Milton's Selected Poetry and Prose: A Norton Critical Edition

by John Milton, Jason P. Rosenblatt (Editor)

Milton’s Selected Poetry and Prose presents the major poetic (excluding Paradise Lost ) and prose works along with supporting materials necessary for in-depth study. Together, the Norton Critical Editions of Paradise Lost (ed. Gordon Teskey, 2005) and Milton’s Selected Poetry and Prose are the essential texts for studying John Milton. This Norton Critical Edition of Milton’s Selected Poetry and Prose includes “Lycidas”―widely considered the greatest short poem in English―the great tragedy Samson Agonistes , the masque Comus , the brief epic Paradise Regained , and eighteen sonnets as well as other poems. It also contains the complete text of five of Milton’s major prose works, among them Areopagitica and The Doctrine of Discipline and Divorce . Each major work is accompanied by an individual introduction, and all works have ample explanatory annotations.

The major biblical sources that inspired Milton’s writing are reprinted, along with fourteen scholarly interpretations of the major texts. From the wealth of commentary on Milton’s poetry and prose, the editor has chosen those works that can be studied and appreciated by the greatest number of readers, including essays that can easily be paired for discussion in the classroom. Contributors include Anthony Hecht, William Kerrigan, Mary Nyquist, Stanley Fish, Barbara K. Lewalski, John Carey, and Sharon Achinstein, among others.

A Chronology and Selected Bibliography are also included.

Genres: Poetry, Classics

681 pages, Paperback

First published January 21, 1992

About the author

People best know John Milton, English scholar, for Paradise Lost , the epic poem of 1667 and an account of fall of humanity from grace.

Beelzebub, one fallen angel in Paradise Lost, of John Milton, lay in power next to Satan.

Belial, one fallen angel, rebelled against God in Paradise Lost of John Milton.


John Milton, polemicist, man of letters, served the civil Commonwealth under Oliver Cromwell. He wrote in blank verse at a time of religious flux and political upheaval.

Prose of John Milton reflects deep personal convictions, a passion for freedom and self-determination, and the urgent issues and political turbulence of his day. He wrote in Latin, Greek, and Italian and achieved international renown within his lifetime, and his celebrated Areopagitica (1644) in condemnation of censorship before publication among most influential and impassioned defenses of free speech and the press of history.

William Hayley in biography of 1796 called and generally regarded John Milton, the "greatest ... author," "as one of the preeminent writers in the ... language," though since his death, critical reception oscillated often on his republicanism in the centuries. Samuel Johnson praised, "with respect to design may claim the first place, and with respect to performance, the second, among the productions of the ... mind," though he, a Tory and recipient of royal patronage, described politics of Milton, an "acrimonious and surly republican."

Because of his republicanism, centuries of British partisanship subjected John Milton.

Reviews

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Milton’s religious poetry masks a more defiant, unsubmissive soul. In Aeropagitica, he rails against censorship. In Samson Agonistes, he expands on the last 10 verses from Judges 16 to show a Samson who, blinded, chained and without strength, rediscovers his will to resist. In The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates he advocates for the right of the governed to overthrow tyrants and justifies regicide. Milton was kind of a badass. At least on paper.

However, he is also pretty boring. Maybe it’s the poet in him, but his papers on topics such as divorce and the value of the Commonwealth are verbose and overdone. Paradise Regained lacks all the drama seen in the first few books of Paradise Lost and presents an uncomplicated Jesus in the face of devilish temptations which, apparently, were not very tempting. As for his collection of shorter poems, unless you really are in to literary criticism and dissecting poetry, they probably won’t resonate much (with exceptions for L'Allegro and Il Penseroso).

At the end of the Norton Critical Edition, There are about two hundred pages dedicated to short papers analyzing Milton’s various works. Most of them I could do without, though I would highly recommend Sharon Achinstein’s paper Samson Agonsites and the Drama of Dissent starting on page 626.

Milton mixed his religious convictions with a strong belief in the rights of individuals to shape their own lives. Though I didn’t really enjoy many of his writings, he earns respect. In his eloquent defense for free speech, he leaves the means for his own impressive legacy:

For books are a not absolutely dead things, but do contain a potency of life in them to be as active as that soul whose progeny they are; nay, they do not preserve as in a vial the purest efficacy and extraction of that living intellect that bred them. I know they are as lively and as vigorously productive as those fabulous dragon’s teeth; and being sown up and down, may chance to spring up armed men. And yet, on the other hand, unless wariness be used, as good almost kill a man as kill a good book. Who kills a man kills a reasonable creature, God’s image; but he who destroys a good book kills reason itself, kills the image of God, as it were, in the eye. Aeropagitica, pg. 341

[Mariah · Rating 5 out of 5]

So far, I appreciate his literary critiques on many things, however, I find him to be quite arrogant, and a little too self-reflexive for my liking. His literature is obviously grand, and very clearly scholarly, I just prefer less of a hubris element, and more of a "human"element to authors. There is something so special about humble writers writing great things in great agony that should be appreciated more than arrogant writers writing what's expected of them from themselves.

** Update - I finally finished the Milton course and had time to update, these collected works are wonderful. they are thoughtful and exceedingly intelligent and really force you to dive deep into the text and within yourself to form very personal understandings of the works. At times he may seem quite arrogant and entitled, but looking passed that, these stories were some of my absolute favorites of the semester. I was upset at his jokes toward people who at the time were uneducated due to the class system, however, I definitely appreciate his thoughts and how he composed them into these magnificent works, and how he wrote about freedom and people. I really think he said it best. We are born free, entirely in ourselves, he was and is so very right.

[Meeg · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked Samson Agonistes, and Comus was pretty decent. In this norton edition they modernize the spelling, include a bunch of critical essays on the poems, etc in the back (some of which I read and enjoyed) and give you introductory notes and footnotes which sometimes don't shy away from telling you exactly how you're "supposed to" interpret ambiguities.

[Ksenia]

Read: Paradise Regained, Samson Agonistes, Lycidas, Comus (A Mask Presented at Ludlow Castle 1634), The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce.

[Evey · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Voice of Humanity!

[dp · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't read this entire thing, but got through a fair amount of it with and for my Milton class throughout the semester. It's a finely edited volume with really helpful footnotes throughout, as well as critical essays in the back. Surprisingly, I enjoyed Milton's poetry far more than his prose, and I'm generally not a poetry fan. He was great at what he did.