Cervantes died on April 23, 1616 the same day as William Shakespeare (Starkie).
John Milton was born in London, England on December 9, 1608. Milton was educated at St. Paul's school and then later at Christian College in Cambridge (http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/jmilton.htm). This probably had an impact in his writing seeing as how he is very biblical in his writings. Upon his expulsion from school, Milton spent the next six years writing poems at his father's house. After the six years Milton began to travel all over Europe. While traveling he made a stop in Paris, France where he met Hugo Grotius and then later when in Florence, Italy Milton met Galileo Galilee, the inventor of the telescope. Concerned with the Puritan cause, Milton began writing poems against episcopacy, on divorce, in the defense of the press and liberty, and in the support of regicides. In the year sixteen hundred and fifty one Milton became blind. A few years later on November 8, 1674 John Milton died (http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/jmilton.htm). Milton also never married a woman close to his age he always married a women who happened to be much younger than he for whatever reason he had (http://www.incompetech.com/authors/milton/).
Miguel De Cervantes wrote mainly in the early seventeenth century while John Milton wrote mostly in the mid seventeenth century. This could explain the differences .
in their works seeing as there is about two decades between the two. The novel Don Quixote takes place in the late fifteen hundreds to the mid sixteen hundreds. John Milton wrote poems, which makes it hard to set an exact time period on his works since in poems the time periods are rarely mentioned. During the seventeenth century many things were going on. Wars, inventions, radical thinking, and revolts all happened during this time period. The wars like the Thirty Years War that pitted England, which was mainly Protestant against Spain, which was mainly, Roman Catholic, could also very well be a determining factor in the difference between these two writers who were from England and Spain.