John Milton was born in London in 1608 (Merriman). His grandfather was a Roman Catholic who had disowned Milton's father when he became a Protestant (Merriman). The boy was sent to St. Paul's School, he learned Latin, Greek and Hebrew and began trying to write poetry (Merriman). In 1625 he matriculated at Christ's College, Cambridge, clashed with his tutor the following year and was suspended, returned and received another tutor, and graduated on time (Merriman). At this time the University still undertook teaching largely by repeated memorization, and Milton considered his training there to be of little value (Merriman). He undertook to give himself a liberal education through wide reading (Merriman). His father had hoped to make him a lawyer, but he took it very well when his son announced that he intended to make writing poetry his life's work (Merriman). In 1629, at the age of 21, he wrote a short poem, "The Morning of the Nativity of Christ", his first memorable work, still widely read at Christmas (Merriman). Between 1641 and 1660, Milton wrote almost no poetry (Merriman). This was the time when the English Puritans were planning to overthrow the English monarchy on the grounds that it was levying taxes illegally (and was, moreover, in cahoots with the wicked English Church (Merriman). Milton believed it all heart to the Puritan cause and set aside his poetry to write pamphlets defending various aspects of liberty as he conceived it (Merriman In 1642, at the age of 33, Milton married Mary Powell, who had). 16 months later, she returned home to her family (Merriman). In 1645, friends managed to reconcile their differences and Mary returned to her husband (Merriman). paper ....... n's reputation as a poet becomes quite complex (Johnson fell into disrepute because of unfavorable comments from TS Eliot denouncing the lack of originality of his verse (Johnson is recognized as). one of the greatest English poets of all time) and compared to Shakespeare.Works CitedAlbright, Matthew. "Paradise Lost Study Guide: Summary and Analysis of Books I-III". GradeSaver, May 11, 2000. Web. November 29, 2013. Merriman, CD Jalic Inc. Copyright Jalic Inc. 2008. http://www.online-literature.com/milton/. November 29, 2013. “John Milton.” 2013. Biography Channel website. December 3, 2013, 02:43 http://www.biography.com/people/john-milton-9409395. Rabbi, Kate Milner. “The story of paradise found”. Authoroma, September 1896. Web. November 29, 2013. Johnson, Samuel. Lives of the most eminent English poets. London: Dove, 1826.