{"product_id":"the-annotated-milton-isbn-9780553581102","title":"The Annotated Milton","description":"Affordable, compact, and authoritative, this one-volume edition of \u003cb\u003eThe Annotated Milton\u003c\/b\u003e encompasses the monumental sweep of John Milton’s poetry. Here are Milton’ s early works, including his first great poem, “On the Morning of Christ’s Nativity,” the light and lyrical “L’Allegro” and “Il Penseroso,” the masque \u003ci\u003eComus,\u003c\/i\u003e and the lushly beautiful pastoral elegy “Lycidas.” Here, too, included in their entirety, are the three epic poems considered to be among the finest works in the English language: \u003ci\u003eParadise Lost, Paradise Regained,\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eSamson Agonistes.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003eFully annotated by Burton Raffel, this distinguished edition clarifies the complex allusions of Milton’s verse and references the personal, religious, historical, and mythical influences that inspired the great blind poet of England, who ranks among the undisputed giants of world literature.Burton Raffel is a translator, poet, and scholar whose major translations include \u003cb\u003eThe Canterbury Tales\u003c\/b\u003e, \u003cb\u003eBeowulf\u003c\/b\u003e, \u003ci\u003eDon Quijote\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Red and the Black\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eGargantua and Pantagruel\u003c\/i\u003e. He has also annotated several Shakespeare plays for Yale University Press. He was the Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Arts and Humanities and emeritus professor of English at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette until 2003. He lives in Louisiana.A PARAPHRASE ON \u003cbr\u003ePSALM 114\u003cbr\u003e1624\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhen the blest seed of Terah's faithful son\u003cbr\u003eAfter long toil their liberty had won,\u003cbr\u003eAnd passed from Pharian fields to Canaan land,\u003cbr\u003eLed by the strength of the Almighty's hand,\u003cbr\u003eJehovah's wonders were in Israel shown,\u003cbr\u003eHis praise and glory was in Israel known.\u003cbr\u003eThat saw the troubled sea, and shivering fled,\u003cbr\u003eAnd sought to hide his froth-becurled head\u003cbr\u003eLow in the earth. Jordan's clear streams recoil,\u003cbr\u003eAs a faint host that hath received the foil.    \u003cbr\u003eThe high, huge-bellied mountains skip like rams\u003cbr\u003eAmongst their ewes, the little hills like lambs.\u003cbr\u003eWhy fled the oceans and why skipped the mountains?\u003cbr\u003eWhy turned Jordan toward his crystal fountains?\u003cbr\u003eShake earth, and at the presence be aghast\u003cbr\u003eOf Him that ever was, and aye shall last,\u003cbr\u003eThat glassy floods from rugged rocks can crush,\u003cbr\u003eAnd make soft rills from fiery flint-stones gush.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePSALM 136\u003cbr\u003e1624\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLet us with a gladsome mind\u003cbr\u003ePraise the Lord, for He is kind,\u003cbr\u003eFor His mercies aye endure,\u003cbr\u003eEver faithful, ever sure.\u003cbr\u003eLet us blaze His name abroad,\u003cbr\u003eFor of gods He is the God,\u003cbr\u003eFor His, etc.\u003cbr\u003eO let us His praises tell,\u003cbr\u003eWho doth the wrathful tyrants quell,\u003cbr\u003eFor His, etc.