John Milton: A Reader's Guide to His Poetry

by Marjorie Nicolson

In this book, Marjorie Nicolson, one of the world's foremost authorities on Milton, discuss all of his poetry in the juvenalia, the famous Minor Poems, “L'Allegro,” “Il Penseroso,” “Comus” (and "Arcades”), “Lycidas.” In the second section, the author treats Milton's middle years, when he was diverted from poetry to become Latin Secretary under Oliver Cromwell. There is discussion of the many prose-pamphlets and tracts which Milton said he “wrote with his left hand,” and also the sonnets, the only poetry he composed during the middle years. Then in the third secion, the great poems are examined in close detail. Paradise Lost is treated book by book; Samson Agonistes , Milton's poetic “closet drama” is closely and carefully analyzed.Marjorie Nicolson, who holds fifteen honorary degrees, is one of America's most distinguished scholars. For many years she taught at Columbia University, where she was the William Peterfield Trent Professor. She has been President of United Chapters of Phi Beta Kappa, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and is a former President of the Modern Language Association. Among her many books are Newton Demands the Muse , for which whe won the Crawshay Prize of the British Academy, Voyages to the Moon, The Breaking of the Circle , and Mountain Gloom and Mountain Glory .

Paperback

First published January 1, 1963