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The Complete Poems (Penguin Classics)
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Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
Author: John Milton
Publisher: Penguin Classics
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Our Price: $12.75
You Save: $ 4.25 ( 25% )
Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
Author: John Milton
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Average Customer Rating:
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The Complete Poems (Penguin Classics) Description
Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 821.4
EAN: 9780140433630
ISBN: 0140433635
Label: Penguin Classics
Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
Number Of Items: 1
Book Pages: 864
Publication Date: 1999-05-01
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Studio: Penguin Classics
Dewey Decimal Number: 821.4
EAN: 9780140433630
ISBN: 0140433635
Label: Penguin Classics
Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
Number Of Items: 1
Book Pages: 864
Publication Date: 1999-05-01
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Studio: Penguin Classics
Editorial Review of The Complete Poems (Penguin Classics)
A comprehensive, fully annotated edition oof Milton's poetry, including his epic, Paradise Lost.
In the course of his forty-year career John Milton evolved from a prodigy to a blind prophet, from a philosophical aesthete to a Puritan rebel, and from a Latinist poet who proclaimed the triumph of reason to an epic poet obsessed with the intractability of sin. A master of almost every verse style--from the pastoral, devotional, and tenderly lyrical to the supreme grandeur of his great epic, Paradise Lost, and his biblical "Greek tragedy," Samson Agonistes---Milton left a body of work unrivaled in literary history. Although he wrote Comus and "Lycidas" shortly after leaving Cambridge University, Milton devoted much of his adult life--and even sacrificed his eyesight--to defending the cause of Oliver Cromwell's Commonwealth. Milton's later poetry, produced after Charles II's restoration led to the defeat of the Commonwealth, contains not only personally achieved theological insights but also a deep firsthand understanding of politics and power.
This edition presents Milton's complete English, Latin, and Greek poems, modernizing spelling, capitalization, and any punctuation likely to cause confusion. Fully annotated with glosses on the poems' biblical, classical, and historical allusions, this is the best place to start for readers wanting to come to grips with this giant in English literature.
In the course of his forty-year career John Milton evolved from a prodigy to a blind prophet, from a philosophical aesthete to a Puritan rebel, and from a Latinist poet who proclaimed the triumph of reason to an epic poet obsessed with the intractability of sin. A master of almost every verse style--from the pastoral, devotional, and tenderly lyrical to the supreme grandeur of his great epic, Paradise Lost, and his biblical "Greek tragedy," Samson Agonistes---Milton left a body of work unrivaled in literary history. Although he wrote Comus and "Lycidas" shortly after leaving Cambridge University, Milton devoted much of his adult life--and even sacrificed his eyesight--to defending the cause of Oliver Cromwell's Commonwealth. Milton's later poetry, produced after Charles II's restoration led to the defeat of the Commonwealth, contains not only personally achieved theological insights but also a deep firsthand understanding of politics and power.
This edition presents Milton's complete English, Latin, and Greek poems, modernizing spelling, capitalization, and any punctuation likely to cause confusion. Fully annotated with glosses on the poems' biblical, classical, and historical allusions, this is the best place to start for readers wanting to come to grips with this giant in English literature.
Customer Reviews of The Complete Poems (Penguin Classics)
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Text corrupted by modernization
Review: It's fine, to a point, to modernize spellings of certain words, provided it doesn't alter the pronunciation (changing "Sion" to "Zion" is a no-no). However, the editors of this volume have also chosen to modernize punctuation to the point that it screws up the rhythm. For example, the contraction "th'Aonian mount" that appears in the opening of Paradise Lost becomese "the Aonian", as if modern readers wouldn't be able to figure it out on their own. This kind of meddling adds extra syllables to lines, screwing up Milton's metre and also insulting the intelligence of readers. If you want a really fine edition, shell out some extra cash for the Hughes volume.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Perfect edition of Milton from everynan's
Review: This everyman's edition does not seem to the edition rated below by others because this has footnotes and not endnotes./ In addition to a wondeful introduction it also contains Aereopagetica and on education which i did not expect from the title. I was pleasanly surpiused by this organzation of the book. Thise works give a good overview of the works, =. Please excuse typos i have a neurologic disease.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: The greatness of Milton "They also serve who only stand and wait"
Review: Milton's greatness is evident not only in his greatest work 'Paradise Lost' but also in 'Samson Agonistes' and the finest elegy in the language , " Lycidas".It is present in his sonnets and shorter pieces also , and " On His Blindness" is one of the great poems of world - literature.