\u003cbr\u003eThat with His miracles doth make\u003cbr\u003eAmazed Heav'n and earth to shake,\u003cbr\u003eFor His, etc.\u003cbr\u003eWho by His wisdom did create\u003cbr\u003eThe painted Heav'ns so full of state,\u003cbr\u003eFor His, etc.\u003cbr\u003eWho did the solid earth ordain\u003cbr\u003eTo rise above the wat'ry plain,\u003cbr\u003eFor His, etc.\u003cbr\u003eWho by His all-commanding might\u003cbr\u003eDid fill the new-made world with light,\u003cbr\u003eFor His, etc.\u003cbr\u003eAnd caused the golden-tressed sun\u003cbr\u003eAll the day long his course to run,\u003cbr\u003eFor His, etc.\u003cbr\u003eThe horned moon to shine by night,\u003cbr\u003eAmongst her spangled sisters bright,\u003cbr\u003eFor His, etc.\u003cbr\u003eHe with His thunder-clasping hand\u003cbr\u003eSmote the first-born of Egypt land,\u003cbr\u003eFor His, etc.\u003cbr\u003eAnd in despite of Pharaoh fell,\u003cbr\u003eHe brought from thence His Israel,\u003cbr\u003eFor His, etc.\u003cbr\u003eThe ruddy waves He cleft in twain,\u003cbr\u003eOf the Erythraean main,\u003cbr\u003eFor His, etc.\u003cbr\u003eThe floods stood still like walls of glass\u003cbr\u003eWhile the Hebrew bands did pass,\u003cbr\u003eFor His, etc.\u003cbr\u003eBut full soon they did devour\u003cbr\u003eThe tawny king with all his power,\u003cbr\u003eFor His, etc.\u003cbr\u003eHis chosen people He did bless\u003cbr\u003eIn the wasteful wilderness,\u003cbr\u003eFor His, etc.\u003cbr\u003eIn bloody battle He brought down\u003cbr\u003eKings of prowess and renown,\u003cbr\u003eFor His, etc.\u003cbr\u003eHe foiled bold Seon and his host,\u003cbr\u003eThat ruled the Amorrean coast,\u003cbr\u003eFor His, etc.\u003cbr\u003eAnd large-limbed Og He did subdue,\u003cbr\u003eWith all his over-hardy crew,\u003cbr\u003eFor His, etc.\u003cbr\u003eAnd to His servant Israel\u003cbr\u003eHe gave their land, therein to dwell,\u003cbr\u003eFor His, etc.\u003cbr\u003eHe hath with a piteous eye\u003cbr\u003eBeheld us in our misery,\u003cbr\u003eFor His, etc.\u003cbr\u003eAnd freed us from the slavery\u003cbr\u003eOf the invading enemy,\u003cbr\u003eFor His, etc.\u003cbr\u003eAll living creatures He doth feed,\u003cbr\u003eAnd with full hand supplies their need,\u003cbr\u003eFor His, etc.\u003cbr\u003eLet us therefore warble forth\u003cbr\u003eHis mighty majesty and worth,\u003cbr\u003eFor His, etc.\u003cbr\u003eThat His mansion hath on high,\u003cbr\u003eAbove the reach of mortal eye,\u003cbr\u003eFor His mercies aye endure,\u003cbr\u003eEver faithful, ever sure.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eON THE DEATH OF A FAIR INFANT DYING OF A COUGH\u003cbr\u003e1625-26? 1628?\u003cbr\u003e I\u003cbr\u003eO fairest flower no sooner blown but blasted,\u003cbr\u003eSoft silken primrose fading timelessly,\u003cbr\u003eSummer's chief honor if thou hadst outlasted\u003cbr\u003eBleak winter's force, that made thy blossom dry,\u003cbr\u003eFor he being amorous on that lovely dye\u003cbr\u003eThat did thy cheek envermeil, thought to kiss,\u003cbr\u003eBut killed, alas, and then bewailed his fatal bliss.\u003cbr\u003eII\u003cbr\u003eFor since grim Aquilo, his  charioteer,\u003cbr\u003eBy boisterous rape th' Athenian damsel got,\u003cbr\u003eHe thought it touched32 his deity full near\u003cbr\u003eIf likewise he some fair one wedded not,\u003cbr\u003eThereby to wipe away the infamous blot\u003cbr\u003eOf long-uncoupled bed and childless eld,\u003cbr\u003eWhich 'mongst the wanton gods a foul reproach was held.