John Milton was an English poet that was born in England in 1608 and died in 1674. He was best known for his epic <em>Paradise Lost</em>, and because of his strong belief in liberty and also in the right that people had to read and interpret the Bible by themselves.
The fact that Milton was born into a Protestant family, from the Church of England, was really important because first, it marked his belief in the individual reading and interpretation of the Bible, and second, because he almost became a priest himself. The second important thing about his family is that his father was an amateur composer, which marked and influenced Milton´s own passion for music and also the importance of it to his poetry later in life.
The author here is describing, in a sequential or chronological way, a series of events that took place in the past (hence the use of the past tense), namely: 1) "...he finally convinced...", 2) "Early results were not..." and 3) "...but... customers became hooked."
<span>In the following phrase "Perhaps that is how the Great Stuffer of Bags filled them in the first place. Who knows?" Hurston's tone is C. humorous.</span>