“Only add Deeds to thy knowledge answerable; add faith; Add virtue, patience, temperance; add love, By name to come called charity, the soul Of all the rest: then wilt thou not be loath To leave this Paradise; but shalt possess A paradise within thee, happier far.”

English poet, polemicist, and civil servant

John Milton was an English poet, polemicist, and civil servant. He is remembered for Paradise Lost, the 1667 epic poem that secured his place among the major poets of English literature. Paradise Lost was written in blank verse and arranged in 12 books. Set against a period of religious and political upheaval, it recounts the fall of man, from the temptation of Adam and Eve by Satan to their expulsion from Eden. Milton also served the Commonwealth of England in government, first under the Council of State and later under Oliver Cromwell.