This analysis of the progressive definition of John Milton’s social, political, and religious opinions during the fertile years of the Puritan Revolution has become a classic work of scholarship in the thirty-five years since it was first published. Professor Barker interprets Milton’s development in the light of his personal problems and of the changing climate of opinion among his revolutionary associates.

Arthur E. Barker is a professor emeritus of Renaissance Literature at the University of Western Ontario.

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‘the fairest and most accurate picture yet presented of Milton’s views on liberty and reformation.’

University of Toronto Quarterly

‘For students, undergraduate and graduate, it is probably the soundest guide to Milton’s ideas in prose and their significance. For the scholar it is most helpful as a guide to the influence upon him of others in his period…Barker provides much which cannot be found elsewhere…On any matter concerned with the prose, we have learned the wisdom of consulting Barker’s first.’

Seventeenth-Century News

‘Professor Barker’s admirable book…deserves wide critical attention for its sensible account of Milton’s political thought and of the effect of his harsh political experience on the great epics of his later years’.

Times Literary Supplement

‘a book that demonstrates deep learning and a sound comprehension of what is genuinely significant in Milton studies…Future interpreters of Milton’s political and social views as found in his poems and cannot overlook the foundation provided by Mr. Barker’s analysis of the prose.’

Philosophical Review