April 27

I have known for a very long time that what really drives poets is not the love of words, or even the way those words interact with each other and the world at large. It is actually quite plain and very simple. What drives a poet is the money. Think about it, there are bags filled with money just waiting to be handed to poets. Consider if you will, John Milton[i], author of the hugely successful free-verse epic poem Paradise Lost[ii]. In 1667[iii], Milton, blind and impoverished, took solace in the knowledge that he had his poetry to fall back on. On the 27th, he sold the copyrights to Paradise Lost for £10. Remember, this was the 17th century and ₤10 went a lot farther than it does today. Also, don’t forget that in all likelihood a bunch of paper, postage stamps, envelopes and toner cartridges probably cost a lot less than they do today.
[i] Samuel Johnson thought of Milton as being “an acrimonious and surly republican”.
[ii] Paradise Lost was published in ten books 1667. The second edition published in 1674 consisted of twelve books.
[iii] Milton was for a time employed by Oliver Cromwell . Cromwell was so well loved in England that even though he died on September 3, 1658, on January 30, 1661 his body was exhumed from Westminster Abbey, ritually executed, his body thrown in a pit, and his head stuck on a pike and displayed in front of Westminster Abbey. So there!