John Milton died on this day (November 8th) in 1674 at the age of 65.

Next to William Shakespeare, he is regarded by many as the greatest English poet and the author of the language’s finest poems.

The first few line of his poem, Paradise Lost, reads;

OF Mans First Disobedience, and the Fruit
Of that Forbidden Tree, whose mortal tast
Brought Death into the World, and all our woe,
With loss of Eden, till one greater Man
Restore us, and regain the blissful Seat,
Sing Heav’nly Muse, that on the secret top