English Minor Poems; Paradise Lost; Samson Agonistes; Areopagitica
Overview
The makers of Encyclopædia Britannica bring you one of the Great Books of the Western World. This text captures major ideas, stories, and discoveries that helped shape Western culture.
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“Read any books whatever come to thy hands, for thou art sufficient both to judge aright, and to examine each matter.” (Page 389)
“We should be wary therefore what persecution we raise against the living labours of public men, how we spill that seasoned life of man, preserved and stored up in books; since we see a kind of homicide may be thus committed, sometimes a martyrdom, and if it extend to the whole impression, a kind of massacre; whereof the execution ends not in the slaying of an elemental life, but strikes at that ethereal and fifth essence, the breath of reason itself, slays an immortality rather than a life.” (Page 384)
“For God sure esteems the growth and completing of one virtuous person more than the restraint of ten vicious.” (Page 395)
“[102] Freely they stood who stood, and fell who fell.” (Page 137)
“Since therefore the knowledge and survey of vice is in this world so necessary to the constituting of human virtue, and the scanning of error to the confirmation of truth, how can we more safely, and with less danger, scout into the regions of sin and falsity than by reading all manner of tractates and hearing all manner of reason? And this is the benefit which may be had of books promiscuously read.” (Page 391)
- Title: English Minor Poems; Paradise Lost; Samson Agonistes; Areopagitica
- Author: John Milton
- Edition: Second Edition
- Series: Great Books of the Western World
- Volume: 29
- Publishers: Encyclopedia Britannica, Robert P. Gwinn
- Print Publication Date: 1990
- Logos Release Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
- Subjects: English poetry › 17th century; Fiction › General
- ISBNs: 0852295316, 9780852295311
- Resource ID: LLS:GBWW29
- Resource Type: text.monograph.poetry
- Metadata Last Updated: 2022-09-30T00:11:24Z
John Milton (1608–1674) was an English poet and civil servant of the Commonwealth of England under Oliver Cromwell. Best known for his blank verse epic poem, Paradise Lost, Milton is often named among the greatest English poets ever. His politics have also made him one of the most enduringly controversial figures in British history. In addition to his poetry, he wrote extensively on political theory, theology, and history.