Making Darkness Light: A Life of John Milton

Moshenska (A Stain in the Blood), a Professor of English Literature at Oxford University, delivers a strikingly original biography of John Milton (1608–1674). He relies on “rhythms rather than facts” to reconstruct the life of the poet, who grew up in a house full of music and was attuned to musical cadences, which Moshenka suggests he incorporated as a fundamental part of his writing. Moshenska covers crucial moments in Milton’s life and intellectual development, describing the day of Milton’s birth; his wrestling with the question of “how to be a poet—what such a choice would mean”; his travels in Italy, where he studied the “nature of language” by immersing himself in Italian; and his theological ambitions in Paradise Lost. Personal interjections from Moshenska are peppered throughout and add depth: “Many readers—and I number among them—have struggled with the way in which he depicts God the Father as harsh, cruel, shrilly self-justifying.” It’s less a by-the-books account of Milton’s life, and more like a poetic tour of 17th-century England as revealed by the manuscripts left behind by one of its most prominent writers. Literature lovers of all sorts will find something to savor here. (Dec.)