John Milton
![](/Images/godic/202501/27/John_Milton_15617.jpg")
![Blue plaque in Bread Street, London, where Milton was born](/Images/godic/202501/27/John_Milton_plaque_Bread_Street_London5617.jpg")
![John Milton at age 10 by Cornelis Janssens van Ceulen](/Images/godic/202501/27/John_Milton_portrait5617.jpg")
![Commemorative blue plaque 'John Milton lived here 1632-1638' at Berkyn Manor Farm, Horton, Berkshire](/Images/godic/202501/27/John_Milton_plaque_Berkyn_Manor_Farm_Horton5618.JPG")
John Milton (9 December 1608 –8 November 1674) was an English poet, polemicist, and man of letters, and a civil servant for the Commonwealth of England under Oliver Cromwell. He wrote at a time of religious flux and political upheaval, and is best known for his epic poem Paradise Lost (1667), written in blank verse.