Front cover image for John Milton : the major works

John Milton : the major works

This authoritative edition was originally published in the acclaimed Oxford Authors series under the general editorship of Frank Kermode. It brings together a unique combination of Milton's poetry and prose -- all the English verse together with a generous selection from the major prose writings -- to give the essence of his work and thinking. Milton's influence on English poetry and criticism has been incalculable, and this edition covers the full range of his poetic and political output. It includes Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained, and Samson Agonistes as well as major prose works such as Areopagitica and The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates. As well as all the English and Italian verse, the volume includes most of the Latin and Greek verse in parallel translation. Spelling has been modernized, and the poems are arranged in order of publication, essential to an understanding of the progress of Milton's career in relation to the political and religious upheavals of his time. The extensive notes cover syntax, vocabulary, historical context, and biblical and classical allusions. The introduction traces Milton's changing conception of his own vocation, and the critical reception his work has received over the past four centuries.
Print Book, English, 2003
Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2003
xxxii, 966 pages ; 20 cm.
9780192804099, 019280409X
56730866
Introductionix
Acknowledgementsxxviii
Chronologyxxix
Note on the Textxxxi
Letter to a Friend (?1633)1(2)
Poems 1645
On the Morning of Christ's Nativity
3(7)
A Paraphrase on Psalm 114
10(1)
Psalm 136
11(2)
The Passion
13(2)
On Time
15(1)
Upon the Circumcision
16(1)
At a Solemn Music
17(1)
An Epitaph on the Marchioness of Winchester
17(2)
Song. On May Morning
19(1)
On Shakespeare: 1630
20(1)
On the University Carrier
20(1)
Another on the Same
21(1)
L'Allegro
22(3)
II Penseroso
25(5)
(`O nightingale')
30(1)
(`Donna leggiadra')
30(1)
(`Qual in colle aspro')
31(1)
Canzone
32(1)
(`Diodati, e te'l diro')
32(1)
(`Per certo')
33(1)
(`Giovane piano')
34(1)
(`How soon hath time')
34(1)
(`Captain or colonel')
35(1)
(`Lady, that in the prime')
35(1)
(`Daughter to that good earl')
36(1)
Arcades
36(3)
Lycidas
39(5)
A Masque...Presented at Ludlow Castle [`Comus']
44(29)
English Poems Added in 1673
On the Death of a Fair Infant
73(2)
At a Vacation Exercise
75(3)
(`A book was writ of late')
78(1)
On the Same (`I did but prompt the age')
79(1)
To Mr H. Lawes (`Harry whose tuneful')
79(1)
(`When faith and love')
80(1)
On the Late Massacre in Piedmont
80(1)
(`When I consider how my light is spent')
81(1)
(`Lawrence of virtuous father')
81(1)
(`Cyriack, whose gandsire')
82(1)
(`Methought I saw my late espoused saint')
82(1)
The Fifth Ode of Horace
83(1)
On the New Forcers of Conscience
83(2)
Uncollected English Poems
On the Lord General Fairfax
85(1)
To the Lord General Cromwell
85(1)
To Sir Henry Vane the Younger
86(1)
To Mr Cyriack Skinner Upon his Blindness
86(2)
Latin Poems
To Charles Diodati
88(4)
On the Death of the Cambridge University Beadle
92(2)
On the Death of the Bishop of Winchester
94(4)
To His Tutor, Thomas Young
98(6)
On the Approach of Spring
104(8)
To Charles Diodati, Staying in the Country
112(4)
(`Nondum blanda tuas leges')
116(8)
[Epilogue to the Elegies]
122(2)
On the Fifth of November
124(10)
To my Father
134(6)
To Salzilli
140(2)
Manso
142(6)
Damon's Epitaph
148(14)
Greek Poem Added in 1673
On the Engraver of his Portrait
162(1)
Uncollected Latin Poem
Elegaic Verses
163(2)
Prose Works
From The Reason of Church Government
165(8)
From An Apology for Smectymnuus
173(9)
The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce
182(44)
Of Education
226(10)
Areopagitica
236(37)
The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates
273(35)
From Second Defence of the English People
308(22)
The Ready and Easy Way to Establish a Free Commonwealth
330(25)
Major Poems
Paradise Lost
355(264)
Paradise Regained
619(52)
Samson Agonistes
671(46)
Familiar Letters 1674
To Charles Diodati, 1637
717(2)
To Benedetto Buonmattei, 1638
719(2)
To Leonard Philaris, 1654
721(2)
From Christian Doctrine
723(12)
Notes735(225)
Further Reading960(3)
Index of Titles and First Lines963