\u003cbr\u003eIII\u003cbr\u003eSo mounting up in icy-pearled car\u003cbr\u003eThrough middle empire of the freezing air\u003cbr\u003eHe wandered long, till thee he spied from far.\u003cbr\u003eThere ended was his quest, there ceased his care:\u003cbr\u003eDown he descended from his snow-soft chair,\u003cbr\u003eBut all unwares with his cold-kind embrace\u003cbr\u003eUnhoused thy virgin soul from her fair biding place.\u003cbr\u003eIV\u003cbr\u003eYet art thou not inglorious in thy fate,\u003cbr\u003eFor so Apollo, with unweeting hand,\u003cbr\u003eWhilom did slay his dearly loved mate,\u003cbr\u003eYoung Hyacinth, born on Eurotas' strand,\u003cbr\u003eYoung Hyacinth, the pride of Spartan land,\u003cbr\u003eBut then transformed him to a purple flower:\u003cbr\u003eAlack, that so to change thee winter had no power.\u003cbr\u003eV\u003cbr\u003eYet can I not persuade me thou art dead\u003cbr\u003eOr that thy corpse corrupts in earth's dark womb,\u003cbr\u003eOr that thy beauties lie in wormy bed,\u003cbr\u003eHid from the world in a low-delved tomb.\u003cbr\u003eCould Heav'n, for pity, thee so strictly doom?\u003cbr\u003eOh no! for something in thy face did shine\u003cbr\u003eAbove mortality that showed thou wast divine.\u003cbr\u003eVI\u003cbr\u003eResolve me, then, O soul most surely blest\u003cbr\u003e(If so it be that thou these plaints dost hear)!\u003cbr\u003eTell me, bright spirit, where'er thou hoverest,\u003cbr\u003eWhether above that high, first-moving sphere\u003cbr\u003eOr in the Elysian fields (if such there were),\u003cbr\u003eOh say me true if thou were mortal wight\u003cbr\u003eAnd why from us so quickly thou didst take thy flight.\u003cbr\u003eVII\u003cbr\u003eWere thou some star which from the ruined roof\u003cbr\u003eOf shaked Olympus by mischance didst fall?\u003cbr\u003eWhich careful Jove in Nature's true behoof\u003cbr\u003eTook up, and in fit place did reinstall?\u003cbr\u003eOr did, of late, earth's sons besiege the wall\u003cbr\u003eOf shiny Heav'n, and thou some goddess fled\u003cbr\u003eAmongst us here below to hide thy nectared head?\u003cbr\u003eVIII\u003cbr\u003eOr were thou that just maid who once before\u003cbr\u003eForsook the hated earth, O tell me sooth,\u003cbr\u003eAnd cam'st again to visit us once more?\u003cbr\u003eOr wert thou Mercy, that sweet smiling youth?\u003cbr\u003eOr that crowned matron, sage white-robed Truth?\u003cbr\u003eOr any other of that heav'nly brood\u003cbr\u003eLet down in cloudy throne to do the world some good?\u003cbr\u003eIX\u003cbr\u003eOr wert thou of the golden-winged host,\u003cbr\u003eWho having clad thyself in human weed\u003cbr\u003eTo earth from thy prefixed seat didst post,\u003cbr\u003eAnd after short abode fly back with speed,\u003cbr\u003eAs if to show what creatures Heav'n doth breed,\u003cbr\u003eThereby to set the hearts of men on fire\u003cbr\u003eTo scorn the sordid world, and unto Heav'n aspire?\u003cbr\u003eX\u003cbr\u003eBut oh, why didst thou not stay here below\u003cbr\u003eTo bless us with thy Heav'n-loved innocence?\u003cbr\u003eTo slake his wrath, whom sin hath made our foe?\u003cbr\u003eTo turn swift-rushing black perdition hence,\u003cbr\u003eOr drive away the slaughtering pestilence?\u003cbr\u003eTo stand 'twixt us and our deserved smart?\u003cbr\u003eBut thou canst best perform that office where thou art.