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John Milton Prose
Major Writings on Liberty, Politics, Religion, and Education

"This excellent selection is what I have always wanted for my students: un-modernised texts very well edited and contextualised. Milton's seering radicalism, the extraordinary controlled freedom of his rhetoric, the engagement with the great issues of England's revolution, but also with universal themes of God, Man, liberty, accountability, are made accessible as never before."—John Morrill, Professor of British and Irish History, Cambridge

David Loewenstein’s scrupulous edition offers a remarkably generous range of Milton’s prose works on religion, politics, and domestic issues. The Prefatory Notes to each work are a model of clarity and concision, and annotations are precise and informative. The volume will be a wonderful resource for Milton scholars, teachers, and students alike.”—Laura Knoppers, Editor, Milton Studies

"
Richly annotated and with a fine, purposeful introduction, this wholly new edition makes available ten major prose works by Milton in their entirety, together with generous selections from Milton's other tracts. No other edition allows the reader to appreciate so fully Milton's original engagement with concepts of political, religious, and domestic liberty. It is the best edition for teaching purposes and the general reader. Scholars too will appreciate the wealth of fresh annotations." Thomas N. Corns, University of Wales, Bangor

"This is the most ambitious one-volume edition of Milton’s prose to date, one that both invites the general reader who is curious about the author of  Paradise Lost,  and that also satisfies the needs of classrooms.  Readers will have at their fingertips works from across Milton’s writing career, with its wide range of occasions and styles.  We see the scrappy polemicist, the rhetorically powerful tyrannicide, the critic and participant in religious reform, a Milton who was always daring, witty and engaged.  With crisp prefatory introductions to each work, helpful annotations, and a generous introduction to the whole, there is no better guide to Milton’s prose treasures than this one.  I will be eager to assign this to students." —Sharon Achinstein, University of Oxford

David Loewenstein (Edited by), D Loewenstein (Author), John Milton (Author)

9781405129312, Wiley

Paperback / softback, published 19 December 2012

608 pages
24.7 x 17.3 x 2 cm, 0.921 kg

“.…will ensure that Milton’s prose continues to challenge and reward the kind of active, discerning readership that Milton himself courted.”
(Renaissance Quarterly, 1 July 2014)

"Milton's extraordinary prose, extensively represented in David Loewenstein's ambitious edition, has gained many new readers in recent years, and it may be true that some students, at least in British schools and universities, read Tenure of Kings and Magistrates before, or even instead of, the great poetry."
Times Literary Supplement (June 14 2013)

Regarded by many as the equal of Shakespeare in poetic imagination and expression, Milton was also a prolific writer of prose, applying his potent genius to major issues of domestic, religious and political liberty.  This superbly annotated new publication is the most authoritative single-volume anthology yet of Milton's major prose works.

  • Uses Milton's original language, spelling and punctuation
  • Freshly and extensively annotated
  • Notes provide unrivalled contextual analysis as well as illuminating the wealth of Milton's allusions and references
  • Will appeal to a general readership as well as to scholars across the humanities

Note on This Edition and Abbreviations viii

Acknowledgements ix

List of Illustrations x

Chronology xi

Introduction xvi

MILTON'S PROSE TEXTS

1. Prolusions: 1

Prolusion VI 3

Prolusion VII 13

2. Of Reformation 22

3. The Reason of Church-Government Urg'd against Prelaty (selections) 61

4. An Apology Against a Pamphlet (selections) 92

5. The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce 103

6. Of Education 170

7. Areopagitica; A Speech of Mr. John Milton 181

8. Tetrachordon (selections) 214

9. The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates 243

10. Eikonoklastes (selections) 275

11. A Second Defence of the English People 319

12. A Treatise of Civil Power in Ecclesiastical Causes 377

13. Considerations Touching the Likeliest Means to Remove Hirelings out of the Church 398

14. The Readie and Easie Way to Establish a Free Commonwealth 426

15. Of True Religion, Hæresie, Schism, and Toleration 448

16. Selections from Milton's Private Letters 459

17. De Doctrina Christiana (selections) 470

18. The Life of Mr. John Milton by Edward Phillips 558

Select Bibliography 573

Subject Areas: Literature: history & criticism [DS]

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