A preeminent figure of English literature, the seventeenth century poet John Milton wrote at a time of religious flux and political upheaval, while serving as a civil servant for the Commonwealth of England and later under Oliver Cromwell. His most famous work, the epic poem ‘Paradise Lost’ (1667) is widely considered to be one of the greatest works of literature ever written. A diverse, intellectual and bilingual author, Milton achieved international renown within his lifetime. His celebrated prose work ‘Areopagitica’ (1644), written in condemnation of pre-publication censorship, still stands as one of the most influential defences of freedom of speech and the press. Milton introduced many new words to the English language and was the first modern writer to employ unrhymed verse outside of the theatre or translations. The Delphi Poets Series offers readers the works of literature’s finest poets, with superior formatting. This volume presents Milton’s complete English works in poetry and prose, with related illustrations and the usual Delphi bonus material. (Version 2) * Beautifully illustrated with images relating to Milton's life and works * Concise introductions to the poetry and major works * Images of how the poetry books were first printed, giving your eReader a taste of the original texts * Excellent formatting of the poems * Special chronological and alphabetical contents tables for the poetry * Easily locate the poems you want to read * Includes line numbers, ideal for students * The complete English prose * ‘Paradise Lost’ is beautifully illustrated with Gustave Doré’s celebrated engravings * Features five biographies - discover Milton's intriguing life * Scholarly ordering of texts into chronological order and literary genres * UPDATED with rare prose works and two more biographies The Poetry Books Poems, 1645 Paradise Lost (1667) Paradise Regained (1671) Samson Agonistes (1671) Poems, 1673 Verses from Milton’s Commonplace Book (1874) The Poems List of Poems in Chronological Order List of Poems in Alphabetical Order The Prose Works Of Reformation (1641) Of Prelatical Episcopacy (1641) Animadversions (1641) The Reason of Church-Government Urged against Prelaty (1642) Apology for Smectymnuus (1642) The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce (1643) Judgement of Martin Bucer Concerning Divorce (1644) Areopagitica (1644) On Education (1644) Tetrachordon (1645) Colasterion (1645) Observations on the Articles of Peace (1648) Eikonoklastes (1649) The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates (1649) A Defence of the People of England (1651) The Second Defence of the People of England (1654) The Likeliest Means to Remove Hirelings from the Church (1659) A Treatise of Civil Power (1659) The Ready and Easy Way to Establish a Free Commonwealth (1660) Brief Notes upon a Late Sermon (1660) Accedence Commenced Grammar (1669) The History of Britain (1670) Of True Religion (1673) Epistolae Familiaries (1674) De Doctrina Christiana (1674) A Brief History of Moscovia (1682) Miscellaneous Prose Works The Biographies Milton by Mark Pattison The Life of John Milton by Richard Garnett Milton by Sir Walter Alexander Raleigh John Milton by David Masson John Milton by Leslie Stephen Please visit www.delphiclassics.com to browse through our range of exciting titles

The Victorian period was a golden age for the study of Milton. Yet the influence of Milton on poetry, and on literature more generally, during the period is often obscure. Victorian writers rarely display the overt, self-conscious engagement with Milton that typified so much Romantic writing earlier in the nineteenth century. In Milton and the Victorians Erik Gray argues that this shift represents not a breach but an expansion: if Milton's influence seems less remarkable than before, it is due not to his absence but to his pervasiveness. Through detailed consideration of works by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Christina Rossetti, Matthew Arnold, Alfred Tennyson, and George Eliot, Gray shows how Victorian writers tended to draw upon the less sublime, more understated elements of Milton's writings. In tracing the characteristically oblique influence of Milton on Victorian authors, Gray also draws attention to important aspects of Milton's own work, notably the way it often depicts power being exerted indirectly. Gray thus proposes new and nuanced models of literary relations, while offering original and elegant readings both of Milton's poetry and of major works of Victorian literature.

The Oxford History of Poetry in English (OHOPE) is designed to offer a fresh, multi-voiced, and comprehensive analysis of 'poetry': from Anglo-Saxon culture through contemporary British, Irish, American, and Global culture, including English, Scottish, and Welsh poetry, Anglo-American colonial and post-colonial poetry, and poetry in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the Caribbean, India, Africa, Asia, and other international locales. OHOPE both synthesizes existing scholarship and presents cutting-edge research, employing a global team of expert contributors for each of the fourteen volumes. By taking as its purview the full seventeenth century, 1603-1700, this volume re-draws the existing literary historical map and expands upon recent rethinking of the canon. Placing the revolutionary years at the centre of a century of poetic transformation, and putting the Restoration back into the seventeenth century, the volume registers the transformative effects on poetic forms of a century of social, political, and religious upheaval. It considers the achievements of a number of women poets, not yet fully integrated into traditional literary histories. It assimilates the vibrant literature of the English Revolution to what came before and after, registering its long-term impact. It traces the development of print culture and of the literary marketplace, alongside the continued circulation of poetry in manuscript. It places John Milton, Andrew Marvell, Margaret Cavendish, and Katherine Philips and other mid-century poets into the full century of specifically literary development. It traces continuity and change, imitation and innovation in the full-century trajectory of such poetic genres as sonnet, elegy, satire, georgic, epigram, ode, devotional lyric, and epic. The volume's attention to poetic form builds on the current upswing in historicist formalism, allowing a close focus on poetry as an intensely aesthetic and social literary mode. Designed for maximum classroom utility, the organization is both thematic and (in the authors section) chronological. After a comprehensive Introduction, organizational sections focus on Transitions; Materiality, Production, and Circulation; Poetics and Form; Genres; and Poets.