Milton's Cottage in Chalfont St. Giles, UK

 

Can you find Chalfont St. Giles?

This is the fireplace mantle in the room where John Milton completed Paradise Lost, and began Paradise Regained. The framed black and white engraving to your left was done by William Faithorne and shows Milton at the age of 62. This appeared as the frontspiece for Milton's History of Britain. 

Here's a view of the cottage from the side garden.

Here's another, same side garden vantage point.

 

Some front views of 21 Deanway in Chalfont St. Giles. Note the cottage has been linked to and nearly swallowed up by a Georgian-era home attached to it. The garden entrance is to the side and extends behind the cottage.

This is what the cottage would have looked like during Milton's stay. He fled London due to the Great Plague in 1665, and stayed at the cottage due to the Great Fire. This painting, Milton's Cottage In August, 1774, is by Thomas Jones.

Below are some shots of the garden I took with my phone during the final week of June, 2024.

Here is a link to the Milton Cottage Museum, which was established in 1887. https://www.miltonscottage.org/

Below are two shots I lifted from the Internet. 

This is the cottage kitchen, where the museum features locks of hair from Milton's head which were removed in 1790 along with his teeth, one hand, and some of Milton's jaw from his grave at St. Giles Cripplegate.

The kitchen also houses First Editions of the Aereopagitica, and my favorite Milton poem, Lycidas. 

The photo is by Tony Shaw. 

This is the type of period chair and desk that Milton would have used in the very room where he wrote Paradise Lost, keeping warm by the fire, and using the window light and candles to guide his quill.

The photo is by Quentin Wright.

Below is one copy of a first edition of Paradise Lost among many original manuscripts on display in the cottage. The museum's publshed guide claims it has twenty copies of different Firsts of this poem, including a second edition, which Milton edited, and a 4th edition with engravings by Medina which is the first illustrated poem in the English lanaguage. 

This particular image is the 7th printing of the First Edition, of which 1,300 were made between 1667-1669.  

The museum's collection has 25 different translations of the poem, including one in Serbo-Croation completed by Milovan Djilas, the Yugoslavian dissident who was once supported by Tito and then imprisoned by him. Djilas is alleged to have made the translation in prison onto thousanbds of sheets of toilet paper. 

Lastly, I would like to share this reminder I experienced during my visit, proving that poetry in English, in all languages, is still very much alive. It comes from every kind of voice, every race, gender, ethniticy, you name it, and perhaps John Milton would celebrate this. I can only hope so. 

I took this shot while on the Metropolitan train riding back home from my visit to Milton's Cottage. Such a pleasant surprise, indeed. 

Here's the website for Nii Ayikewi Parkes https://www.niiparkes.com/.