Milton: Poet, Pamphleteer, and Patriot - Softcover

Beer, Anna

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1596916788 ISBN 13: 9781596916784

Publisher: Bloomsbury Pub Plc USA, 2009

Synopsis

John Milton was one of the world's greatest poets, the renowned author of Paradise Lost. But he was also deeply involved in political and religious controversies of his time, and authored a series of radical pamphlets on free speech, divorce, and civil rights that proposed a rethinking of the nature and practice of government.

In countless biographies, Milton has been crudely sketched either as a blind, saintly artist or as a domestic tyrant. Yet as Anna Beer shows, he was neither ogre nor paragon. By closely examining all aspects of Milton's life and its social historical context, Beer succeeds in bringing an enigmatic pillar of English literature to life, four centuries after his birth.

About this title

Review:

'Will keep Milton scholars happy, and serve as a reliable guide to non-specialists ... It's a crucial part of the biographer's job to lead readers back through the life to the work. Beer does this very steadily and very well, and thereby gives Milton the anniversary present he deserves' Andrew Motion, Guardian 'A beautifully clear account of a richly complex life, an account which is also fascinatingly vivid on the political and social background of the time. It's the best narrative I've read of the life of our greatest public poet' Philip Pullman 'It succeeds magnificently in three key respects: it illuminates Milton's life, his tumultuous times and the dazzling richness of his literary output ... Beer vividly evokes Milton's worlds ... Perhaps the greatest compliment that one can pay this book is that, having finished it, one is immediately inspired to return to Milton's works' ***** John Adamson, Mail on Sunday 'This is a noble project, and Beer's biography is a worthy first step towards it: scholarly, serious and endlessly fascinating ... a splendidly patient and careful biography' Diane Purkiss, Telegraph

About the Author:

Anna Beer is a lecturer in literature and a fellow of Kellogg College at the U niversity of Oxford. She is the author of the acclaimed Bess: The Life of Lady Ralegh, Wife to Sir Walter.

About this edition

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Pub Plc USA
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 1596916788
• ISBN 13: 9781596916784
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 458