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John Milton was born in London on December 9, 1608. His parents were John Milton, Sr. and Sarah Jeffery, who lived in a prosperous neighborhood of merchants. John Milton, Sr. was a successful scrivener or copyist who also dabbled in real estate and was noted as a composer of liturgical church music. The Miltons were prosperous enough that eventually they owned a second house in the country.

Milton seems to have had a happy childhood. He spoke of his mother’s “esteem, and the alms
she bestowed.” Of his father, Milton said that he “destined me from a child to the pursuits of
Literature, … and had me daily instructed in the grammar school, and by other masters at
home.” Though the senior Milton came from a Catholic family, he was a Puritan himself.
Milton’s religion, therefore, was an outgrowth of family life and not something he chose at a
later period in his maturity.

Sometime, as early as age seven but perhaps later, Milton became a student at St. Paul’s
school, which was attached to the great cathedral of the same name. St. Paul’s was a
prestigious English public school—what would be called a “private school” in the U.S. Milton
spent eight years as a “Pigeon at Paules,” as the students were known, and came out a
rather advanced scholar. He had studied the Trivium of Grammar, Rhetoric, and Logic and had
probably been exposed to the Quadrivium of Mathematics, Geometry, Astronomy, and Music.
He had also learned Latin well, was competent in Greek and Hebrew, had a smattering of
French, and knew Italian well enough to write sonnets in it. The one language he did not
study was English. Some of his language acquisition—Italian—came from private tutors hired
by his father.

Also at St. Paul’s, the young Milton made a friendship that was among the closest of his life with Charles Diodati. After leaving St. Paul’s, the two young men would write each other in Latin. Through his friendship with Diodati, Milton came into contact with many of the foreign residents of London.

In 1625, Milton matriculated at Christ’s College, Cambridge, intending to become a minister.
Instead, Milton’s facility with language and his abilities as a poet soon made the ministry a
secondary consideration. Also, Milton was not pleased with the medieval scholastic curriculum
that still existed at Christ’s College. This displeasure caused him to become involved in
frequent disputes, including some with his tutor William Chappell. In 1626, perhaps because
of this dispute or perhaps because of some other minor infraction, Milton was “rusticated” or
suspended for a brief period. Whatever the reason, Milton did not seem to mind the respite
from Christ’s, nor did the rustication impede his progression through the school in any
significant way.

In March of 1629, Milton received his BA and three years later, in July 1632, completed work
on his MA. In completing these degrees, Milton had already become an accomplished poet.
His first significant effort was the Christmas ode “On the Morning of Christ’s Nativity.”
Evidence also exists that he completedL’ Alle gr o and Il Penseroso (“The Cheerful Man” and
“The Pensive Man”) while in college. These works had not achieved any notoriety for Milton,
but they do demonstrate the genius that was within him.