John Milton: A Short Introduction

by Roy Flannagan (University of South Carolina)

• ISBN13: 9780470692875
• ISBN10: 0470692871
• Format: eBook
• Copyright: 2008-04-01
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

In this compelling first volume in the Blackwell Introductions to Literature series, Roy Flannagan, editor of The Milton Quarterly, provides a readable and uncluttered critical account of a complicated and sophisticated author, and his poetry and prose. Puts John Milton under the microscope, using the still-evolving critical perspectives of the last fifty years. Looks at Milton's life, and the cultural background to his work, as well as examining his writing. Considers how and why Milton's work has endured the centuries to educate, entertain and intrigue so many generations of readers. Ideal for the reader falling in love with Milton's poetry and prose, who longs to know more about what people think about the poetry, the man or the historical context.

Table of Contents

Mercantile Milton

Milton's Private and Public Education

Educated Milton: John Milton, Gentleman

Milton and Shakespeare

Milton the Omnivorous Reader

Political Milton

Place in History

8.The Prodigy

Milton the Friend

Milton Abroad

First-married Milton

Milton the Divorcer

Infamous Milton

"The Great Milton"

Milton the Egoist

The Myth of the Unattractive Milton

Physical Appearance

Class-consciousness

Milton's Sense of Humor

Milton's First Great Poem

"L'Allegro"

"Lycidas"

Elegies in Latin and English

Decorum, Genre, and Modes: the Nativity Ode

Sonnets

The Serious and Even the Puritan, Masque

Arcades

The Masque often known as Comus

Musical Entertainment

Fairy-tale Plot

Politics

Performance and Character

The One Just Man, or Woman

Against the Bishops

The Reason of Church-Government

Wonder Years

Of Education

Divorce as a Serious Subject

Prose Masterpiece: Areopagitica

The Blind Warrior

Plans for Great Tragedies

Milton's Theological Niche

The Baroque in Space and Time

Blindness

Narrator

Solitude, Patience, etc

The One Just Man

Free Will, Disturbing

A Creative God

"Satan, He's a Liar"

Satan, Sin, and Death

Plot and Parallel Scenes

Competitiveness

Self-fashioning

A Remarkable Memory

Slow Reading, on Purpose

Epic Similes

Explication

Etymology

The Printing of Paradise Lost

Imperialism

Monarchy

"Paradise Found"

The Plot of the Brief Epic

Paradise Regain'd and the Problems of a Cold-seeming Son of God

Problems of Presenting a Speaking Jesus

The Son as Student

Diminished Satan

Epic Devices in Miniature

Political Undertones

Searches for Meaning in Epithets

Socrates, the Biblical Job, etc

Class Warfare

Quiet Closure

Unpretentious Poetic Style

Samson Agonistes and the Problem of Dating

The Plot of the Dramatic Poem

The Agon or Struggle in Samson Agonistes

Harapha, his Giantship

The Temptations to Luxury or Idleness

A Chorus You Can't always Believe

Quiet Closure of the Tragedy and the Short Epic

In the End, "One's country is where it is well with one."

Aftermath: Milton's Influence

Works Cited

Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.