WRITER

John Milton

1608 - 1674

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Icon of person John Milton

John Milton (9 December 1608 – 8 November 1674) was an English poet, polemicist, and civil servant. His 1667 epic poem Paradise Lost, written in blank verse and including twelve books, was written in a time of immense religious flux and political upheaval. It addressed the fall of man, including the temptation of Adam and Eve by the fallen angel Satan and God's expulsion of them from the Garden of Eden. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of John Milton has received more than 6,188,416 page views. His biography is available in 102 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 97 in 2019). John Milton is the 243rd most popular writer (down from 223rd in 2019), the 174th most popular biography from United Kingdom (down from 169th in 2019) and the 22nd most popular British Writer.

John Milton is most famous for his epic poem Paradise Lost.

Memorability Metrics

  • 6.2M

    Page Views (PV)

  • 71.43

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 102

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 5.36

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 6.62

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Notable Works

Poetical works
Classic Literature, Criticism and interpretation, English Sonnets
1645
Areopagitica
Early works to 1800, Education, Freedom of the press
Areopagitica: A speech for the Liberty of Unlicensed Printing to the Parliament of England is John Milton's famous tract against censorship. Published in 1644, Areopagitica is named after a speech by Isocrates, a fifth century BC Athenian orator. The work is counted as one of the most influential and inspired defenses of the right to freedom of expression in history. It is also a personal issue for Milton who was submitted to censorship himself when he tried to publish his defenses of divorce, radical works for the time that gained no quarter with censors. Distributed as a pamphlet, Milton's powerful arguments against 1643's Licensing Order note that classical Greek and Roman society was never subjected to such censorship, and he uses many classical and biblical references to reinforce his argument.
1644
Paradise Regained
Bible, Classic Literature, Fiction
Paradise Regained demonstrates Milton's genius for fusing sense and sound, classicism and innovation, narrative and drama, fortifying not merely our sense of what is beautiful but what is human as well. It leaves readers with no choice but to commit themselves totally with their minds and with their hearts.
1671
Milton's Poems
Bible, Criticism and interpretation, Elegiac poetry, Latin (Medieval and modern)
1605
Comus
Fiction, Librettos, Masques with music
1738
Paradise Lost
Bible, Biography, Criticism and interpretation
John Milton's Paradise Lost is one of the greatest epic poems in the English language. It tells the story of the Fall of Man, a tale of immense drama and excitement, of rebellion and treachery, of innocence pitted against corruption, in which God and Satan fight a bitter battle for control of mankind's destiny. The struggle rages across three worlds - heaven, hell, and earth - as Satan and his band of rebel angels plot their revenge against God. At the center of the conflict are Adam and Eve, who are motivated by all too human temptations but whose ultimate downfall is unyielding love. Marked by Milton's characteristic erudition, Paradise Lost is a work epic both in scale and, notoriously, in ambition. For nearly 350 years, it has held generation upon generation of audiences in rapt attention, and its profound influence can be seen in almost every corner of Western culture.
1667

Among WRITERS

Among writers, John Milton ranks 243 out of 7,302. Before him are Frédéric Mistral, Isabel Allende, Jacob Grimm, Nikos Kazantzakis, Fuzûlî, and Robert Musil. After him are Saadi Shirazi, Halldór Laxness, J. M. G. Le Clézio, Paula Hitler, Germaine de Staël, and Valmiki.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1608, John Milton ranks 3. Before him are Evangelista Torricelli, and Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor. After him are Gaston, Duke of Orléans, Giovanni Alfonso Borelli, Tukaram, Ivan Vyhovsky, George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle, Nicole, Duchess of Lorraine, Jacob Adriaensz Backer, António Vieira, and Pieter Post. Among people deceased in 1674, John Milton ranks 1. After him are Hyeonjong of Joseon, Philippe de Champaigne, Nicolaes Tulp, Giacomo Carissimi, Jan Lievens, Jean Chapelain, Eberhard III, Duke of Württemberg, John Graunt, Hallgrímur Pétursson, Leonaert Bramer, and Karel Škréta.

Others Born in 1608

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Others Deceased in 1674

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In United Kingdom

Among people born in United Kingdom, John Milton ranks 174 out of 8,785. Before him are Brian May (1947), Roger Waters (1943), Anthony Eden (1897), Duns Scotus (1265), George Boole (1815), and Guy Fawkes (1570). After him are George Best (1946), Edward Smith (1850), Norman Foster, Baron Foster of Thames Bank (1935), Boudica (33), Aleister Crowley (1875), and Humphry Davy (1778).

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Among WRITERS In United Kingdom

Among writers born in United Kingdom, John Milton ranks 22. Before him are H. G. Wells (1866), Aldous Huxley (1894), Roald Dahl (1916), William Blake (1757), Anna Wintour (1949), and J. K. Rowling (1965). After him are Geoffrey Chaucer (1343), Mary Wollstonecraft (1759), William Golding (1911), Arthur C. Clarke (1917), Anne Brontë (1820), and C. S. Lewis (1898).

British born Writers

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