Milton wrote ‘Lycidas’ in 1637, at the age of 29, to commemorate the drowning of the poet Edward King. As well as a great pastoral elegy, it is a denunciation of the ecclesiastical condition of England and a rehearsal for Milton’s later role as a writer of national epic. In the first episode of their new series, Seamus and Mark discuss the political backdrop to the poem, Milton’s virtuosic mix of poetic tradition and innovation, and why such a fervent puritan would choose an unfashionable, pre-Christian form to honour his friend.

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Read more in the LRB:

Colin Burrow (on the 'two-handed engine'):

⁠https://lrb.me/ldmilton1⁠

Freya Johnston (on Samuel Johnson's criticism):

⁠https://lrb.me/ldmilton2⁠

Maggie Kilgour (on the young Milton):

h⁠ttps://lrb.me/ldmilton3⁠

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