\u003cbr\u003eXI\u003cbr\u003eThen thou, the mother of so sweet a child,\u003cbr\u003eHer false-imagin'd loss cease to lament,\u003cbr\u003eAnd wisely learn to curb thy sorrows wild.\u003cbr\u003eThink what a present thou to God has sent,\u003cbr\u003eAnd render Him with patience what he lent.\u003cbr\u003eThis if thou do, He will an offspring give\u003cbr\u003eThat till the world's last end shall make thy name to live.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAT A VACATION EXERCISE IN THE COLLEGE, PART LATIN, PART ENGLISH\u003cbr\u003e1628\u003cbr\u003e The Latin speeches ended, the English thus began:\u003cbr\u003eHail, native language, that by sinews weak\u003cbr\u003eDidst move my first endeavoring tongue to speak\u003cbr\u003eAnd mad'st imperfect words with childish trips,\u003cbr\u003eHalf unpronounced, slide through my infant lips,\u003cbr\u003eDriving dumb silence from the portal door,\u003cbr\u003eWhere he had mutely sat two years before!\u003cbr\u003eHere I salute thee, and thy pardon ask,\u003cbr\u003eThat now I use thee in my later task.\u003cbr\u003eSmall loss it is that hence can come unto thee:\u003cbr\u003eI know my tongue but little grace can do thee.\u003cbr\u003eThou needst not be ambitious to be first:\u003cbr\u003eBelieve me, I have thither packed the worst—\u003cbr\u003eAnd, if it happen, as I did forecast,\u003cbr\u003eThe daintiest dishes shall be served up last.\u003cbr\u003eI pray thee, then, deny me not thy aid\u003cbr\u003eFor this same small neglect that I have made,\u003cbr\u003eBut haste thee straight to do me once a pleasure,\u003cbr\u003eAnd from thy wardrobe bring thy chiefest treasure,\u003cbr\u003eNot those new-fangled toys and trimming slight\u003cbr\u003eWhich takes our late fantastics with delight,\u003cbr\u003eBut cull those richest robes and gay'st attire\u003cbr\u003eWhich deepest spirits and choicest wits desire.\u003cbr\u003eI have some naked thoughts that rove about\u003cbr\u003eAnd loudly knock to have their passage out,\u003cbr\u003eAnd, weary of their place, do only stay\u003cbr\u003eTill thou has decked them in thy best array,\u003cbr\u003eThat so they may without suspect or fears\u003cbr\u003eFly swiftly to this fair assembly's ears.\u003cbr\u003eYet I had rather, if I were to choose,\u003cbr\u003eThy service in some graver subject use,\u003cbr\u003eSuch as may make thee search thy coffers round\u003cbr\u003eBefore thou clothe my fancy in fit sound—\u003cbr\u003eSuch where the deep transported mind may soar\u003cbr\u003eAbove the wheeling poles, and at Heav'n's door\u003cbr\u003eLook in, and see each blissful deity\u003cbr\u003eHow he before the thunderous throne doth lie,\u003cbr\u003eListening to what unshorn Apollo sings\u003cbr\u003eTo the touch of golden wires, while Hebe brings\u003cbr\u003eImmortal nectar to her kingly sire.\u003cbr\u003eThen passing through the spheres of watchful fire,\u003cbr\u003eAnd misty regions of wide air next under,\u003cbr\u003eAnd hills of snow and lofts of piled thunder,\u003cbr\u003eMay tell at length how green-eyed Neptune raves,\u003cbr\u003eIn Heav'n's defiance mustering all his waves.\u003cbr\u003eThen sing of secret things that came to pass\u003cbr\u003eWhen beldam Nature in her cradle was.\u003cbr\u003eAnd last, of kings and queens and heroes old,\u003cbr\u003eSuch as the wise Demodocus once told,\u003cbr\u003eIn solemn songs at king Alcinous' feast,\u003cbr\u003eWhile sad Ulysses' soul and all the rest\u003cbr\u003eAre held with his melodious harmony\u003cbr\u003eIn willing chains and sweet captivity.