The Annotated Milton: Complete English Poems (Bantam Classic)

Affordable, compact, and authoritative, this one-volume edition of The Annotated Milton 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 Comus, 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: Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained, and Samson Agonistes.
Fully 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.
Summary: Good "mid-sized" version of "Milton's Works."
Rating: 5
I recognize that Milton is second to Shakespeare in linguistic craft and mastery, and, wanting to round our my literary experience, I searched for month to find a lovely, hardbound, guilt-edged "Complete Works of Milton" to match my lovely, hardbound, guilt-edged "Complete Works of Shakespeare." But to no avail!
I almost bought a paperback "Complete Works of Milton," which had Milton's Greek, Latin, and Italian poems. It surprised me that this man was a genius in many languages, but since I only speak English, Portuguese, Spanish, and French, I demurred.
I finally settled on this edition since it does the job that an English student or aficionado would want. It contains the complete English sonnets, his English plays, and the supernal-issimo twins "Paradise Lost," and "Paradise Regained." In addition to the polyglot works, this book omits his prose works. But that is for another time and another day!
The "helps" are great. Every line in Epic Paradise plays is numbered, which prevents any miscounting errors. Moreover, it has many helpful footnotes, which highlight many of Milton's word plays and puns. In this dimension, Milton is one of the funniest classicists in the universe.
I enjoy Milton. His wordplay and "force of langue" outstrips Shakespeare in many instances. I also enjoy his obvious Christianity, which is what makes Lucifer is such a charming character. You only counterfeit a true coin!