Table-Talk · Character

John Milton

The blind republican poet whose sonnets Hazlitt reads as proof that greatness can address power without flattery and endure darkness without despair.

supporting

Also known as Milton, Shakespeare or Milton, Milton or Cromwell

First appearance: On Milton's Sonnets

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Quoted indirectly via the poet's line 'My mind to me a kingdom is' and referenced in the phrase 'Pure in the last recesses of the mind.'

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Milton stands in Hazlitt's gallery as the poet who kept his understanding erect before Cromwell and Fairfax, paying tribute to conquerors without self-degradation. The tension Hazlitt finds is between Milton's confessed vanity about his clear, unblemished eyes and the humbled patience of the sonnet on his blindness. These readings anchor the collection's argument that true intellectual superiority is moral as well as literary, and that genius answers to conscience rather than to patrons.

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See John Milton in On Milton's Sonnets

Character Web

24 connections

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Relationship types

Psychological
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Character groups

Writers and Thinkers
Literary and Artistic Circle
Sports and Theater
Protagonist

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Narrative arc

Story tension across the book — this chapter sits in Rising action.

Setup
Escalation
Breaking point
Aftermath
Closing

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Relationships

William Hazlitt
psychological · positive
Hazlitt had an intense intellectual obsession with Milton, often analyzing his poetry and… How this plays out →

Relationship notes

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See John Milton in On Milton's Sonnets

In the story

John Milton appears across 11 companion beats. Open any chapter in the free preview to see the notes beside the text.

On the Pleasure of Painting
Quoted indirectly via the poet's line 'My mind to me a kingdom is' and referenced in the phrase 'Pure in the last recesses of the mind.'
The Same Subject Continued
Mentioned in a quote about the Louvre: 'if thou hast not seen the Louvre thou art damned!'—a paraphrase of Milton.
The Same Subject Continued
Mentioned as embodying his political and personal history in 'Paradise Lost'; his genius is contrasted with Shakespeare's.
On the Ignorance of the Learned
Contrasted with Shakespeare as a scholastic thinker; also mentioned for solecisms in his Latin style.
On Living to One’s-Self
Mentioned as an example of a great author whose posterity (the public) now honors him, but who would likely be neglected if alive.
On Thought and Action
Compared with Cromwell in a rhetorical question about greatness.
On Milton's Sonnets
Central subject of the chapter; Hazlitt analyzes his sonnets and praises his sincerity, patriotism, and moral consistency.
On Criticism
Mentioned as an author whose 'Paradise Lost' baffled formalist critics.
On Great and Little Things
Mentioned in the context of literary comparisons and the psychology of fame.
On Corporate Bodies
Referenced indirectly through the phrase 'the very stones prate' (a paraphrase from Milton's 'Comus').
On the Knowledge of Character
Contrasted with Shakespeare as having a high opinion of himself and being conscious of his powers.

Chapter companion notes

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See John Milton in On Milton's Sonnets

See John Milton in On the Pleasure of Painting