The Works of John Milton: With an Introduction and Bibliography

Front Cover
Wordsworth Editions, 1994 - 486 pages

With an Introduction and Notes by Laurence Lerner, formerly Professor of English at the University of Sussex.

John Milton (1608-74) has a strong claim to be considered the greatest English poet after Skakespeare. His early poems, collected and published in 1645, include the much loved pair L'Allegro and Il Penseroso ('the cheerful man and the thoughtful man'), Lycidas (his great elegy on a fellow poet) and Comus (the one masque which is still read today). When the Civil War began Milton abandoned poetry for politics and wrote a series of pamphlets in defence of the Parliamentary party, then in defence of the execution of Charles I: these include his great defence of the freedom of the press, Areopagitica. In the course of this work he lost his sight, and was blind for the last twenty years of his life.

During this time he wrote his two great epics, Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained, and his retelling of the story of Samson as a Greek tragedy.

 

Contents

A Paraphrase on Psalm 114
11
Lycidas
41
COMUS
49
POEMS ADDED IN THE 1673 EDITION
86
The Fifth Ode of Horace
92
at the Siege of Colchester
98
Psalm 8
108
Psalm 1
114
The Eleventh Book
373
The Twelfth Book
396
PARADISE REGAINED
413
The First Book
419
The Second Book
432
The Third Book
445
The Fourth Book
457
SAMSON AGONISTES
473

Psalm 87
121
Psalm
136
The Second Book
157
The Third Book
184
The Fourth Book
204
The Fifth Book
231
The Sixth Book
255
The Seventh Book
279
The Eighth Book
296
The Ninth Book
313
The Tenth Book
344
Samson Agonistes
477
Notes
531
Psalm 7
532
The Passion
533
To the Lady Margaret
539
11
552
14
570
18
579
23
599
Copyright

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About the author (1994)

John Milton, English scholar and classical poet, is one of the major figures of Western literature. He was born in 1608 into a prosperous London family. By the age of 17, he was proficient in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. Milton attended Cambridge University, earning a B.A. and an M.A. before secluding himself for five years to read, write and study on his own. It is believed that Milton read everything that had been published in Latin, Greek, and English. He was considered one of the most educated men of his time. Milton also had a reputation as a radical. After his own wife left him early in their marriage, Milton published an unpopular treatise supporting divorce in the case of incompatibility. Milton was also a vocal supporter of Oliver Cromwell and worked for him. Milton's first work, Lycidas, an elegy on the death of a classmate, was published in 1632, and he had numerous works published in the ensuing years, including Pastoral and Areopagitica. His Christian epic poem, Paradise Lost, which traced humanity's fall from divine grace, appeared in 1667, assuring his place as one of the finest non-dramatic poet of the Renaissance Age. Milton went blind at the age of 43 from the incredible strain he placed on his eyes. Amazingly, Paradise Lost and his other major works, Paradise Regained and Samson Agonistes, were composed after the lost of his sight. These major works were painstakingly and slowly dictated to secretaries. John Milton died in 1674.

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