The Oxford Handbook of Milton (Oxford Handbooks)

Four hundred years after his birth, John Milton remains one of the greatest and most controversial figures in English literature. The Oxford Handbook of Milton is a comprehensive guide to the state of Milton studies in the early twenty-first century, bringing together an international team of thirty-five leading scholars in one volume. The rise of critical interest in Milton's political and religious ideas is the most striking aspect of Milton studies in recent times, a consequence in great part of the increasingly fluid relations between literary and historical study. The Oxford Handbook both embodies the interest in Milton's political and religious contexts in the last generation and seeks to inaugurate a new phase in Milton studies through closer integration of the poetry and prose. There are eight essays on various aspects of Paradise Lost, ranging from its classical background and poetic form to its heretical theology and representation of God. There are sections devoted both to the shorter poems, including 'Lycidas' and Comus, and the final poems, Paradise Regained and Samson Agonistes . There are also three sections on Milton's prose: the early controversial works on church government, divorce, and toleration, including Areopagitica ; the regicide and republican prose of 1649-1660, the period during which he served as the chief propagandist for the English Commonwealth and Cromwell's Protectorate, and the various writings on education, history, and theology. The opening essays explore what we know about Milton's biography and what it might tell us; the final essays offer interpretations of aspects of Milton's massive influence on later writers, including the Romantic poets. Cover......Page 1 Title......Page 4 Copyright......Page 5 Preface......Page 6 Contents......Page 8 Illustrations......Page 12 Note on the Text and Abbreviations......Page 13 Notes on Contributors......Page 14 Milton's Life: Some Significant Dates......Page 19 Part I: Lives......Page 24 'Ere Half My Dats': Milton's Life, 1608-1640 (Jones)......Page 26 John Milton: The Later Life (1641-1674) (Von Maltzahn)......Page 49 Part II: Shorter Poems......Page 73 The 'Adorning of My Native Tongue': Latin Poetry and Linguistic Analysis (Haan)......Page 75 Milton's Early English Poems: The Nativity Ode, 'L'Allegro', 'Il Penseroso' (Teskey)......Page 90 'A Thousand Fantasies': The Lady and the Maske (Coiro)......Page 113 'Lycidas' and the Influence of Anxiety (McDowell)......Page 136 The Troubled, Quiet Endings of Milton's English Sonnets (Leonard)......Page 160 Part III: Civil War Prose, 1641-1645......Page 177 The Anti-Episcopal Tracts (Smith)......Page 179 Contextualizing Milton's Divorce Tracts (Achinstein)......Page 198 The Rhetoric of Milton's Divorce Tracts (Purkiss)......Page 210 Milton, Areopagitica, and the Parliamentary Cause (Hughes)......Page 224 Areopagitica and Liberty (Hoxby)......Page 242 Part IV: Regicide, Republican, and Restoration Prose, 1649-1673......Page 263 Milton's Tenure of Kings and Magistrates (Fallon)......Page 265 Milton's Regicide Tracts and the Uses of Shakespeare (McDowell)......Page 276 John Milton, European: The Rhetoric of Milton's Defences (Raymond)......Page 296 Defensio Prima and the Latin Poets (Haan)......Page 315 Milton's Later Vernacular Republican Tracts (Keeble)......Page 329 Disestablishment, Toleration, the New Testament Nation: Milton's Late Religious Tracts (Sauer)......Page 349 Milton and National Identity (Stevens)......Page 366 Part V: Writings on Education, History, Theology......Page 389 The Genres of Milton's Commonplace Book (Poole)......Page 391 Milton, the Hartlib Circle, and the Education of the Aristocracy (Raylor)......Page 406 Conquest and Slavery in Milton's History of Britain (Dzelzainis)......Page 431 De Doctrina Christiana: An England That Might Have Been (Campbell & Corns)......Page 448 Part VI: Paradise Lost......Page 461 Writing Epic: Paradise Lost (Martindale)......Page 463 Verse Rhythm in Paradise Lost (Creaser)......Page 486 Editing Milton: The Case Against Modernization (Dobranski)......Page 