\u003cbr\u003eBut fie, my wand'ring muse! How thou dost stray!\u003cbr\u003eExpectance calls thee now another way:\u003cbr\u003eThou know'st it must be now thy only bent\u003cbr\u003eTo keep in compass of thy predicament.\u003cbr\u003eThen quick, about thy purposed business come,\u003cbr\u003eThat to the next I may resign my room.\u003cbr\u003eThen Ens is represented as father of the [ten Aristotelian predicaments, his ten sons, whereof the eldest stood for substance, with his canons, which Ens, thus speaking, explains:\u003cbr\u003eGood luck befriend thee, son, for at thy birth\u003cbr\u003eThe fairy ladies danced upon the hearth.\u003cbr\u003eThy drowsy nurse hath sworn she did them spy\u003cbr\u003eCome tripping to the room where thou didst lie,\u003cbr\u003eAnd sweetly singing round about thy bed\u003cbr\u003eStrew all their blessings on thy sleeping head.\u003cbr\u003eShe heard them give thee this: that thou should'st still\u003cbr\u003eFrom eyes of mortals walk invisible.\u003cbr\u003eYet there is something that doth force my fear,\u003cbr\u003eFor once it was my dismal hap to hear\u003cbr\u003eA sibyl old, bow-bent with crooked age,\u003cbr\u003eThat far events full wisely could presage,\u003cbr\u003eAnd in time's long and dark prospective glass\u003cbr\u003eForesaw what future days should bring to pass:\u003cbr\u003e\"Your son,\" said she, \"(nor can you it prevent)\u003cbr\u003eShall be subject to many an accident.\u003cbr\u003eO'er all his brethren he shall reign as king,\u003cbr\u003eYet every one shall make him underling,\u003cbr\u003eAnd those that cannot live from him asunder\u003cbr\u003eUngratefully shall strive to keep him under.\u003cbr\u003eIn worth and excellence he shall out-go them,\u003cbr\u003eYet being above them, he shall be below them.\u003cbr\u003eFrom others he shall stand in need of nothing,\u003cbr\u003eYet on his brothers shall depend for clothing.\u003cbr\u003eTo find a foe it shall not be his hap,\u003cbr\u003eAnd peace shall lull him in her flow'ry lap.\u003cbr\u003eYet shall he live in strife, and at his door\u003cbr\u003eDevouring war shall never cease to roar.\u003cbr\u003eYea, it shall be his natural property\u003cbr\u003eTo harbor those that are at enmity.\"\u003cbr\u003eWhat power, what force, what mighty spell, if not\u003cbr\u003eYour learned hands, can loose this Gordian knot?\u003cbr\u003eThe next, Quantity and Quality, spoke in prose. Then Relation was called by his name:\u003cbr\u003eRivers arise, whether thou be the son\u003cbr\u003eOf utmost Tweed, or Ouse, or gulfy Dun,\u003cbr\u003eOr Trent, who like some earth-born giant spreads\u003cbr\u003eHis thirty arms along the indented meads,\u003cbr\u003eOr sullen Mole, that runneth underneath,\u003cbr\u003eOr Severn swift, guilty of maiden's death,\u003cbr\u003eOr rocky Avon, or of sedgy Lea,\u003cbr\u003eOr coaly Tyne, or ancient hallowed Dee,\u003cbr\u003eOr Humber loud, that keeps the Scythian's name,\u003cbr\u003eOr Medway smooth, or royal-towered Thame.","brand":"Bantam Classics","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46304565690597,"sku":"NP9780553581102","price":8.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780553581102.jpg?v=1767738099","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/the-annotated-milton-isbn-9780553581102","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}