Milton: Poet, Pamphleteer and Patriot by Anna Beer

Milton: Poet, Pamphleteer and Patriot Reviews

• 
  Nathan

  This book is very good at what it does, but that is not what one expects from it. By all appearances a biography, it turns out to be a literary analysis of Milton's body of work, with scanty biographical matter scattered throughout. I think this was due more to a paucity of available information than any shortcoming on Beer's part, but it was still unexpected and jarring. It's fairly undistinguished in all other respects, and should be considered supplemental to the works themselves, since the insights aren't all that revelatory. Beer is a cheerful, if unimpressive companion, and her tour is lacking in substance.
• 
  Heather

  One of the better written biographies I've read -- very conversational.
• 
  Keith Taylor

  I am torn in several directions about this critical biography. It is very good on the historical context of Milton's life and politics. I'll admit the English Seventeenth Century is not one I've entered with great enthusiasm, and Beer does a good job filling in my very obvious gaps. She does a fine job delineating the various interpretations of Christianity which so fractured the time, even though I'm not exactly sure where Milton fits in there, other than his strong and consistent statements of freedom of thought and speech.
  
  She does a good close reading of much of the poetry, and that was helpful, even if it didn't help me warm to the work itself (I'll admit that Milton is one of the few canonical English writers whose work I've never been able to enter with enthusiasm). I did appreciate the fact of Milton's blank verse in contrast to the heroic couplets that were about to take over English verse for the next century. They always sound so frivolous to me (and best when they recognize and celebrate their frivolity), and Milton is certainly never frivolous.
  
  Perhaps the greatest revelation to me was Milton's role as a pamphleteer, almost a kind of opinion journalist at a fraught political moment. He spent as much, maybe more time writing these things than he did working on his poetry. I've read very little of it (maybe only "Areopagetica"), and Beer has convinced me I should go back to this stuff, despite its surface dullness for this modern reader.
• 
  Sponge Finger

  A lack of private letters, or journals telling of Milton's emotions at the most crucial moments of his life, with all the tragedy's that accompanied it, must have made understanding the man very difficult. So the biography has to a large extent been confined to the public life and works, limiting much of what Anna Beer can add to the current understanding.
  
  The main contribution of this biography however is to wonderfully describe the dangers of printing controversial material, and the importance of the underground print movement to get political pamphlets out to the public in 17th century London.
  
  The only negative I have is that - understandably, as it's more about the man than his work - there is very little mining and analysis of the great works themselves - Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained etc. - for anything new or interesting.
  
  Still an easy to read and engaging biography tracking the fascinating life of England's greatest epic poet.
• 
  Coenraad

  What a fascinating period! A friend wants to borrow the book - he'll have to wait a bit! A wonderful bargain at a book sale...
• 
  Suzanne McDonald

  This book is a mixed bag. On the one hand, it fulfills its primary purpose well. It's a readable and good overall account of what we can know of Milton. The author is judicious in weighing some of the more controversial aspects of his character and his life, and not too speculative in trying to fill in the personality / emotional blanks, since Milton gives us so little to go on, and since a book like this is going to need to try to do that, to offer the general reader more of a sense of the man. She also generally draws well from what was then up-to-date Milton scholarship in her account of his poetry and prose. But as well as sometimes being rather simplistic (and a bit all over the place) in her attempts to summarize an admittedly extremely complex era, the more general historical material has far too many irritating errors. These range from the trivial (for example, Sir Thomas Fairfax was not Lord Fairfax until 1648, so any reference to 'Lord Fairfax' before then actually designates his father, Ferdinando) to the egregious (so, no, the New Model Army did NOT seize Charles I from the SCOTS in taking him from Holdenby House!!!) to the inane (‘At the Battle of Marston Moor [Cromwell] ensured victory with the simple addition of horses to the parliamentarian army.’ What?!?!). I confess that repeated examples of this kind of thing got in the way of me fully appreciating the actual merits of the book. And in the end, I am still not entirely sure of the intended audience for it. It is probably too long, detailed, and ‘academic’ for someone who doesn’t know much about Milton and his times, but not scholarly enough for those who have a more specialized knowledge of the man and the period.
• 
  Johan

  More a biography of Milton's work and a literary analysis. Admittedly sources are lacking for the kind of biography which makes the author come alive. Milton as a person stubbornly refuses to come alive and the occasional glimpses of the man only strike me as a very unlikable fellow. Heresy no doubt
• 
  Martin Keast

  Quite readable biography though missing an understanding of his Christian faith.
• 
  Louise

  Milton's life spanned an incredible period of British History. Unlike the relative stability of Elizabethan England when his father improved the family financial and social station, Milton faced a chain of instability: James - Charles I - Civil War - the Cromwell regime in its various phases and demise - Charles II - further turmoil.
  
  In the more halcyon days, Milton's writing on divorce brought him notoriety. It became even more negative political capital as events took their course. Milton continued to follow his conscience, supporting the Parliamentarians and advocating republican ideals as the country changed and changed again. His most enduring work comes from the times of his deepest loss.
  
  From what I knew of him, I should have extrapolated his political gains and losses with each regime change, but didn't. The book brings the truth alive in unambiguous prose. The author shows how his work fits his life, what he did and what he thought. What was fully new to me was Milton's blindness. The book also illustrates how the misogyny of the time rubbed off on Milton who had 3 wives and 3 daughters.
  
  I chose this book, not so much for Milton, but for the times, and Anna Beers did not disappoint. She places Milton squarely in these times showing how he was of them and how they affected him. The end, devoted to an explication of Milton's most noted works will not disappoint those who read it for literary history.
  
  I recommend this very readable book for anyone interested in the history or the literature of the time.
• 
  Kirsty Archer-Thompson

  I'm biased because I adore John Milton's poetry so much but this was a fantastic and very absorbing account of his life that managed to tackle the political turbulence of the times with real authority. Anna Beer manages to sweep aside the one-dimensional preconception of Milton the hardline religious zealot and reveal more of the man himself; a courageous, dedicated and intellectual powerhouse that refused to swim with the tide, even when his life was endangered.
  
  The image of John Milton, sitting in solitude and utter darkness during a time of pestilence, waiting for a scribe to visit and record the vast swathes of new blank verse stored in his memory that would become the epics 'Paraside Lost'and 'Paradise Regained,'is just incredible. If I could resurrect people for a literary dinner party, Milton would be on the list, although I don't know how well he would get on with the ladies!
• 
  Julie

  Easy reading history of life and times of 'Paradise Lost' author John Milton. I read it for Uni literary studies and was captured, almost enraptured.......
  Anna Beer leads a good narrative discussion. I was interested because I am writing an historical novel about this time and Milton is one of my(I mean character's) love interests!
  It may be 350 years ago but one can easily draw parallels to the type of creative political animals who work around government today. That's why I was keen to learn of how he was employed as Oliver Cromwell's P.R. at the table of the Council of State, even living with his family at Whitehall.
  Well researched, well written, and recommend to anybody with an interest in this time of the Commonwealth.
  More about my project is at:
  http://pozible.com/englishrepublic
  
• 
  Blair Hodges

  Anna Beer crafted an engaging biography. Fleshing out the contexts of Milton's work brings it to life. Her focus on gender and masculinity, politics and religion, government and family make for a fascinating read. Her prose is pleasurable too. Overall, a great biography.