John Milton: English poet(1608--1674) Milton attended Cambridge University(1625--1632) where he wrote poems in Latin, Italian, and English; these included L'Allegro and ll Penseroso, both published later in Poems(1645). During 1632-1638 he engaged in private study-writing the masque Comus(1637) and the extraordinary elegy lycidas(1638)-and toured Italy. Concerned with the puritan cause in England, he spent much of 1641--1660 pamphleteering for civil and religious liberty and serving in Oliver Cromwell's government• John Milton: English poet (1608—1674). Milton attended Cambridge University (1625—1632), where he wrote poems in Latin, Italian, and English; these included L'Allegro and Il Penseroso, both published later in Poems (1645). During 1632—1638 he engaged in private study — writing the masque Comus (1637) and the extraordinary elegy Lycidas (1638) — and toured Italy. Concerned with the Puritan cause in England, he spent much of 1641—1660 pamphleteering for civil and religious liberty and serving in Oliver Cromwell's government