|n e o l o g i s m s|

{I should have written this post when the ideas were flowing fast or, as Milton would say, when the Muse was upon me but I didn't. It makes me much more appreciative of why Milton and others would invoke the "Heavenly Muse" because writing without it is stinkin' hard! I think it must be simply a state of mind but it feels as if every word as it flows from my brain, down the veins of my arms, and out of my fingertips has been turned to something akin to molasses instead of the liquidity of hemophiliac blood. (Igh…that metaphor felt gross to write.) Regardless, here it goes.}

The introduction to "Of Reformation" conveyed that Milton was not the most wonderful of intellectual prose writers when he first began..."Long, convoluted, and sometimes broken sentences make this the most difficult of Milton's prose works to read in unmodernized form (even here, with sentences repunctuated and often divided, some difficulty remains)"..."He unleashes a torrent of graphic images suggesting the bestial nature of the bishops and the disease and deformity they have inflicted upon a once pure church." It wasn't until later that "…Milton moved toward a more functional, readable style, more sparing of imagery and neologisms."
Neologisms!! (had no idea what that meant - except maybe something along the lines of "new") 
According to the New Oxford American Dictionary (linked to in the Kindle text) a neologism is "a newly coined word or expression."
I have taken to, as I've been reading, highlighting the most outlandish, odd, l o n g, unknown, and/or perfectly-placed words that Milton uses. So this little nugget of information was especially intriguing to me. (Meaning it gave relevance to the little nit-picky things I've been doing;) It turns out that Milton (according to John Crace) has created, invented around 630 words in the English language. 630 words!!



Milton was living in a time where word-creation was widespread due to the fact that English was still being coalesced. Usually the words were formed from a combination of French and Latin which a majority of other people would be able to understand. What is significant about Milton is that while many people were making up words, his were the ones that stuck.

  [examples: liturgical, debauchery, besottedly, unhealthily, padlock, dismissive, terrific, embellishing, fragrance, didactic, love-lorn, complacency, pandemonium, sensuous…]

I think the reason why I found this information so fascinating is I find myself wanting to make up words and creating "convoluted" metaphors as I write…and I always delay over whether I should let people puzzle out my genius or avoid seeming ridiculously illiterate. Problems, problems. There is a certain level of confidence, clout, experience, and intelligence necessary to make up word now that English has been codified. Finally, Crace claims that Milton's freedom and ability with language and words is directly related to his beliefs and perpetuation of "personal, political, and religious freedoms." What do you think? How would Milton's beliefs in the above freedoms relate to his ability/propensity to create words?


Crace, John. "G2: Shortcuts: John Milton - our Greatest Word-Maker." The Guardian: 3. Jan 28 2008. ProQuest. Web. 7 Oct. 2013 <http://search.proquest.com/docview/244177796?accountid=4488>.