John Milton is one of the supreme geniuses of English literature. Paradise Lost, written while he was blind, sought to 'justify the ways of God to men' and redefined the epic form in English. His earlier works, including the elegy Lycidas and his prose defense of free speech, Areopagitica, are landmarks of Western thought. A radical supporter of the Commonwealth during the English Civil War, he served as a civil servant under Oliver Cromwell. His use of blank verse and his profound exploration of the struggle between good and evil made him a central influence on Romanticism and modern literature.