John Milton Complete Shorter Poems / Edition 1

by Stella P. Revard

Overview

An important and innovative edition of Milton's shorter verse & the first volume to present the poems with the original spelling and pronunciations intact, offering readers the opportunity to experience the vitality of the poems as they were experienced by Milton's contemporaries:

• Includes Milton's original Latin poems, with a new English translation on facing pages for cross-comparison
• Serves as a companion to Lewalski's Paradise Lost and Loewenstein's prose selections of Milton
• Features both collected and uncollected poetry in English, Latin, and Greek, the latter two with translations
• Retains original spelling and punctuation of Milton's 1645 Poems and his 1671 Paradise Regained and Sampson Agonistes
• Offers readers comprehensive footnotes, marginal glosses, chronology, bibliography, and longer discussions in introductions to sections

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781405129275
Publisher:	Wiley
Publication date:	05/11/2009
Pages:	608
Product dimensions:	6.70(w) x 9.60(h) x 1.40(d)

About the Author

Stella Revard is Professor Emerita of Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, with a Ph. D. in English Literature from Yale University. Her two previous books on Milton, The War in Heaven: Paradise Lost and the Tradition of Satan's Rebellion (1980) and Milton and the Tangles of Neaera's Hair: The Making of the 1645 Poems (1997), won Hanford awards from the Milton Society of America.

Table of Contents

Note on This Edition xii

Acknowledgments xii

List of Illustrations xiii

Chronology xiv

Textual Introduction xxi

Introduction to the 1645 Volume: Poems of Mr. John Milton 1

English and Italian Poems 11

Introduction to the Poemata, 1645 125

Elegiarum Liber Primus 143

Sylvarum Liber 203

Introduction to Poems, &c. Upon Several Ocassions, 1673 289

Latin and Greek Poems Added in 1673 339

Poems Added to Sylvarum Liber In 1673 342

Sonnets Published in 1694 357

Unpublished Latin Poems 369

Appendix 513

Select Bibliography 545

Textual Notes 555

Editorial Reviews

This new edition gives us an accurate picture of how Milton’s publication of his shorter poems evolved across a lifetime.  Its main strength, in my opinion, is that Revard will introduce readers who might otherwise not have considered Milton as a literary polyglot to the 1645 Poemata and other Latin and Italian poems in their proper contexts, which cannot but enrich such readers’ understanding of Milton’s work.”  (Milton Quarterly, 2011)

“A splendid student edition. Remarkably fresh and uncluttered, it offers strong historical context as well as specific linguistic guidance for the modern reader. Priority goes to the poetry and the decision to return to original spelling proves no hindrance but rather seems to deepen the reader's engagement with the texts. An outstanding edition which is easy to handle and to use.”

"Original spelling and punctuation are retained, and in all other ways the volume prioritizes accessibility and clarity, with chronology, introductions to each section and ample but not swamping footnotes to each poem. The introductory essays do not assume scholarly knowledge, and they make every poem seem vibrant, and vital to Milton's development as a writer."(TLS, April 2010)

Margaret Kean, St. Hilda’s College, University of Oxford

From the Publisher