John Milton (1608–1674) was born in London and ranks among the major poets of the English language. Educated at Christ's College, Cambridge, he produced early works including Lycidas (1637) and Il Penseroso before serving the Puritan cause as a political pamphleteer during the English Civil War and as Secretary for Foreign Tongues under the Commonwealth. His epic Paradise Lost, written in blank verse, was composed after he had become completely blind. It first appeared in ten books in 1667 and was rearranged into twelve books for the 1674 edition. His other major works include Paradise Regained (1671) and the verse drama Samson Agonistes (1671).
