Milton's Works

Milton, John. The Works of John Milton. New York, Columbia University Press, 1931-38. This is the complete 18-volume edition of Milton's works, including all of De Doctrina Christiana. Call number: PR 3550 .F31

On-Line (searchable) texts

The place to start to find electronic texts is the Milton-L Home Page, found at http://www.urich.edu/~creamer/milton/

There are two primary editions of Paradise Lost. The first, published in 1667, has the poem divided into 10 books. The 1674 edition contains revisions that were made to the 1667 text, including a redivision of the poem into 12 books and the addition of Arguments to the beginning of each book. Most printed editions of Paradise Lost are based upon the 1674 edition, but there are interesting comparisons one can make between the two versions (do I hear a paper topic suggestion?). Below is a link that will allow you to access both the 1667 and 1674 editions of Paradise Lost.

http://www.mindspring.com/~verax/milton.htm

Editions

If you're trying to figure something out in a passage and you discover your footnotes aren't helping, try checking another edition of Milton's works to see if the footnotes in the other version give you a fresh perspective. Our textbook is edited by Roy Flannagan and is called The Riverside Milton. The classic Milton textbook, known for its frustrating but extensive footnotes, is edited by Merritt Hughes and is called John Milton: Complete Poems and Major Prose. It should be in our library.

Illustration by Gustav Dore

Book I: . . . his pride

37.Had cast him out from Heaven, with all his host

38.Of rebel Angels, by whose aid, aspiring

39.To set himself in glory above his peers,

40.He trusted to have equalled the Most High,

41.If he opposed, and with ambitious aim

42.Against the throne and monarchy of God,

43.Raised impious war in Heaven and battle proud,

44.With vain attempt. Him the Almighty Power

45.Hurled headlong flaming from th' ethereal sky,

46.With hideous ruin and combustion, down

47.To bottomless perdition, there to dwell

48.In adamantine chains and penal fire,

49.Who durst defy th' Omnipotent to arms.