John Milton
English poet whose Paradise Lost is arguably the greatest epic poem in the English language, retelling the fall of humankind with grandeur and moral seriousness. Deeply engaged with Puritan theology and republican politics.
Works
- Paradise LostEpic poem depicting Satan's rebellion against God and temptation of humanity in Eden
- Paradise RegainedSpiritual poem depicting Christ's resistance to Satan's temptations in the wilderness
- Samson AgonistesTragic drama of the blind Hebrew leader's final heroic defiance and self-sacrifice
- LycidasElegy mourning death of fellow poet with meditation on poetic immortality and loss
- ComusMasque depicting the temptation of virtue by pleasure in a magical woodland setting