If you want a short taste of Milton's verse, read sonnet 23. It'll help you to know that a) the literary reference isn't important to completely "get", b) he'd

If you want a short taste of Milton's verse, read sonnet 23. It'll help you to know that a) the literary reference isn't important to completely "get", b) he'd gone blind, c) his (first) wife had died from complications of childbirth, and d) this is a dream sequence. [I tried pasting it in, but can't persuade it to format itself in a way that will be readable. Here's the link: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44746/sonnet-23-methought-i-saw-my-late-espoused-saint https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44746/sonnet-23-metho... Seriously, read it. The last line is unbearably beautiful and sad.] Milton also wrote poetry (well-regarded by those able to judge) in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. (Out of all of them - plus English - Hebrew was his favorite, for what that's worth.) He's is my nominee for the most formidably well-educated person in history.