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Samson Agonistes and Shorter Poems
This volume contains the principal English poems of Milton's youth and early manhood, most of the sonnets written during the Puritan Revolution, when he was chiefly engaged in arguing public questions in prose, and Samson Agonistes, published three years before his death. Includes "Comus," "Lycidas," "L'Allegro," "Il Penseroso," "On the Morning of Christ's Nativity," and other shorter poems. With an introduction by Editor A. E. Baker, this edition also contains a list of principal dates in the life of Milton and a selected bibliography.
- GenresPoetryClassicsLiterature
128 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1950
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About the author
John Milton
3,811 books2,266 followersPeople 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
June 10, 2017
A great genius and poet. Good stuff. Mine is pretty old, and is likely not this edition.
February 10, 2019
This is definitely a 3 star for me. While I enjoyed some of the poetry (okay, maybe 3 poems...) many of them were just above my brain power, and without someone to guide me on the background knowledge needed to enjoy them, they just fell flat. I wish I had taken better notes during my Milton class so I could appreciate the poems better now, but alas I didn’t. I do enjoy the story of Samson, and I liked Milton’s take on it, but I’m really conflicted with Delilah- I just can’t hate her, no matter how much I am supposed to! Instead, I just feel sad for her. Anyways, overall it was fun to look back on the poems I -did- understand, but I think I’d enjoy Milton with a bit more guidance and structure. Next time I’m craving him I’ll pick up Paradise Lost again as I like that one much better (and also kept my notes ;) haha).
October 1, 2024
This is an older compilation (1950) from Croft’s Classics, edited by A.E. Barker of the University of Western Ontario. It is inexpensive and concise (111 text pages) with a brief introduction and many footnotes, though there could have been more as there are a host of terms, names and phrases that needed glossing.
In addition to the classically-inspired closet drama, ‘Samson Agonistes,’ the volume contains the “Mask,” ‘Comus,’ some of Milton’s better-known poems such as “On the Morning of Christ’s Nativity,” “L’Allegro,” “Il Penseroso,” as well as the celebrated pastoral elegy, “Lycidas.” There are also several sonnets including “On the Late Massacher [sic] in Piemont [sic],” “When I consider how my light is spent,” and “Methought I saw my late espoused Saint.” I find the latter particularly moving: a reaction to the death in childbirth of Milton’s second wife Katherine Woodcock, some fifteen months after their marriage:
Methought I saw my late espoused saint
Brought to me, like Alcestis, from the grave,
Whom Jove's great son to her glad husband gave,
Rescu'd from death by force, though pale and faint.
Mine, as whom wash'd from spot of child-bed taint
Purification in the old Law did save,
And such as yet once more I trust to have
Full sight of her in Heaven without restraint,
Came vested all in white, pure as her mind;
Her face was veil'd, yet to my fancied sight
Love, sweetness, goodness, in her person shin'd
So clear as in no face with more delight.
But Oh! as to embrace me she inclin'd,
I wak'd, she fled, and day brought back my night.
At the beginning of ‘Samson Agonistes,’ Milton says this about the “Dramatic Poem”:
‘Tragedy, as it was antiently [sic] compos’d, hath been ever held the gravest, moralest [sic], and most profitable of all other Poems: therefore said by Aristotle to be of power by raising pity and fear, or terror, to purge the mind of those and such like passions, that is to temper and reduce them to just measure with a kind of delight, stirr’d up by reading or seeing those passions well imitated’ (p. 65). This is the famous theory of catharsis found in Aristotle’s ‘Poetics.’
The drama evokes classical motifs with a protagonist, antagonists, a messenger and Greek chorus which comments upon Samson and his fate throughout. The often-bitter dialogue between Samson and Dalilah [sic] is memorable and helps strengthen Samson’s eventual resolve to fulfill the divine prophecy: “Promise was that I/should Israel from Philistinian in yolk deliver” (p. 68). The initial sections, where Samson laments his cruel, ignoble fate are also notable, as is the messenger’s dramatic recounting of Samson’s eventual acts. Most of the action occurs in a Philistinean jail cell in Gaza.
