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John Milton
John Milton was a 17th-century English poet and political writer who served as Latin secretary under the Puritan republic, completing the epic Paradi…
Timeline
- 1608–1639London · LondonMilton was born into a London middle-class family, studied at St Paul's School and Christ's College, Cambridge, and after graduating traveled to Italy and elsewhere, encountering humanist and Reformation ideas; early poems like On the Morning of Christ's Nativity already showed his poetic talent.
- 1640–1660London · LondonDuring the English Civil War Milton wrote numerous political pamphlets defending the execution of Charles I, and served under Cromwell as Latin secretary for foreign and news affairs. He went blind around 1652 yet continued writing and dictating.
- 1660–1674London · LondonAfter the Restoration Milton was briefly imprisoned and had property confiscated; between 1661 and 1670 he devoted himself to the epic Paradise Lost, first published in 1667, completed by dictation to his daughters. He also wrote Paradise Regained and the tragic poem Samson Agonistes, becoming one of the most influential poets in English literary history.
Sources
- Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: John Milton https://www.oxforddnb.com/
- Paradise Lost — John Milton (1667)