If you've used the word "pandemonium," perhaps when your life has been upended by craziness or absurdity, you have John Milton to thank — not for the craziness, but for the word to describe it, which he invented. It's from his epic poem, Paradise Lost (1667), and was "the high capital of Satan and all his peers," and the dwelling place of all demons. Its meaning has shifted in modern times, but Milton conceived it.

John Milton was 50 years old, blind, and impoverished in 1658 when he started dictating what would become widely accepted as the greatest work of English poetry ever composed: Paradise Lost. Only Shakespeare surpasses Milton in literary reputation. Shakespeare, however, didn't smoke a pipe, as far as we can determine, and Milton did. His pipe was part of his daily routine.

Pipes are often mentioned in Milton's work. Unfortunately, they are always musical rather than smoking instruments. Though Milton personally enjoyed tobacco, he didn't include it in his poetry or prose. One may imagine that the intriguing character of Satan in Paradise Lost would have been even more formidable had he smoked a pipe, but Milton chose otherwise.

Paradise Lost is an epic poem in blank verse. It tells the story of Lucifer's fall from heaven, after which he is known as Satan, and the temptation of Adam and Eve and their expulsion from the Garden of Eden. It's a modified retelling of the book of Genesis.

It was initially written in 10 books in 1667 but expanded to 12 in 1674. The expansion contained minor revisions, but changing to 12 books followed the classic Greek template such as used by Virgil's Aeneid. It's an epic poem and its language is considered some of the most beautiful ever penned. With themes ranging from marriage, free will, and loyalty to redemption, power, forgiveness, the consequences of disobedience, and the nature of good and evil, it resonated with the culture of the time and beyond.

Though Milton personally enjoyed tobacco, he didn't include it in his poetry or prose

The most interesting character is Satan. The characters of God the Father and God the Son are, by definition, perfect, so they're less intriguing — flawed characters are always more interesting, and Satan is villainously flawed.

Satan is a character of ambiguities. At the beginning of the poem, he reveals heroic qualities, but he devolves into more evil toward the end. He is imbued with great powers of persuasion and is a natural leader. Such is Milton's narrative power that Satan is difficult not to sympathize with. He is a majestic figure who accepts his eternal damnation by plotting revenge. That revenge would be the ruination of God's latest project: Humanity.

This chief of the fallen angels is easy to sympathize with as he struggles to conquer his own fears and weaknesses. Furthermore, he is successful in his quest to corrupt mankind.

It's necessary to sample some of Milton's verse to understand its mastery of language. Here's a small snippet spoken by Satan as he realizes his defeat and his future in Hell. It ends with one of the poem's most famous lines, recognizable to nearly everyone:

Is this the Region, this the Soil, the Clime,

Said then the lost Arch Angel, this the seat

That we must change for Heav'n, this mournful gloom

For that celestial light? Be it so, since hee

Who now is Sovran can dispose and bid

What shall be right: fardest from him is best

Whom reason hath equald, force hath made supream

Above his equals. Farewel happy Fields

Where Joy for ever dwells: Hail horrours, hail

Infernal world, and thou profoundest Hell

Receive thy new Possessor: One who brings

A mind not to be chang'd by Place or Time.

The mind is its own place, and in it self

Can make a Heav'n of Hell, a Hell of Heav'n.

What matter where, if I be still the same,

And what I should be, all but less then hee

Whom Thunder hath made greater? Here at least

We shall be free; th' Almighty hath not built

Here for his envy, will not drive us hence:

Here we may reign secure, and in my choyce

To reign is worth ambition though in Hell:

Better to reign in Hell, then serve in Heav'n. (Book 1, lines 221-270)

A supremely arrogant and prideful sentiment underlies that passage. Some critics have argued that Milton made Satan sympathetic and heroic to demonstrate the power and seduction of evil, and others have cast Satan as the hero of the work. Other critics, like William Empson, and poets like Percy Bysshe Shelley, take it further and see God as the villain and Satan as the heroic liberator. The different interpretations emphasize the complexity of the character. Satan at first thinks of himself as a victim, revealing his selfish and prideful nature, but as the work progresses, he devolves.

"Better to reign in Hell, then serve in Heav'n"

In Book 1, Satan is larger than life, confident, and vainly devoted to evil, and a great orator and statesman. His stories are filled with lies and fraud, and he tricks even the devils doomed to share his fate. By his final appearance in the original Book 10, however, he is merely a snake slinking back to Hell. He demonstrates the futility of personal success where intellectual excellence is undermined by lack of morality. In the end, Satan is unable to reconcile his punishment with his past and his superiority.

