John Milton Complete Shorter Poems - by Stella P Revard (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

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

From the Back Cover

Universally hailed as one of the greatest poets of the English language, John Milton bequeathed an unrivalled body of work to the modern world. While best known for his epic poem Paradise Lost, Milton's literary brilliance encompassed all manner of verse forms, including the ode, mask, short epic and classical drama. Milton, Complete Shorter Poems is the first critical edition to present his poems in their original form -- with all the intricacies of Milton's language intact. Original spelling and punctuation have been carefully maintained, and the poems' rhythms and cadences, often lost in modernized versions, are made accessible. Readers finally have the opportunity to experience the richness and vitality of Milton's works just as they were received by his contemporaries.

Included are Milton's complete collection of 1645 Poems, with the English poems reproduced in the order in which Milton arranged them in 1645, followed by his Latin poems with new English translations easily accessible on facing pages. Also featured are Milton's two great works that appeared together in 1671, Paradise Regained; and the poetic drama modeled on classical Greek tragedy, Samson Agonistes. The addition of invaluable, non-intrusive footnotes, marginal glosses, and insightful introductions by noted Milton scholar Stella Revard will serve to illuminate the wealth of Milton's literary allusions and greatly enhance the reader's appreciation of his genius. Together, this new volume is a crucial addition to Milton scholarship and a fitting tribute to mark the occasion of the four-hundredth anniversary of the great poet's birth in 1608.

Review Quotes

"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

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.