 1626; there he wrote ''Elegia Prima'', his first Latin [[elegy]], to Charles Diodati, a friend from St Paul's. Based on remarks of [[John Aubrey]], Chappell "whipt" Milton.<ref name=OLD/> This story is now disputed, though certainly Milton disliked Chappell.<ref>Wedgwood 1961 p. 178.</ref> Historian [[Christopher Hill (historian)|Christopher Hill]] notes that Milton was apparently rusticated and that the differences between Chappell and Milton may have been either religious or personal.<ref>Hill 1977 p. 34.</ref> It is also possible that, like [[Isaac Newton]] four decades later, Milton was sent home from Cambridge because of the [[Plague (disease)|plague]], which afflicted Cambridge in 1625.

At Cambridge, Milton was on good terms with [[Edward King (British poet)|Edward King]]; he later dedicated "[[Lycidas]]" to him. Milton also befriended theologian [[Roger Williams]], tutoring Williams in [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] in exchange for lessons in [[Dutch language|Dutch]].<ref>Pfeiffer, Robert H. (April 1955). "The Teaching of Hebrew in Colonial America". ''The Jewish Quarterly Review''. pp. 363–73</ref> Despite developing a reputation for poetic skill and general erudition, Milton suffered from alienation among his peers during his time at Cambridge. Having once watched his fellow students attempting comedy on the college stage, he later observed, "they thought themselves gallant men, and I thought them fools".<ref>Milton 1959 pp. 887–888.</ref>

Milton also was disdainful of the university curriculum, which consisted of stilted formal debates conducted in Latin on abstruse topics.{{fact|date=August 2024}} His own corpus is not devoid of humour, notably his sixth [[wikt:prolusion|prolusion]] and his epitaphs on the death of [[Thomas Hobson (postal carrier)|Thomas Hobson]]. While at Cambridge, he wrote some of his well-known shorter English poems, including "On the Morning of Christ's Nativity", "Epitaph on the admirable Dramaticke Poet, W. Shakespeare" (his first poem to appear in print), ''[[L'Allegro]]'', and ''[[Il Penseroso]]''.