Bust of John Milton

John Milton (9 December 1608 – 8 November 1674) was an English poet, polemicist, the man of letters, and civil servant for the Commonwealth of England under its Council of State and later under Oliver Cromwell. He wrote at a time of religious flux and political upheaval and is best known for his epic poem Paradise Lost (1667), written in blank verse. Writing in English, Latin, Greek, and Italian, he achieved international renown within his lifetime, and his celebrated Areopagitica (1644), written in condemnation of pre-publication censorship, is among history's most influential and impassioned defences of free speech and freedom of the press. His desire for freedom extended into his style: he introduced new words (coined from Latin) to the English language and was the first modern writer to employ non-rhymed verse outside of the theatre or translations. William Hayley's 1796 biography called him the greatest English author, and he remains generally regarded as one of the preeminent writers in the English language, though critical reception has oscillated in the centuries since his death (often on account of his republicanism). Samuel Johnson praised Paradise Lost as a poem which...with respect to design may claim the first place, and with respect to performance, the second, among the productions of the human mind, though he (a Tory and recipient of royal patronage) described Milton's politics as those of an acrimonious and surly republican. Poets such as William Blake, William Wordsworth and Thomas Hardy revered him.约翰·弥尔顿（John Milton，1608年12月9日—1674年11月8日）是英国诗人、政论家与文人，曾在英格兰联邦（Commonwealth of England）时期担任国务委员会麾下文官，后续又效力于奥利弗·克伦威尔（Oliver Cromwell）。他创作于宗教动荡与政治剧变的时代，最广为人知的作品是1667年以无韵诗（blank verse）体写成的史诗《失乐园》（Paradise Lost）。他以英语、拉丁语、希腊语及意大利语进行创作，在世期间便已享誉国际；其脍炙人口的《论出版自由》（Areopagitica，1644年）旨在谴责出版前审查制度，堪称历史上最具影响力、最饱含热忱的言论自由（free speech）与出版自由（freedom of the press）辩护文本之一。他对自由的追求亦延伸至创作风格之中：他从拉丁语衍生新词引入英语，同时也是首位在戏剧创作与译作之外使用无韵诗的现代作家。1796年，威廉·黑利在为其撰写的传记中称他为"最伟大的英国作家"；时至今日，他仍被普遍视为英语文学史上的顶尖作家之一——尽管自其逝世后的数个世纪里，评论界对他的评价几经反复，这往往与他的共和主义（republicanism）立场有关。塞缪尔·约翰逊（Samuel Johnson）曾评价《失乐园》："就创作构思而言，它可跻身人类精神产物之首；而就艺术表现而言，亦能位列次席"。但身为托利党（Tory）成员且受王室庇护的他，同时将弥尔顿的政治立场斥为"尖刻乖戾的共和主义"。威廉·布莱克（William Blake）、威廉·华兹华斯（William Wordsworth）与托马斯·哈代（Thomas Hardy）等诗人都对他推崇备至。