The Complete Poetry of John Milton (Paperback)

by John Milton (Author), John T. Shawcross (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
The first complete annotated edition of Milton's poetry available in a one-volume paperback. The text is established from original sources, with collations of all known manuscripts, chronology and verbal variants recorded. Works in Latin, Greek and Italian are included with new literal translations.

From the Publisher
The first complete annotated edition of Milton's poetry available in a one-volume paperback. The text is established from original sources, with collations of all known manuscripts, chronology and verbal variants recorded. Works in Latin, Greek and Italian are included with new literal translations.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 672 pages
• Publisher: Anchor; Revised edition (July 6, 1971)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385023510
• ISBN-13: 978-0385023511
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.4 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #456,118 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars great book, great price, March 26, 2004

By	Michel Aaij (Montgomery, AL) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I recently sat in on a faculty seminar, where we're talking Paradise Lost and what to do with it in a humanities class, and was a bit surprised to find professors from all over the humanities department--a medieval prof, one who specializes in gender studies and 20th century lit, a classicist--who all still liked and read Milton, when I always thought I was a freak for really digging him. And they didn't just read him cause he's part of the canon, no, they truly enjoyed reading his poetry.

Anyway, there were lots of different editions laying around on the table, and I brought my brand new Riverside Milton, edited by Roy Flannagan, which, for all intents and purposes, is a wonderful book, but very expensive, and very, well, heavy. And I miss my old Shawcross, that I must have loaned to someone--with five years' worth of notes in there. I don't think you can beat good old Shawcroww--all of Milton's English poetry, in a good edition, with good apparatus, for under 15 bucks. Any reader, teacher, student of Milton: I highly recommend this edition, and guarantee you you will probably never need another.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It is not for nothing Blake called him the Divine Milton, August 18, 2005

By	Craig Matteson (Ann Arbor, MI) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)

Milton is justly acclaimed as one of the greatest of all poets in the English language. His work has inspired many great artists in poetry, literature, religious exegesis, painting, sculpture, music, and drama. There is a reason William Blake, himself a great poet, called him the Divine Milton.

This great volume brings together all of Milton's poetry at a very affordable price. It is a volume you will want to have on your shelf and spend many hours reading and re-reading. You will find his language easy to read, but to pull the meaning out of the words will require close attention. There are many great works in this volume, but half of the volume consists of three major works: "Paradise Lost" (a favorite for so many for the past three centuries), "Paradise Regained", and "Samson Agonistes". People were most passionate about these poems when religion was more a part of daily life and was present in all aspects of our culture. Even today, critics as sophisticated as Harold Bloom find the Satan of "Paradise Lost" one of the great literary achievements of all time.

Reading these fabulous stories as poems energizes the appetite for more epic poetry. That is a great additional reward after receiving the gift of Milton's powerful images and beautiful language.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An affordable, quality collection of Milton's work., May 21, 2008

By	S. Curley (Charlottetown, PE, Canada) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

From a very young age, John Milton declared to friends and family that his ambition was to become the greatest English poet who ever lived (Christian modesty not being particularly high among his qualities), and a great many people are of the opinion that he succeeded; with this collection, modern readers have the chance to determine for themselves whether or not he managed it. Certainly, from my perspective, he reached the upper echelons, an area occupied also by the likes of Shakespeare (to whom Milton writes a poem), Tennyson, and Browning.

The book first covers Milton's large body of individual poems (running from a couple of lines to a couple of pages each), many of which were originally written in Latin, in which case both the untranslated and translated versions are included. There is a wide range of subjects covered, including many on religious matters, to dedications to friends or icons (such as the aforementioned Shakespeare), to sonnets. The poems are collected in three groups, chronologically: the years of his formal education, the years of his private life, and the years of his public career.

The real prizes, however, come after this: Milton's three major long works: "Paradise Lost", "Paradise Regained", and "Samson Agonistes". The first of these, obviously, is his magnum opus, often considered the greatest single poetic work ever written (which was Milton's ambition when writing it), detailing the story of the Fall of Man and Satan's rebellion against God. Done in the style of an epic (since, to be the greatest poet, one must write an epic, in the thinking of Milton's era), it is a classic. "Paradise Regained" is a (much shorter) follow-up that documents Christ's temptation by Satan; for all that "Paradise Lost" is a superior Milton, "Regained" is much more successful in communicating Milton's theology (no one reading it would theorize Milton is unknowingly sympathetic to the Devil). Finally, "Samson Agonistes", another Scripture-based work, is modelled not on the epic, but on the structure of a Greek tragedy, including a Chorus and the major action taking place off-screen, given to the audience via description. "Samson" dramatizes the final day of Samson's life, before his great feat of pulling down the Philistine temple, and sees Milton further examine themes relating to destiny and the proper way to carry out God's will.

Unlike many collections, the language of this collection has not been modernized, so all the original spelling is in tact. The footnoting is comprehensive, although occasionally the practice of merely citing the Scriptural passages Milton refers to without further illumination becomes wearisome.

If you are looking for a good collection of Milton's poetry, look no further than this book.