How well do you know John Milton?

It's 400 years since John Milton was born. You know he's good, of course - but how much farther does your knowledge extend? Now's the time to find out
  
  


  1. Which of these words or usages did Milton NOT coin?

    1. Space – used to mean “outer space”

    2. Unaccountable

    3. Pandemonium

    4. Blatant

  2. "Milton, thou should'st be living at this hour. England hath need of thee." Indeed. But who was it, summoning his ghost?

    1. Horatio Herbert Kitchener

    2. William Blake

    3. William Wordsworth

    4. John Keats

  3. The 20th century has been less kind to his memory. TS Eliot found his imagery distracting, and considered his work “not serious poetry”, but it was another critic who accused him of “callousness to the intrinsic nature of English”. Who?

    1. FR Leavis

    2. Harold Bloom

    3. William Empson

    4. Mariella Frostrup

  4. Following parliament’s victory in the civil war, Milton was appointed to a position in Cromwell’s government in 1649. What was his title?

    1. Heresy tsar

    2. Poet laureate

    3. Secretary to the Admiralty

    4. Secretary for Foreign Tongues

  5. Published at the height of the civil war, Milton’s Areopagitica was an important intervention in the debate over censorship, but why is it called Areopagitica?

    1. A combination of the Greek aeros, and the Latin pagina, meaning “free press”

    2. The word was a rallying cry for parliamentary troops, meaning “down with the King”

    3. It’s a title taken from a speech by the Athenian orator Isocrates

    4. It is the name of a bird in one of Aesop’s fables who wakes the wolf with its beautiful song, and is killed

  6. As well as poetry, Milton published extensively on politics, philosophy and religion. Which of the following was NOT one of his works?

    1. Of Prelatical Episcopacy

    2. The Likeliest Means to Remove Hirelings from the Church

    3. Of Practical Exorcisme

    4. Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce

  7. Milton addresses his Heav’nly Muse by name. What is she called?

    1. Katie Pryce

    2. Beatrice Portinari

    3. Ugenia Lavender

    4. Urania

  8. In 1638 Milton set off on a tour of France and Italy, meeting another cultural giant whose struggle with blindness prefigured Milton’s own. Who was it?

    1. Voltaire

    2. Bach

    3. Galileo

    4. Claydermann

  9. Where was Milton born?

    1. Bread Street, Cheapside, London

    2. Agonistes Mews, Clerkenwell, London

    3. Paradise Place, Greenwich, London

    4. Gutter Lane, Cheapside, London

  10. Milton’s published his first poem in 1630 at the age of 22. What was its title?

    1. On Shakespear

    2. On First Looking Into Chapman’s Homer

    3. A Mask Presented at Ludlow Castle

    4. Lycidas

Solutions

1:D, 2:C, 3:A, 4:D, 5:C, 6:C, 7:D, 8:C, 9:A, 10:A

Scores

  1. 2 and above.

    A result so bad it would impress Satan

  2. 4 and above.

    Not good at all. But in your defence, you’ve clearly refrained from guzzling on the fruits of the tree of knowledge

  3. 7 and above.

    Quite good, but also a bit bad. To purgatory with you

  4. 10 and above.

    Paradise found. You’ve probably actually read the whole thing, haven’t you?
 

Leave a Comment

Required fields are marked *

*

CAPTCHA

*