John Milton: His Life & Works
Author of the epic poem on Christian themes, Paradise Lost, John Milton ranks with Shakespeare and Chaucer as a giant of English literature. A scholar and man of letters, he was also a staunch supporter of freedom of speech and conscience. He served as a civil servant for the Commonwealth of England under Oliver Cromwell. Though he went blind, Milton achieved fame in his own lifetime and was revered by other great English writers like John Dryden, Alexander Pope, Samuel Johnson, George Eliot, and Thomas Hardy. The romantic poet William Blake considered Milton the greatest of English poets.