Introduction

Abstract

Milton’s fame has been so secure for two and a half centuries that it is difficult to realise that he was comparatively unknown during his lifetime, or at any rate until a few years before his death. The volume he published in 1645, containing Comus, ‘Lycidas’ and many other poems whose titles are familiar to every schoolboy, did not have a second edition until 1673. It is perhaps more surprising, in view of the great volume of politically slanted comment on Milton since the early eighteenth century, to learn that he was not a particularly well-known controversialist. There appears to be no contemporary reference to Areopagitica; and certainly there is no reason to believe that Milton’s ideas were taken very seriously by those who controlled events.