Milton

Poet of Exile, Second Edition

Louis L. Martz

• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Year: 1986
• eBook ISBN: 9780300162707
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Literary Criticism in Poetry
• Index: Literature

This full and definitive treatment of the whole body of Milton's poetry, written by one of the country's most eminent Milton scholars, was originally published under the title Poet of Exile: A Study of Milton's Poetry. With a new title and an introduction developing the theme of exile, it is now issued in paperback for the first time.

“The most important single study of Milton that has appeared in years…. For a long time to come, it will be the book from which Milton’s oeuvre is reviewed and from which Milton criticism seeks renewal.” –Joseph Wittreich, Modern Language Quarterly

“Martz’s pleasure in reading Milton is evident and he conveys that pleasure in his pages…. All of us will want to ponder and can expect to profit from a commentary on the text carried on with the educated understanding, tact, skill, and perceptiveness that are everywhere present in this book.” –B. Rajan, Modern Philology

“A work that is both rich and rewarding…. The background that Martz brings to his subject illuminates Milton’s poetry in fresh and exciting ways.” –Michael Lieb, Cithara

“The strength of Martz’s criticism arises from his style as well as his learning and good sense.  Observations are made in a manner which both clears the mind and arouses the imagination.  Commonplace facts, acknowledged but ignored, suddenly take on fresh significance, while the results of scholarly research are introduced with easy grace and relevance.  No one writing of Milton today has a sharper eye for the illuminating detail.” –Hugh Maccallum, University of Toronto Quarterly

“Martz’s sensitive, percipient comments on the interplay of styles in Milton’s poems provide some overarching unity to these diverse essays.” –Barbara Kiefer Lewalski, Journal of English and Germanic Philology

“The best major study of Milton’s whole poetic career in almost half a century.” –Arnold Stein

Table of contents

• Contents
• Introduction
• Acknowledgments
• Part I. The Shepherd's Trade: Poems of Mr. John Milton, Both English and Latin, London, 1645
• 1. The Pastoral Music: A Maske Presented at Ludlow Castle
• 2. The Rising Poet
• 3. Lycidas: Building the Lofty Rhyme
• Part II. Paradise Lost: Poem of Exile
• 4. Princes of Exile
• 5. The Realms of Light
• 6. The Diffusion of Good
• 7. The Power of Choice
• 8. The Winding Up of the Action
• 9. "A Poem Written in Ten Books"
• 10. Trials of Faith
• 11. The Solitary Way
• Part III. Paradise Lost: Figurations of Ovid
• 12. The Anti-Heroic Epic
• 13. Pastoral Love: Versions and Subversions
• 14. The Ultimate Design
• Part IV. The Chosen Sons
• 15. Paradise Regained: The Interior Teacher
• 16. Samson Agonistes: The Breath of Heaven
• Appendix 1. Paradise Regained and the Georgics
• Appendix 2. Amor and Furor: Anti-Heroic Themes and the Unity of Ovid's Metamorphoses
• Notes
• List of Illustrations
• Index