John Milton

Biography

John Milton (1608–1674) was an English poet, polemicist, and civil servant whose epic poem Paradise Lost is one of the supreme achievements of world literature. Born in London to a prosperous family, Milton was educated at Christ’s College, Cambridge, and devoted years to private study before entering public life as a pamphleteer for the Parliamentary cause during the English Civil War. He served as Secretary for Foreign Tongues under Oliver Cromwell’s Commonwealth, producing political writings that defended regicide, press freedom (Areopagitica), and divorce reform. Milton went completely blind by 1652 but continued to write, dictating his greatest works to amanuenses. Paradise Lost (1667), an epic poem in blank verse telling the story of Satan’s rebellion against God and the Fall of Man, is considered second only to Shakespeare among the achievements of English literature. Milton’s grand style, philosophical depth, and complex portrayal of Satan as a tragic figure have influenced every subsequent English poet. His defense of free expression in Areopagitica remains a foundational text of liberal political philosophy.