John Milton
English poet and polemicist
John Milton (1608-1674) was an English poet, polemicist and civil servant. He wrote the epic Paradise Lost and the defense of free expression Areopagitica.
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English Born 1608 in Cheapside Died 1674
About John Milton
John Milton was born in London on 9 December 1608 and died on 8 November 1674. He studied at Christ's College, Cambridge, then traveled and wrote poetry, much of it for private circulation. He went on to work as a pamphleteer. In government he served the Commonwealth, first through its Council of State and later under Oliver Cromwell. His best-known work is the 1667 epic poem Paradise Lost, written in blank verse. It tells of humanity's fall, with Satan tempting Adam and Eve. He found fame in his lifetime, but he died poor and on the edge of English intellectual life. Areopagitica (1644) is his argument against censorship before publication. It is widely counted among the most influential defences of free speech and a free press.