There are other versions of the works contained in this volume, but for a small, low-cost edition, I would recommend it, though you will likely need to consult other resources to gloss unfamiliar terms.
In addition to the classically-inspired closet drama, ‘Samson Agonistes,’ the volume contains the “Mask,” ‘Comus,’ some of Milton’s better-known poems such as “On the Morning of Christ’s Nativity,” “L’Allegro,” “Il Penseroso,” as well as the celebrated pastoral elegy, “Lycidas.” There are also several sonnets including “On the Late Massacher [sic] in Piemont [sic],” “When I consider how my light is spent,” and “Methought I saw my late espoused Saint.” I find the latter particularly moving: a reaction to the death in childbirth of Milton’s second wife Katherine Woodcock, some fifteen months after their marriage:
Methought I saw my late espoused saint
Brought to me, like Alcestis, from the grave,
Whom Jove's great son to her glad husband gave,
Rescu'd from death by force, though pale and faint.
Mine, as whom wash'd from spot of child-bed taint
Purification in the old Law did save,
And such as yet once more I trust to have
Full sight of her in Heaven without restraint,
Came vested all in white, pure as her mind;
Her face was veil'd, yet to my fancied sight
Love, sweetness, goodness, in her person shin'd
So clear as in no face with more delight.
But Oh! as to embrace me she inclin'd,
I wak'd, she fled, and day brought back my night.
At the beginning of ‘Samson Agonistes,’ Milton says this about the “Dramatic Poem”:
‘Tragedy, as it was antiently [sic] compos’d, hath been ever held the gravest, moralest [sic], and most profitable of all other Poems: therefore said by Aristotle to be of power by raising pity and fear, or terror, to purge the mind of those and such like passions, that is to temper and reduce them to just measure with a kind of delight, stirr’d up by reading or seeing those passions well imitated’ (p. 65). This is the famous theory of catharsis found in Aristotle’s ‘Poetics.’
The drama evokes classical motifs with a protagonist, antagonists, a messenger and Greek chorus which comments upon Samson and his fate throughout. The often-bitter dialogue between Samson and Dalilah [sic] is memorable and helps strengthen Samson’s eventual resolve to fulfill the divine prophecy: “Promise was that I/should Israel from Philistinian in yolk deliver” (p. 68). The initial sections, where Samson laments his cruel, ignoble fate are also notable, as is the messenger’s dramatic recounting of Samson’s eventual acts. Most of the action occurs in a Philistinean jail cell in Gaza.
There are other versions of the works contained in this volume, but for a small, low-cost edition, I would recommend it, though you will likely need to consult other resources to gloss unfamiliar terms.
July 12, 2019
Reading John Milton can be tough sledding for a modern English-speaker, but he's worth the effort. Even the overly-long title piece in this collection is mostly pretty dull, and then Milton pulls out this:
While thir hearts were jocund and sublime,
Drunk with Idolatry, drunk with Wine,
And fat regorg'd of Bulls and Goats,
Chaunting thir Idol, and preferring
Before our living Dread who dwells
In Silo his bright Sanctuary:
Among them he a spirit of phrenzy sent,
Who hurt thir minds,
And urg'd them on with mad desire
To call in hast for thir destroyer;
They only set on sport and play
Unweetingly importun'd
Thir own destruction to come speedy upon them.
So I'm glad I made the effort - when Milton is firing on all cylinders, there's no English writer to equal him, excepting perhaps the Bard of Avon himself.
While thir hearts were jocund and sublime,
Drunk with Idolatry, drunk with Wine,
And fat regorg'd of Bulls and Goats,
Chaunting thir Idol, and preferring
Before our living Dread who dwells
In Silo his bright Sanctuary:
Among them he a spirit of phrenzy sent,
Who hurt thir minds,
And urg'd them on with mad desire
To call in hast for thir destroyer;
They only set on sport and play
Unweetingly importun'd
Thir own destruction to come speedy upon them.
So I'm glad I made the effort - when Milton is firing on all cylinders, there's no English writer to equal him, excepting perhaps the Bard of Avon himself.
May 5, 2018
Samson's a beast, not sure I care for poetry.
October 22, 2025
Ok so like, John Milton doesn’t necessarily love women.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews