The Harvard Classics Volume 4(Milton) Published 1909Edited by Charles W Eliot LL D. (March 20, 1834 - August 22, 1926)John Milton(9 December 1608 – 8 November 1674)Complete poemswritten in English.John Milton wrote poetry of such sublime beauty that he managed, through its universal influence, to transform the character of the English language. From his astonishing epic Paradise Lost, with its magnificent blank verse and mesmerizing characters, to the tragic brilliance of Samson Agonistes, Milton engaged the political and religious issues of his troubled times with subtlety and sophistication. His moving elegy “Lycidas,” written after the untimely drowning death of a friend, has been hailed as the greatest lyric poem in English. The classic shorter works, from the pastoral poems “L’Allegro” and “Il Penseroso” to the enchanting masque Comus, to the intensely personal sonnets, share the grandeur and vitality of his epics; all serve as continual reminders of the heights the human imagination can achieve.