The Complete English Poems of John Milton: Introduction by Gordon Campbell

John Milton has long been recognized as the greatest poet in English after Shakespeare and a world literature treasure. Many of his short poems are perennially put among the greatest lyrics, especially "Lycidas" and his ground-breaking sonnets, which revolutionized the form and were immensely influential with sonneteers like William Wordsworth and Percy Shelley. He is of course most famous for Paradise Lost, his masterpiece; the greatest epic poem in English, it is rivaled only by Dante's Divine Comedy as the best modern epic. Paradise Regained, its mini-epic sequel, and the dramas Comus and Samson Agonistes are also among his legendary works. Besides all this, Milton's prose remains important and widely read, particularly his political work. Many things make Milton great, not least that he is one of the few poets able to successfully combine beauty, artistry, and depth. He is usually considered the most learned English poet and was indeed among the most educated people of his day, perhaps of all time - a fearsomely well-read polyglot steeped in theology, philosophy, literature, science, and more. This has unfortunately kept many from reading him, but there is really nothing to fear; his intellect of course shows up but far more subtly than one would expect. Unlike Modernist writers with similar reputations, he is not obscure or massively allusive; nearly all his references are to the Bible and classical mythology sources that his readers would have immediately recognized. This is of course not as true now, but Milton remains remarkably readable for a poet of three hundred and fifty years' vintage - far more so, for instance, than Shakespeare. Yet he is able to work weighty issues, particularly theology and philosophy, into his poetry in a way that only Alexander Pope, Shelley, and Thomas Hardy have been able to rival in English. Milton at his best is extremely thought-provoking but also remarkable for beauty and technical precision of a kind rarely achieved. Above all, his work is notable for a grand, epic sweep that is unmatched in English, putting him on a level with Homer, Virgil, and Dante. This is of course clearest in Paradise Lost, but even short works have it to a very high degree. Simply put, Milton's talent and stature are such that anyone even remotely interested in poetry must be familiar with his collected poems. Anyone who loves poetry can only be dismayed at its historically low status; even the greats are read less than ever, and poetry seemingly gets only less popular. It is a testament to Milton's greatness that he has largely escaped this, continuing to be read not only by students and scholars but even remaining a popular culture presence, as numerous references in works as diverse as the film Seven and the songs of Nick Cave prove. The Western world's ever-increasing secularism is probably the greatest obstacle to reading Milton, as nearly all his works and all the major ones deal with the Bible in some way. The passio

Milton's greatness is evident not only in his greatest work 'Paradise Lost' but also in 'Samson Agonistes' and the finest elegy in the language , " Lycidas".It is present in his sonnets and shorter pieces also , and " On His Blindness" is one of the great poems of world - literature. Milton is a poet of the ear, and there is a powerful music in his verse. His tremendous learning may complicate his poetry for the modern reader, but there are depths in his lines for those who truly probe them.

I recognize that Milton is second to Shakespeare in linguistic craft and mastery, and, wanting to round our my literary experience, I searched for month to find a lovely, hardbound, guilt-edged "Complete Works of Milton" to match my lovely, hardbound, guilt-edged "Complete Works of Shakespeare." But to no avail!I almost bought a paperback "Complete Works of Milton," which had Milton's Greek, Latin, and Italian poems. It surprised me that this man was a genius in many languages, but since I only speak English, Portuguese, Spanish, and French, I demurred.I finally settled on this edition since it does the job that an English student or aficionado would want. It contains the complete English sonnets, his English plays, and the supernal-issimo twins "Paradise Lost," and "Paradise Regained." In addition to the polyglot works, this book omits his prose works. But that is for another time and another day!The "helps" are great. Every line in Epic Paradise plays is numbered, which prevents any miscounting errors. Moreover, it has many helpful footnotes, which highlight many of Milton's word plays and puns. In this dimension, Milton is one of the funniest classicists in the universe.I enjoy Milton. His wordplay and "force of langue" outstrips Shakespeare in many instances. I also enjoy his obvious Christianity, which is what makes Lucifer is such a charming character. You only counterfeit a true coin!

I once said in another review that the number of editions of Milton's poetry could make choosing which one to purchase a tedious process. Gordon Campbell, who revised William Riley Parker's beautifully written biography of Milton, introduces the poems of this Everyman edition with a nice essay and an invaluable chronological table that aligns the poet's life with historical and literary events.Also, Campbell's own voice comes across clearly which is unusual for an editor. In the second clause of the opening sentence of his introduction, Campbell insightfully speaks of Milton's bizarre talent in checking his great learning against his innate drive to create: " . . . it is remarkable that the weight of his erudition did not crush his genius for writing poetry." Campbell's humility, which is felt in his confessions of weaknesses as an editor and scholar, comforts the reader through the most allusively amazing read that is Milton's poetry: "In struggling to avoid the occasional perils of dependence on earlier editors I have doubtless made mistakes of my own invention . . . ". The leaves of the cloth-bound (not the paperback) Everyman edition are acid-free and sewn in signatures.

I had to read Paradise Lost for my English class, and I bought this, honestly, so I wouldn't have to buy a Cliffs Notes separately. The annotations are really helpful, and explain a lot of things. Don't be intimidated by the size of the book; it's just the notes. If it's your first time reading Milton, get this. If not, you may be annoyed by the notes; I was after a little while, once I got the gist of the story. I give it 4 stars because it's helpful, but you either love or hate Milton, and I hate it. But the notes (I can't say this enough) make the reading so much easier!