Description
Book Synopsis* A concise, accessible guide to understanding and appreciating the works of John Milton. * Presents new and authoritative essays by internationally respected Milton scholars. * Explains how and why Milton's works established their central place in the English literary canon.
Table of ContentsNotes on Contributors ix
Introduction 1
Angelica Duran
Part I Surveys
1 A Reading of His "left hand": Milton's Prose 7
Robert Thomas Fallon
2 "Shedding sweet influence": The Legacy of John Milton's Works 25
John T. Shawcross
3 "The world all before [us]": More than Three Hundred Years of Criticism 43
Roy Flannagan
Part II Textual Sites
4 First and Last Fruits of Education: The Companion Poems, Epistola, and Educational Prose Works 61
Angelica Duran
5 Milton's Heroic Sonnets 78
Annabel Patterson
6 The Lives of Lycidas 95
Paul Alpers
7 A Mask: Tradition and Innovation 111
Katsuhiro Engetsu
8 The Bible, Religion, and Spirituality in Paradise Lost 128
Achsah Guibbory
9 Gender, Sex, and Marriage in Paradise 144
Karen L. Edwards
10 The Ecology of Paradise Lost 161
Juliet Lucy Cummins
11 The Messianic Vision of Paradise Regained 178
David Gay
12 The Nightmare of History: Samson Agonistes 197
Louis Schwartz
Part III Reference Points
Select Chronology: "Speak of things at hand/ Useful" 217
Edward Jones
Select Bibliography: "Much arguing, much writing, many opinions" 235
J. Martin Evans
Index 270
