Simplify the following text for a Grade 10 native English-speaking person.
Original: John Milton ( December 9 , 1608 â `` November 8 , 1674 ) was an English poet , religious thinker and civil servant for the English Commonwealth Government .
Simplified: John Milton ( 9 December 1608 â `` 8 November 1674 ) was an English poet , polemicist , and civil servant for the Commonwealth of England .