John Milton (1608-74), the great English poet, is best known for
his epic masterpiece, Paradise Lost. In addition to writing
brilliant verse and overtly political works, Milton was also a
private tutor and, during the Commonwealth period, served as
Secretary for Foreign Tongues, a position mostly involving the
composition of the English Republic's foreign correspondence in
Latin.
About the Editors
William Kerrigan is the author of many books, including The Sacred
Complex- On the Psychogenesis of Paradise Lost, for which he won
the James Holly Hanford Award of the Milton Society of America. A
former president of the Milton Society, he has also earned numerous
honors and distinctions from that group, including its award for
lifetime achievement. He is professor emeritus at the University of
Massachusetts.
John Rumrich is the author of Matter of Glory- A New Preface to
Paradise Lost and Milton Unbound- Controversy and Reinterpretation.
An award-winning editor and writer, he is Thaman Professor of
English at the University of Texas at Austin, where he teaches
early modern British literature.
Stephen M. Fallon is the author of Milton's Peculiar Grace-
Self-Representation and Authority and Milton Among the
Philosophers- Poetry and Materialism in Seventeenth-Century
England, winner of the Milton Society's Hanford Award. He is
professor of liberal studies and English at the University of Notre
Dame.
"This magnificent edition gives us everything we need to read
Milton intelligently and with fresh perception. You could take it
to a desert island, or just stay home and further your education in
a great writer."
-William H. Pritchard, Amherst College
"For generations of readers Milton has been the measure of both
eloquence and nobility of mind. For the next generation this new
Modern Library volume will be the standard: it is meticulously
edited, full of tactful annotations that set the stage for his work
and his times, and it brings Milton, as a poet and a thinker,
vividly alive before us."
-Robert Hass
"Years ago I began a series of poems about Milton and his
daughters. Ever since, I have been combing through Milton's poems
and prose for those moments when the poet would turn and speak to
the poet in me. It is in the new Kerrigan-Rumrich-Fallon edition
that I now find prompt rejoinders to questions, ready
clarifications of problems, and a more intimate dimension of that
formidable adjective Miltonic."
-Richard Howard
"A superb edition of the great poet, with modernized spelling,
lucid introductions to each work, illuminating footnotes, and fresh
prose translations of poems in Latin, Greek, and Italian. This will
surely be the edition of choice for teachers, students, and general
readers too."
-Leo Damrosch, Harvard University
"The introductions alone constitute a fine new book on Milton,
beautifully written, challenging and balanced, with equal care and
insight given to textual, biographical, historical,
literary-historical and literary-critical concerns. It is a book to
last a lifetime."
-James Earl, University of Oregon
"In this landmark edition, teachers will discover a powerful ally
in bringing the excitement of Milton's poetry and prose to new
generations of students. In the clarity of its overall conception,
its thoroughness, and its never-faltering attention to literary and
historical detail, the Modern Library Milton serves almost as
another teacher-patient, thoughtful, endlessly concerned with
genuine comprehension."
-William C. Dowling, Rutgers University
"The editors display a remarkable combination of scholarly rigor
and sensitivity to literary values, expressed in prose of exemplary
clarity and extraordinary grace; even the notes, concise as well as
precise, approach a kind of epigrammatic brilliance. A superb
edition."
-Edward W. Tayler, Columbia University
"The editors succeed gloriously, meeting the needs of the whole
spectrum, from general readers to advanced students. A modernized
text, one sensitive to Milton's poetic rhythm, illuminates both the
author's meaning and artistry. It's a beautiful edition-a home
worthy of its subject."
-Marina Favila, James Madison University
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