The Major Works

by Milton, John; Orgel, Stephen; Goldberg, Jonathan

• ISBN13: 9780192804099
• ISBN10: 019280409X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-04-03
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

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 prosewritings - 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 andMagistrates. 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 relationto the political and religious upheavals of his time. The extensive notes cover syntax, vocabulary, historical context, and biblical and classical allusions. The introduction traces both Milton's changing conception of his own vocation, and the critical reception his work has received over the pastfour centuries.

Author Biography

Stephen Orgel is a high-profile academic and author of many books on Shakespeare and the Renaissance, including The Authentic Shakespeare (Routledge, 2002). He is General Editor of the New Pelican Shakespeare, for which he has edited five volumes, and the editor of The Tempest and The Winter's Tale for the Oxford Shakespeare. Jonathan Goldberg has written books on early modern literature and culture, especially concerned with gender issues. He is the editor of Queering the Renaissance and Reclaiming Sodom.

Table of Contents

Introduction	ix
Acknowledgements	xxviii
Chronology	xxix
Note on the Text	xxxi
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)
Notes	735	(225)
Further Reading	960	(3)
Index of Titles and First Lines	963