Milton: Paradise Lost (Longman Annotated English Poets)

by Alastair Fowler (Editor), Alastair Fowler (Editor)

• New

  paperback
  

  $49.06

  Milton's Paradise Lost is one of the great works of literature, of any time and in any language. Marked by Milton's characteristic erudition it is a work epic both in scale and, notoriously, in ambition. For nearly 350 years it has held generation upon generation of scholars, students and readers in rapt attention and its profound influence can be seen in almost every corner of Western culture. First published in 1968, with John Carey's Complete Shorter Poems, Alastair Fowler's Paradise Lost is widely acknowledged to be the most authoritative edition of this compelling work. An unprecedented amount of detailed annotation accompanies the full text of the first (1667) edition, providing a wealth of contextual information to enrich and enhance the reader's experience. Notes on composition and context are combined with a clear explication of the multitude allusions Milton called to the poem's aid. The notes also summarise and illuminate the vast body of critical attention the poem has attracted, synthesizing the ancient and the modern to provide a comprehensive account both of the poem's development and its reception. Meanwhile, Alastair Fowler's invigorating introduction surveys the whole poem and looks in detail at such matters as Milton's theology, metrical structure and, most valuably, his complex and imaginary astronomy. The result is an enduring landmark in the field of Milton scholarship and an invaluable guide for readers of all levels.

• Used

  Paperback
  1998

  $10.77

  Paradise Lost is the greatest work of one of the most acclaimed poets in English literature. It has had a profound influence on Western culture, and has attracted a vast amount of critical commentary of every sort. First published in 1968, Alastair Fowler's annotated edition of Paradise Lost is acknowledged as the most authoritative guide to this major work, and to the critical analysis that it has prompted. This important new edition maintains the detailed annotation that has for many years provided an interesting and comprehensive explanation to this difficult but compelling poem, making it accessible both to the student and the general reader. It is the only recent edition of Paradise Lost to be based on the text of the first (1667) edition, now widely accepted to be closer to Milton's intention than that of 1674. The revised introduction describes the poem and its remarkable critical reception, surveying the nine thousand or so critical contributions devoted to it, not least during the last thirty years. Besides providing glosses and illustrations of sources and analogues, the notes refer to extra-literary contexts, religious, political and scientific, and aim in particular to explain Milton's imaginary astronomy more fully than any other edition has attempted. The notes also provide an unusual amount of critical commentary, in such a way as to engage with current thought about the poem. They assimilate or reject much criticism of Paradise Lost, giving guidance on the current issues, and what sorts of assumptions and interpretations need to be made by an informed reader.