We all know the story of Adam and Eve and their expulsion from the Garden after Satan tempts Eve to eat from the Tree of Knowledge. Theirs is a love story. Adam's love for Eve is so great that he immediately eats of the Tree himself, knowing that Eve is doomed and that he cannot live without her. They are the true heroes of Milton's poem. They have lost paradise but look forward to redemption. Paradise Lost is Milton's most famous composition, but he wrote other monumentally important works, such as Samson Agonistes (Samson the Champion) about the Biblical Samson. His sonnet, "When I Consider How My Light is Spent" (1673), also known as "On His Blindness," is a poignant reflection on his sightlessness. He published a sequel to Paradise Lost in 1671, about the temptation of Christ as told in the Gospel of Luke. It, too, is an epic in blank verse.

Milton's Life

Milton was a proponent of free speech and the freedom of the press, which sometimes caused trouble with politicians. Like many talented artists, Milton did some jail time for his art. His "Areopagitica" (1644) was an impassioned argument against pre-publication censorship.

He was born in 1608; his father was a composer and left Milton with a lifelong love for music. Such was the elder Milton's success that he was able to afford an excellent education for his son, including a private tutor. Milton studied Latin and Greek in London, later learning Italian, Hebrew, French, Spanish, and Dutch, and earned a Master's degree at the University of Cambridge, expecting to become a priest. It's probable that some of his earliest poems were composed during a short suspension from college for fighting with his teacher.

For eight years after graduating, Milton lived with his parents and studied. After his mother died, Milton toured France, Italy, and Switzerland, expanding his working knowledge of the world. It's likely that while he was in Italy, Milton met Galileo. He began publishing more often and married his first of three wives. He wrote a series of pamphlets criticizing the Episcopal form of church leadership, and another series on the practicality of divorce while he was separated from his wife.

The First English Civil War broke out in 1642. Milton was a Puritan, espousing the authority of the Bible rather than religious organizations or the monarchy. He supported Oliver Cromwell in the war, and wrote the official publications that Cromwell's government required.

Milton was sentenced to prison in 1659 for his work to overthrow Charles I and his support of the Commonwealth. It is thought that he was released only through the intercession of powerful friends.

He was completely blind by 1652 and relied on transcriptionists to write his works as he dictated. His finest poetry was created without having read a word of it.

Milton studied Latin and Greek in London, later learning Italian, Hebrew, French, Spanish, and Dutch

Milton the Pipe Smoker

No records exist that detail what sort of pipe Milton smoked, but given the time frame, he likely smoked clays. We have little to work with, but know that Milton smoked a pipe from rare mentions in biographies and reports of the time. In his home with his third wife, he was known to have guests and to enjoy a pipe smoking routine. James Thorpe writes in John Milton: An Inner Life (1983):

Milton's wife, Betsy, took excellent care of Milton as his health began to fade. They had a good relationship. In John Milton (1955), Kenneth Muir reports that she saved many of Milton's personal items; "After his death she treasured his portraits, his tobacco box, copies of Paradise Lost and Paradise Regain'd, and letters written to him by distinguished foreigners..." (pg. 115)

We have little to work with, but know that Milton smoked a pipe from rare mentions in biographies and reports of the time

Milton visited and lived in Florence, Italy, toward the end of his life, where his pipe was an important feature of his life, as chronicled by A.N. Wilson:

Wilson also mentions that during his third marriage, Milton "devoted his evening to smoking with the young men, or playing the organ" (page 218).

He was also seen as a smoker by his neighbors. Emile Saillens writes in John Milton: Man, Poet, Polemist (1964):

Gerald J. Schiffhorst, in John Milton (1990), mentions pipe smoking among Milton's other pursuits: "... as a young man he was skilled in fencing. He enjoyed nature, the theater, lively conversation, wine with his dinner, smoking a pipe, and playing the organ and bass viol. His many friendships show him to have been personable, affectionate, and witty. (page 37)

"... smoking his pipe at his door as he let the sun warm his lifeless eyes ..."

In an 1860 printing of Paradise Lost, Robert Vaughan wrote about Milton's typical day:

Of the type of tobacco Milton enjoyed, we know nothing. But we have ample evidence that Milton was a dedicated pipe smoker as well as a brilliant poet and writer. He was among the best produced by the English language, and his themes and imagery survive 400 years later in our popular culture. Milton made an impact and was masterful in his art. And, like us, he was a pipe smoker.

Bibliography

• Thorpe, James. John Milton: The inner Life (1983)
• Biography.com Editors. "John Milton Biography" (2019)
• Muir, Kenneth. John Milton (1955)
• Wilson, A.N. The Life of John Milton (1983)
• Schiffhorst, Gerald J. John Milton (1990)
• Vaughan, Robert, D.D. "The Life of John Milton" in Milton's Paradise Lost (New York, Collier, 1860)