Barbara K. Lewalski’s Life of John Milton is a major achievement: arguably the most readable of modern Milton biographies, it reshapes our understanding of Milton the man, the thinker, political and religious activist, husband, parent, friend. Given Milton’s self‐consciousness as polemicist and poet, as well as his long years in public service, Lewalski’s careful placement of him within the context of seventeenth‐century England and the Continent, with the period’s intrigues, wars, social upheavals, religious developments and literary reshaping, allows readers to view Milton not against a background that set him apart, but as an intimate participant who gave shape to, even as he was shaped by, the world around him.
Lewalski’s study comes on the heels of a number of prominent twentieth century biographies and bibliographies that unfold Milton’s life to modern readers: J. Milton French, Harris Fletcher, David Masson, Cedric Brown, and William Riley Parker will long be read ‐ and should be read ‐ for their valuable contributions in this area. But even more recent bibliographical scholarship, particularly by scholars such as John Shawcross and Gordon Campbell, and extended analyses of little‐studied works, allows Lewalski to stand on the shoulders of these earlier giants and, at the start of a new millennium, and with the benefit of all the new scholarship, reconsider the course of Milton’s life, thought and writing ‐becoming herself a giant among giants.
This biography undertakes the challenge and the opportunity to rethink Milton in a new interpretive milieu. To the earlier accounts of Milton as transcendent poet, or as the “Grand Whig,” or the deconstructed writer who serves as the sounding board for many (and sometimes contradictory) cultural voices, Lewalski brings a new vision‐that of the “quotidian John Milton at the various stages of his life.” Her pattern here is to deal with those stages and to use them, by unfolding first the life and then the prose/poetry related to those stages, to tell two stories that intersect continually but that remain, in some important ways, different stories.
The 14 chapters of this book represent 14 “periods” into which the author divides her study of Milton’s life and works. Each chapter treats Milton within the context of the respective years, and tells a story of that contextual milieu’s impact on Milton and, increasingly, of Milton’s impact on that milieu. The second part of each chapter provides an in‐depth discussion of a particular work (or works) relevant to those years, focusing on the development of Milton’s ideas and his art.
Throughout this book the reader is aware of Lewalski’s care for being “fair” to her subject as well as to modern readers. Milton is presented as deeply involved, passionately a part of major discourses that marked the intellectual and political changes of his time; yet he is also depicted as one who took up issues on the periphery of contemporary focus ‐ unlicensed publications, reformed education, divorce ‐ knowing full well what price he might pay for involvement in these issues. At the same time, one sees the man behind the mask, who delighted in natural beauty, imagined marriage and sexual pleasure as the happy conjoining of mind, body, and spirit, who nonetheless had definite beliefs in gender hierarchy, had considerable family difficulties, was involved in years of litigation with his in‐laws, was a sincere friend to several and a profound enemy to many, and who was willing in both his private and public life to hold extreme positions that were bound to, and did, alienate and separate him from many of his contemporaries.
This book contains numerous tools to assist readers in many ways. In addition to the 538 pages of the bibliography, 18 plates provide visual aids. An informative and interesting “Epilogue” briefly traces the influence of Milton on subsequent writers ‐ from Dryden up to Karl Shapiro, and Jorge Luis Borges. A staggering 156 pages of over 1,900 notes follow the text; read along with the text, these often are as fascinating and revealing as what is being related in the particular “stage” under discussion. Following these is a 48‐page select bibliography, ranging from primary Milton manuscripts to biographical and critical studies. A lengthy, detailed index concludes the work.
Students (undergraduates and graduates) and advanced scholars will all benefit from reading this book. It is certain to be a classic among Milton studies, will be essential reading for those studying Milton, seventeenth‐century England, or both, and should find its way onto the shelves of every reputable research library.
