1608 – 1674
John Milton (1608-1674) was an English poet, polemicist, and civil servant best known for the epic poem Paradise Lost. Beyond his literary achievements, he wrote influential prose defending free speech, religious liberty, and republican government during the English Civil War and Interregnum.
Wrote Paradise Lost, the defining English epic poem
Authored Areopagitica, a foundational defense of free speech and against pre-publication censorship
Defended regicide and republican government in The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates
Wrote Of Education and the divorce tracts advancing reformist social thought
Served as Secretary for Foreign Tongues under the Commonwealth of England