Books by Barbara K. Lewalski

The Life of John Milton: A Critical Biography

by Barbara K. Lewalski

Providing a close examination of Milton's wide-ranging prose and poetry at each stage of his life, Barbara Lewalski reveals a rather different Milton from that in earlier accounts.

Provides a close analysis of each of Milton's prose and poetry works.
Reveals how Milton was the first writer to self consciously construct himself as an 'author'.
Focuses on the development of Milton's ideas and his art.

Paradise Lost

by John Milton, Barbara K. Lewalski

In this authoritative edition of John Milton’s epic poem, Paradise Lost is presented in the original language of its 1674 publication, with explanatory annotations and word glosses.

Edited by one of the world's leading Milton scholars, the author of the acclaimed The Life of Milton (Blackwell 2000), which won the Milton Society of America's James Holly Hanford Book Award
Offers readers the opportunity to experience the brilliance and beauty of Paradise Lost as it was experienced by his contemporaries
Presents Paradise Lost in its original 1674 form
Incorporates accidentals (spelling and punctuation) from the 1674 edition
Recovers Miltonic rhythms, pronunciations, and sound qualities often lost in modern editions
Annotates names, places, biblical and literary allusions, and unfamiliar words
Includes illustrations by John Baptista Medina from the 1688 Folio edition

Paradise Lost

by John Milton, Barbara K. Lewalski

Reviled as a regicide, isolated in a personal darkness, and aging, John Milton did not relinquish his voice. He somehow used that tireless voice, rather, to create Paradise Lost, one of the enduring masterpieces of English literature. Despite its difficulties--idiosyncratic syntax, densely packed ideas, capacious structure, and epic form--the poem still has the power to dislodge modern readers from our ordinary habits of reading and push us to experience new perspectives and new ideas.

This new edition, based on the 1674 text, guides readers through the poem's interpretive challenges with a compact but thorough introduction and a readable and helpfully annotated text. Illuminating contextual materials, including related works by Milton, classical and biblical sources, material on the composition of the poem, and illustrations of Paradise Lost from the seventeenth to the twentieth centuries, are also included.

Paradise Lost

by John Milton, Barbara K. Lewalski

Part of the Norton Library series

The Norton Library edition of Paradise Lost features the complete text of the second (1674) edition, the last published during Milton's lifetime, edited for the modern reader by Stephen B. Dobranski. An introduction by Dobranski discusses the epic's innovations and its historical and religious contexts, illuminating for a new generation of readers the author's radically ambitious undertaking to "justify the ways of God to men."

The Norton Library is a growing collection of high-quality texts and translations--influential works of literature and philosophy--introduced and edited by leading scholars. Norton Library editions prepare readers for their first encounter with the works that they'll re-read over a lifetime.

• Inviting introductions highlight the work's significance and influence, providing the historical and literary context students need to dive in with confidence.
• Endnotes and an easy-to-read design deliver an uninterrupted reading experience, encouraging students to read the text first and refer to endnotes for more information as needed.
• An affordable price (most $10 or less) encourages students to buy the book and to come to class with the assigned edition.

About the Editor: Stephen B. Dobranski is Distinguished University Professor of English at Georgia State University and the editor of the journal Milton Studies. He has published nine books including Readers and Authorship in Early Modern England (2005); The Cambridge Introduction to Milton 2012); and?Milton's Visual Imagination: Imagery in "Paradise Lost" (2015).

Paradise Lost

by John Milton, Barbara K. Lewalski

Milton's "Paradise Lost" is one of the great works of literature, of any time and in any language. Marked by Milton's characteristic erudition it is a work epic both in scale and, notoriously, in ambition. For nearly 350 years it has held generation upon generation of scholars, students and readers in rapt attention and its profound influence can be seen in almost every corner of Western culture. First published in 1968, with John Carey's "Complete Shorter Poems," Alastair Fowler's "Paradise Lost" is widely acknowledged to be the most authoritative edition of this compelling work.

An unprecedented amount of detailed annotation accompanies the full text of the first (1667) edition, providing a wealth of contextual information to enrich and enhance the reader's experience. Notes on composition and context are combined with a clear explication of the multitude allusions Milton called to the poem's aid. The notes also summarise and illuminate the vast body of critical attention the poem has attracted, synthesizing the ancient and the modern to provide a comprehensive account both of the poem's development and its reception. Meanwhile, Alastair Fowler's invigorating introduction surveys the whole poem and looks in detail at such matters as Milton's theology, metrical structure and, most valuably, his complex and imaginary astronomy. The result is an enduring landmark in the field of Milton scholarship and an invaluable guide for readers of all levels.

Alastair Fowler is Regius Professor Emeritus of Rhetoric and English Literature at the University of Edinburgh, and was formerly Professor of English at the University of Virginia, USA.