Milton is a poet of the ear, and there is a powerful music in his verse. His tremendous learning may complicate his poetry for the modern reader, but there are depths in his lines for those who truly probe them.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: bad edition
Review: I don't like the endnotes vs. footnotes which are very hard to access and deal with, and I don't like the way the apostrophes are taken out and the words are 'modernized' as it breaks up the flows and rhythms of the works.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: A Good Version
Review: The anonymous review from "reader from the UK" has a slight whiff about it, I can't help but think - does the reviewer work at the publishers? I wouldn't quite go as far as he/she has in my praise. This is a good version, if not exactly the best. The poetry of course is unchallengeable - it's what's been done with the poetry that is important. The text is clear and easy to read; the notes are put at the back of the book, which is always a mixed blessing, but is probably the only practical option with a decently-annotated Milton. This version is cheaper than the definitive Fowler and Carey versions, and probably better for the non-specialist reader. The notes are good enough, but I would like more narrative guidance (in Paradise Lost particularly); occasionally some of his notes feel incomplete or unclear, and sometimes he leaves things out which I myself would have liked him to have mentioned or which I've seen mentioned (or reinterpreted) by someone else. I would also prefer a longer and more detailed introduction. But mostly the version is good, and is probably the first stop for most readers wanting to get to grips with Milton. My advice is only to go on from here, to other sources to give you a more detailed background.
Review Summary: Text corrupted by modernization
Review: It's fine, to a point, to modernize spellings of certain words, provided it doesn't alter the pronunciation (changing "Sion" to "Zion" is a no-no). However, the editors of this volume have also chosen to modernize punctuation to the point that it screws up the rhythm. For example, the contraction "th'Aonian mount" that appears in the opening of Paradise Lost becomese "the Aonian", as if modern readers wouldn't be able to figure it out on their own. This kind of meddling adds extra syllables to lines, screwing up Milton's metre and also insulting the intelligence of readers. If you want a really fine edition, shell out some extra cash for the Hughes volume.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Perfect edition of Milton from everynan's
Review: This everyman's edition does not seem to the edition rated below by others because this has footnotes and not endnotes./ In addition to a wondeful introduction it also contains Aereopagetica and on education which i did not expect from the title. I was pleasanly surpiused by this organzation of the book. Thise works give a good overview of the works, =. Please excuse typos i have a neurologic disease.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: The greatness of Milton "They also serve who only stand and wait"
Review: Milton's greatness is evident not only in his greatest work 'Paradise Lost' but also in 'Samson Agonistes' and the finest elegy in the language , " Lycidas".It is present in his sonnets and shorter pieces also , and " On His Blindness" is one of the great poems of world - literature.
Milton is a poet of the ear, and there is a powerful music in his verse. His tremendous learning may complicate his poetry for the modern reader, but there are depths in his lines for those who truly probe them.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: bad edition
Review: I don't like the endnotes vs. footnotes which are very hard to access and deal with, and I don't like the way the apostrophes are taken out and the words are 'modernized' as it breaks up the flows and rhythms of the works.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: A Good Version
Review: The anonymous review from "reader from the UK" has a slight whiff about it, I can't help but think - does the reviewer work at the publishers? I wouldn't quite go as far as he/she has in my praise. This is a good version, if not exactly the best. The poetry of course is unchallengeable - it's what's been done with the poetry that is important. The text is clear and easy to read; the notes are put at the back of the book, which is always a mixed blessing, but is probably the only practical option with a decently-annotated Milton. This version is cheaper than the definitive Fowler and Carey versions, and probably better for the non-specialist reader. The notes are good enough, but I would like more narrative guidance (in Paradise Lost particularly); occasionally some of his notes feel incomplete or unclear, and sometimes he leaves things out which I myself would have liked him to have mentioned or which I've seen mentioned (or reinterpreted) by someone else. I would also prefer a longer and more detailed introduction. But mostly the version is good, and is probably the first stop for most readers wanting to get to grips with Milton. My advice is only to go on from here, to other sources to give you a more detailed background.