An interesting job of editing an analysis on an edition, the 1645 one, which had never been done as an entity, and from the...
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POEMS OF MR. JOHN MILTON
by ‧RELEASE DATE: Feb. 21, 1952
An interesting job of editing an analysis on an edition, the 1645 one, which had never been done as an entity, and from the New Criticism point of view that was inaugurated some years ago by Brooks and his associates. Published when Milton was thirty-seven, the 1645 edition contains short poems and sonnets and most notably L'Allegro. Il Penseroso Lycidas and Comus. After apologizing for this their addition to the already mountainous supply of Miltonian comment both scholarly and aesthetic, the editors call attention to the paucity of criticism of Milton's shorter poems and to their own intention of getting at the poems as poems, stylistically, metaphorically, structurally. Their work is admirable. There is a lengthy, substantive analysis of each poem and a long critical essay on Milton's early style and influences that includes passages on symbolism, platonism, the Spenserian versus the Metaphysical influences, and so forth. A fairly strong new vein in the gold mine for Milton scholars. Mr. Brooks is already well known for The Well Wrought Urn and other studies in the structure of poetry.