Milton's influence on English poetry and criticism has been incalculable, and his best-known works, "Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained, and, Samson Agonistes form a natural mainstay for this freshly edited and modernized selection of his writings. All the English and Italian verse, and most of the Latin and Greek is included, as is a generous selection of his major prose works. The poems are arranged in order of publication, essential in enabling the reader to understand the progress of Milton's career in relation to the political and religious upheavals of his time. The extensive notes on the text cover syntax, vocabulary, historical context, and classical and biblical references. The Introduction traces both Milton's changing conception of his own vocation, and the critical reception his work has received over the past three centuries.