13 Defending the Republic, II
PART IV—DEFEAT AND AFTER
14 Losing Hope
i Warnings
ii Desperate remedies
15 Back to Egypt
16 Last Years
i Milton and his friends
ii Politics regained
17 Milton’s Reputation
PART V—MILTON’S CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE
18 Theology and Logic
i Of Christian Doctrine
ii The Art of Logic
19 Milton and the Bible
20 The Dialectic of Discipline and Liberty
i Discipline
ii Fecundity and freedom
iii Negative liberty
21 Radical Arminianism
22 The Millennium and the Chosen Nation
23 Sons and the Father
i Anti-Trinitarianism
ii Sons of God
24 Approaches to Antinomianism
i The religion of the heart
ii Internalizing heaven and hell
iii Antinomianism
25 Mortalism
26 Materialism and Creation
27 Society and Heresy: between Two Cultures
PART VI—THE GREAT POEMS
28 The Fall of Man
i History, myth and allegory
ii Restoration politics and the Fall
29 Paradise Lost
i The historical context
ii ‘Some British theme, some old/Romantic tale’
iii ‘I sing… unchanged’: political analogies
iv Adam and Eve
v Education by history
vi Some problems
vii 1667 and after
30 Paradise Regained
31 Samson Agonistes; Hope Regained
PART VII—TOWARDS A CONCLUSION
32 Milton’s Milton versus Milton
33 The relevance of Milton
i Milton Agonistes
ii Milton and posterity
34 Keeping the Truth
APPENDICES
1 The Date of Samson Agonistes
2 John and Edward Phillips
3 Nathan Paget and his Library
Notes
Bibliography
General Index
Index of References to Milton’s writings
In this book I have modernized seventeenth-century spelling and punctuation, and have used the new style in dating. I have quoted Milton’s prose writings mostly from the Yale edition of his Complete Prose Works. Since Volumes VII and VIII are not yet to hand, I have cited items in these volumes from the Columbia edition. I was, however, able to see Professor Woolrych’s Introduction to Vol. VII. In order to help readers to identify any work cited, I have listed Milton’s major writings on pp. xvii-xviii, with the volume number and pages which each pamphlet occupies in the edition which I have used. Latin works are listed separately, so that readers can ascertain when they are reading a translation rather than Milton’s own words. I have had to mention many of Milton’s contemporaries in my text: some of these are briefly described in the Index.
In writing this book I have incurred many debts. The first is to my parents, who brought me up to revere Milton, for reasons which I would not now altogether share. Mrs. Isabel Rivers, Professor Michael Fixler, Thomas Hodgkin and Edward Thompson helped me to clarify my ideas at an early stage. Peter Clark, Andrew Foster, Margot Heinemann, Leo Miller, Professor K. W. Stavely and Mr. P. A. Trout all very kindly allowed me to read unpublished work. Professors John Carey and Christopher Ricks, Margot Heinemann and Dr. Brian Manning all read the lengthy typescript, and laboured enormously to help me to say what I meant: so did Mrs. Elizabeth Renwick. I am also grateful for various kindnesses to Dr. David Aers, Ms. Barbara Breasted, Professors N. T. Burns, Harriett Hawkins, Stella Revard, Alice-Lyle Scoufos, Mrs. Elisabeth Sifton, Mr. Keith Thomas, Ms. Jill Tweedie, Dr. Nicholas Tyacke, and to the many groups with whom I had the pleasure of discussing Milton. The dedication acknowledges a debt which goes back at least to Don Wolfe’s pioneering Milton in the Puritan Revolution of 1941. Paul Hamilton and Andrew Hill undertook the laborious task of reading the proofs, and Mrs. Marion Cross gave me skilful assistance with the typing. Balliol College generously allowed me a sabbatical term in 1973, during which some of the necessary reading was done, and another in 1976, which I was invited to spend at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington discussing Milton with a most stimulating group of scholars. By that date the typescript was in the publishers’ hands, so I was not able to incorporate as much from these exciting exchanges as I would have wished; but I owe a great debt of gratitude to the Folger Library for the invitation, to its unfailingly kind and helpful staff, and to all who attended the seminar, especially perhaps Professors Stanley Fish, Gary Hamilton, Fredrica Lehrman, Joseph Martin, Jean-Kathleen Moss, Florence Sandler, Edward Weismiller and Dr. Brenda Szittya. My greatest debt is to my family for their forbearance, and especially to Bridget for her sympathetic understanding, unfailing encouragement and judicious goading.
The following abbreviations have been used in the text and notes:
| C. and C. | C. Hill, Change and Continuity in 17th-Century England (1974) |
| C. and F. | The Poems of John Milton (ed. J. Carey and A. Fowler, 1968) |
| C.M. | ed. F. A. Patterson and others, The Works of John Milton (Columbia U.P., 1931–40, 20 vols.) |
| C.P.W. | ed. D. M. Wolfe, Complete Prose Works of John Milton (Yale U.P., 1953. 6 vols. so far published) |
| C.S.P. | Calendar of State Papers |
| French | ed. J. M. French, Life Records of John Milton (Rutgers U.P., 1949–58, 5 vols.) |
| Masson | David Masson, Life of Milton (1859–80, 7 vols.) |
| O.U.P. | Oxford University Press |
| P.L. | Paradise Lost |
| P.R. | Paradise Regained |
| Parker | W. R. Parker, Milton: A Biography (O.U.P., 1968, 2 vols.) |
| S.A. | Samson Agonistes |
| S. and P. | C. Hill, Society and Puritanism in Pre-Revolutionary England (Panther edn., 1969). First published 1964 |
| U.P. | University
|