John Milton was born on 9 December 1608 in Cheapside. An English poet and polemicist, Milton is best known for Paradise Lost, a twelve-book epic in blank verse about the fall of man, which he composed after becoming completely blind. He also wrote Paradise Regained, the dramatic poem Samson Agonistes, the elegy Lycidas, and Areopagitica, an influential argument against censorship of the press. A committed Puritan and republican, he served the Commonwealth as Secretary for Foreign Tongues under Oliver Cromwell and defended the execution of Charles I. He was briefly imprisoned after the Restoration, and his poetry has been among the most influential in the English language.
Before and after
- 25 April 1607Battle of Gibraltar
- May 1607Jamestown
- 1608Publication of King Lear
- 15 October 1608Birth of Evangelista Torricelli
- 9 December 1608Birth of John Milton
- 1609The Elevation of the Cross
- 1609Kepler's laws of planetary motion
- from 1609 to 1924American Indian Wars
- 1609Kepler publishes Astronomia Nova
More in Art, literature & culture
- 1652Origins of Quakers
- c. 1653The Taj Mahal is completed
- from 1660 to 1725Rise of Classicism
- 1661Construction of Palace of Versailles
- from c. 1730s to 1780sRise of Rococo
- 1759Construction of British Museum
The era
This moment belongs to the Early modern world (1500 CE to 1760 CE), voyages, printing and new ideas. You can also browse everything in the 17th century.