504 The 'World' of Paradise Lost (Edwards)......Page 520 Paradise Lost and Heresy (Smith)......Page 534 God (Curran)......Page 549 Eve, Paradise Lost, and Female Interpretation (Wiseman)......Page 558 The Politics of Paradise Lost (Dzelzainis)......Page 571 Part VII: 1671 Poems: Paradise Regained and Samson Agonistes......Page 593 Contexts of the 1671 Poems (Knoppers)......Page 595 Paradise Regained and the Memory of Paradise Lost (Rogers)......Page 613 Samson Agonistes and 'Single Rebellion' (Serjeantson)......Page 637 Samson Agonistes: The Force of Justice and the Violence of Idolatry (Schwartz)......Page 656 Samson Agonistes and Milton's Sensible Ethics (Harvey)......Page 673 Part VIII: Aspects of Influence......Page 691 Milton Epic and Bucolic: Empire and Readings of Paradise Lost, 1667-1837 (Zwierlein)......Page 693 Miltonic Romanticism (Wittreich)......Page 711 Index......Page 729 Ere half my days : Milton's life, 1608-1640 / Edward Jones John Milton : the later life (1641-1674) / Nicholas von Maltzahn The adorning of my native tongue : Latin poetry and linguistic metamorphosis / Estelle Haan Milton's early English poems : The nativity ode, L'allegro, Il penseroso / Gordon Teskey A thousand fantasies : the lady and the Maske / Ann Baynes Coiro Lycidas and the influence of anxiety / Nicholas McDowell The troubled, quiet endings of Milton's English sonnets / John Leonard The anti-Episcopal tracts : republican Puritanism and the truth in poetry / Nigel Smith A law in this matter to himself : contextualizing Milton's divorce tracts / Sharon Achinstein Whose liberty? : the rhetoric of Milton's divorce tracts / Diane Purkiss Milton, Areopagitica, and the parliamentary cause / Ann Hughes Areopagitica and liberty / Blair Hoxby The strangest piece of reason : Milton's Tenure of kings and magistrates / Stephen M. Fallon Milton's regicide tracts and the uses of Shakespeare / Nicholas McDowell John Milton, European : the rhetoric of Milton's defences / Joad Raymond Defensio prima and the Latin poets / Estelle Haan Nothing nobler then a free commonwealth : Milton's later vernacular republican tracts / N.H. Keeble Disestablishment, toleration, the New Testament nation : Milton's late religious tracts / Elizabeth Sauer Milton and national identity / Paul Stevens The genres of Milton's Commonplace book / William Poole Milton, the Hartlib circle, the education of the aristocracy / Timothy Raylor Conquest and slavery in Milton's History of Britain / Martin Dzelzainis De doctrina Christiana : an England that might have been / Gordon Campbell and Thomas N. Corns Writing epic : Paradise lost / Charles Martindale A mind of most exceptional energy : verse rhythm in Paradise lost / John Creaser Editing Milton : the case against modernization / Stephen B. Dobranski The world of Paradise lost / Karen L. Edwards Paradise lost and heresy / Nigel Smith God / Stuart Curran Eve, Paradise lost, and female interpretation / Susan Wiseman The politics of Paradise lost / Martin Dzelzainis Englands case : contexts of the 1671 poems / Laura Lunger Knoppers Paradise regained and the memory of Paradise lost / John Rogers Samson agonistes and single rebellion / R.W. Serjeantson Samson agonistes : the force of justice and the violence of idolatry / Regina M. Schwartz Samson agonistes and Milton's sensible ethics / Elizabeth D. Harvey Milton epic and bucolic : empire and readings of Paradise lost, 1667-1837 / Anne-Julia Zwierlein Miltonic romanticism / Joseph Wittreich. Four hundred years after his birth, John Milton remains one of the greatest and most controversial figures in English literature. is a comprehensive guide to the state of Milton studies in the early twenty-first century, bringing together an international team of thirty-five leading scholars in one volume. The rise of critical interest in Milton's political and religious ideas is the most striking aspect of Milton studies in recent times, a consequence in great part of the increasingly fluid relations between literary and historical study. The __Handbook____Paradise Lost,____Paradise Regained__ __Samson Agonistes____Areopagitica__