Editing John Milton (section)

==Poetry==
Milton's poetry was slow to see the light of day, at least under his name. His first published poem was "On Shakespeare" (1630), anonymously included in the [[Second Folio]] edition of [[William Shakespeare]]'s plays in 1632. An annotated copy of the [[First Folio]] has been suggested to contain marginal notes by Milton.<ref>Flood, Alison, ''[https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/sep/16/when-milton-met-shakespeare-poets-notes-on-bard-appear-to-have-been-found? When Milton met Shakespeare: poet's notes on Bard appear to have been found ] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190918030032/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/sep/16/when-milton-met-shakespeare-poets-notes-on-bard-appear-to-have-been-found |date=18 September 2019 }}'', The Guardian, 16 September 2019</ref> Milton collected his work in ''[[1645 Poems]]'' in the midst of the excitement attending the possibility of establishing a new English government. The anonymous edition of ''Comus'' was published in 1637, and the publication of ''Lycidas'' in 1638 in ''Justa Edouardo King Naufrago'' was signed J. M. Otherwise. The 1645 collection was the only poetry of his to see print until ''[[Paradise Lost]]'' appeared in 1667.

===''Paradise Lost''===
{{Main|Paradise Lost}}
[[File:Milton diktiert seinen Töchtern das »Paradise Lost« (Eugène Ferdinand Victor Delacroix).jpg|thumb|''Milton Dictates the Lost Paradise to His Three Daughters'', {{Circa|1826}}, by [[Eugène Delacroix]] ]]

Milton's ''[[Masterpiece|magnum opus]]'', the [[blank-verse]] [[epic poetry|epic poem]] ''[[Paradise Lost]]'', was composed by the blind and impoverished Milton from 1658 to 1664 (first edition), with small but significant revisions published in 1674 (second edition). As a blind poet, Milton dictated his verse to a series of aides in his employ. It has been argued that the poem reflects his personal despair at the failure of the [[English Civil War|Revolution]] yet affirms an ultimate optimism in human potential. Some literary critics have argued that Milton encoded many references to his unyielding support for the "[[Good Old Cause]]".<ref>Hill 1977.</ref>

On 27 April 1667,<ref name=Lindenbaum1995>{{cite journal|last=Lindenbaum|first=Peter|year=1995|title=Authors and Publishers in the Late Seventeenth Century: New Evidence on their Relations|journal=The Library|publisher=Oxford University Press|volume=s6-17|issue=3|pages=250–269|issn=0024-2160|doi=10.1093/library/s6-17.3.250}}</ref> Milton sold the publication rights for ''Paradise Lost'' to publisher [[Samuel Simmons (printer)|Samuel Simmons]] for £5 (equivalent to approximately £770 in 2015 purchasing power),<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.measuringworth.com/ppoweruk/| title = ''MeasuringWorth'', 2010, "Purchasing Power of British Pounds from 1264 to Present". Access date: 13 January 2017.| access-date = 12 March 2011| archive-date = 19 September 2012| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120919195512/http://www.measuringworth.com/ppoweruk/| url-status = live}}</ref> with a further £5 to be paid if and when each print run sold out of between 1,300 and 1,500 copies.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Darbishire|first=Helen|date=October 1941|journal=The Review of English Studies|title=The Printing of the First Edition of Paradise Lost|publisher=Oxford University Press|volume=17|issue=68|pages=415–427|doi=10.1093/res/os-XVII.68.415|jstor=509858}}</ref> The first run was a [[Bookbinding|quarto]] edition priced at three [[shilling (English coin)|shilling]]s per copy (about £23 in 2015 purchasing power equivalent), published in August 1667, and it sold out in eighteen months.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.themorgan.org/exhibitions/milton.asp|title=John Milton's Paradise Lost|publisher=[[The Morgan Library & Museum]]|access-date=25 April 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721174000/http://www.themorgan.org/exhibitions/milton.asp|archive-date=21 July 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Milton followed up the publication ''Paradise Lost'' with its sequel ''[[Paradise Regained]]'', which was published alongside the tragedy ''[[Samson Agonistes]]'' in 1671. Both of these works also reflect Milton's post-Restoration political situation. Just before his death in 1674, Milton supervised a second edition of ''Paradise Lost'', accompanied by an explanation of "why the poem rhymes not", and prefatory verses by [[Andrew Marvell]]. In 1673, Milton republished his ''1645 Poems'', as well as a collection of his letters and the Latin [[prolusion]]s from his Cambridge days.