An Introduction to the Prose and Poetical Works of John Milton Comprising All the Autobiographic Passages in His Works, the More Explicit Presentations of His Ideas of True Liberty.

About this book

This volume is a scholarly compilation that gathers every autobiographic fragment Milton inserted in his own writings, together with the passages where he lays out his theory of “true liberty” in prose and poetry. The editor, Hiram Corson, a Cornell professor, frames the collection with extensive notes and a prefatory essay that argue for Milton’s lasting relevance as a polemicist and poet. The front matter lists the contents in meticulous detail, from early defenses of the English people and familiar letters to the masque Comus, the pastoral elegy Lycidas, and the tragic Samson Agonistes, followed by a series of explanatory notes. The opening pages set a scholarly tone, citing contemporary critics such as Mark Pattison, Goldwin Smith, and Lord Macaulay, and emphasizing Milton’s commitment to intellectual freedom and civic virtue.

The book’s voice is that of late‑Victorian scholarship, dense with quotations, footnotes, and rhetorical flourishes characteristic of the 1890s. Its style combines formal academic commentary with occasional poetic excerpts, preserving the original italics and typographic quirks noted by the transcriber. Readers who relish close textual study, students of early‑modern English literature, historians of political thought, or admirers of Milton’s blend of poetry and polemic, will find this collection a valuable resource for tracing the poet’s self‑portrait and his enduring arguments for liberty.