First published in 1970. Few books on Milton have dealt with his poetry as a whole. The present study, a discussion of Milton's major poetry, seeks to examine each of the poems on its own distinctive grounds and also to delineate the pattern of continuity which the poems enter into and sustain. The author shows how each poem creates its own strategy of insight and demonstrates that together they explore and define a centre of recognition more fully than is possible with any single work.

The book makes full use of the results of Milton scholarship and will provide a basis for a fresh appreciation of the complexity and unity of Milton's achievement.