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The Essential John Milton

Selections from Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained and other works

Read by Anton Lesser, Samantha Bond and Derek Jacobi

The Essential John Milton
a tribute that should stand as a model for how to do a great writer honour. The first three CDs are devoted to Paradise Lost and the fourth and fifth to Paradise Regained. Both are read by Anton...

The Essential John Milton

Selections from Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained and other works

Read by Anton Lesser, Samantha Bond and Derek Jacobi

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320 kbps, MP3

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Stream now lossless, 44.1 kHz, 16 bit
a tribute that should stand as a model for how to do a great writer honour. The first three CDs are devoted to Paradise Lost and the fourth and fifth to Paradise Regained. Both are read by Anton...

About

This thoughtful collection of John Milton’s finest poetry marks the quatercentenary of the poet’s birth in 1608. It is read by several of Britain’s foremost classical actors, including Anton Lesser, Samantha Bond and Derek Jacobi. Milton’s uncompromising views set him firmly on the side of Cromwell, putting his life in danger when the Stuart monarchy was restored. But he is now remembered for Paradise Lost and a strong collection of other poetry which influenced successive generations. This collection offers an ideal overview, including selections from Paradise Lost and the complete Paradise Regained, excerpts from other major works, including Comus and Samson Agonistes, as well as sonnets and famous shorter poems such as On his blindness, plus a biography of Milton.

Contents and tracklist

PARADISE LOST Book I Line 1: Of man's first disobedience, and the fruit
Track length7:51
Line 128: O Prince, O chief of many throned Powers
Track length4:47
Line 242: Is this the region, this the soil, the clime
Track length6:38
Line 522: All these and more came flocking; but with looks
Track length5:31
Line 622: O myriads of immortal Spirits, O Powers
Track length5:35
Line 722: …Th' ascending pile
Track length4:20
Book II Line 1: High on a throne of royal state, which far
Track length7:31
Line 119: I should be much for open war, O Peers
Track length6:45
Line 229: Either to disenthrone the King of Heav'n
Track length4:43
Line 310: Thrones and imperial Powers, offspring of Heav'n
Track length5:18
Line 390: Well have ye judged, well ended long debate
Track length2:39
Line 430: O progeny of Heav'n, empyreal Thrones
Track length3:02
Line 506: The Stygian Council thus dissolved; and forth
Track length5:51
Line 704: So spake the grisly terror, and in shape
Track length8:38
Line 850: The key of this infernal pit by due
Track length6:59
Line 968: T' whom Satan turning boldly thus. Ye Powers
Track length5:04
Book III Paraphrase: God sitting on his throne sees Satan…
Track length1:54
Book IV Line 1: O for that warning voice, which he who saw
Track length7:24
Line 114: Thus while he spake, each passion dimmed his face
Track length3:18
Line 172: Now to th' ascent of that steep savage hill
Track length3:35
Line 246: …thus was this place
Track length6:20
Line 358: O Hell! What do mine eyes with grief behold
Track length5:29
Line 440: To whom thus Eve replied. O thou for whom
Track length3:16
Line 492: So spake our general mother, and with eyes
Track length3:09
Books V–VIII Paraphrase: Meanwhile, Uriel, descending
Track length2:16
Book IX Line 1: No more of talk where God or angel guest
Track length5:33
Line 99: O earth, how like to Heav'n, if not preferr'd
Track length6:57
Line 204: And Eve first to her husband thus began.
Track length3:48
Line 270: To whom the virgin majesty of Eve
Track length5:27
Line 376: So spake the patriarch of mankind, but Eve
Track length7:05
Line 494: So spake the Enemy of mankind, enclosed
Track length4:12
Line 567: To whom the guileful Tempter thus replied.
Track length2:37
Line 613: So talked the spirited sly snake; and Eve
Track length3:39
Line 679: O sacred, wise and wisdom-giving plant
Track length4:13
Line 745: Great are thy virtues, doubtless, best of fruits
Track length6:56
Line 856: Hast thou not wondered Adam, at my stay?
Track length2:35
Line 896: O fairest of Creation, last and best
Track length4:42
Line 960: So Adam, and thus Eve to him replied.
Track length4:43
Line 1034: So said he, and forbore not glance or toy
Track length6:18
Line 1134: Would thou hadst hearkened to my words, and stayed
Track length3:15
Book X Paraphrase: Man's disobedience known
Track length0:38
Line 68: Father Eternal, thine is to decree
Track length9:07
Line 229: Meanwhile ere thus was sinned and judged on earth
Track length4:58
Line 354: O parent, these are thy magnific deeds
Track length3:56
Line 460: Thrones, Dominations, Princedoms, Virtues, Powers
Track length7:19
Books XI and XII Paraphrase: Meanwhile Sin and Death rejoice
Track length1:52
Book XII Line 553: How soon hath thy prediction, seer blest
Track length7:51
Paradise Regained – Book I
Track length3:47
Oh ancient powers of Air and this wide World
Track length4:31
So to the coast of Jordan he directs
Track length3:54
Meanwhile the Son of God, who yet some days
Track length4:36
This having heard, straight I again revolved
Track length2:52
Full forty days he passed – whether on hill
Track length3:54
Whom thus answered the Arch-Fiend, now undisguised:
Track length3:10
To whom our Saviour sternly thus replied:
Track length3:41
So spake our Saviour; but the subtle Fiend,
Track length3:32
Book II
Track length3:30
Thus they out of their plaints new hope resume
Track length3:18
The while her Son, tracing the desert wild,
Track length3:51
To whom quick answer Satan thus returned:
Track length3:38
He ceased, and heard their grant in loud acclaim;
Track length3:46
He viewed it round;
Track length4:34
'What doubts the Son of God to sit and eat?'
Track length4:18
To whom thus Jesus patiently replied:
Track length4:03
Book III
Track length3:14
To whom our Saviour calmly thus replied
Track length4:10
To whom the Tempter, murmuring, thus replied
Track length4:36
To whom our Saviour answer thus returned
Track length4:15
With that (such power was given him then), he took
Track length3:43
He looked, and saw what numbers numberless
Track length4:26
To whom our Saviour answered thus, unmoved
Track length4:19
Book IV
Track length2:37
And now the Tempter thus his silence broke
Track length4:10
To whom the Son of God, unmoved, replied
Track length3:42
Whom thus our Saviour answered with disdain
Track length4:08
Look once more, ere we leave this specular mount
Track length2:55
To whom our Saviour sagely thus replied
Track length3:04
Or, if I would delight my private hours
Track length3:50
So saying, he took (for still he knew his power Not yet expired)
Track length3:30
Him walking on a sunny hill he found
Track length3:15
To whom the Fiend, now swoln with rage, replied
Track length3:46
But Satan, smitten with amazement, fell
Track length2:07
'True Image of the Father, whether throned…'
Track length5:11
At a Vacation Exercise
Track length6:45
L'Allegro
Track length7:19
Il Penseroso
Track length5:21
Or let my lamp, at midnight hour…
Track length5:06
At a Solemn Musick
Track length1:55
To Mr. H Lawes, on his Aires
Track length1:05
On Time
Track length1:17
On Shakespeare
Track length1:05
On the morning of Christ's Nativity
Track length5:49
Yea Truth, and Justice then…
Track length3:31
Sonnet: To the Lord General Cromwell
Track length1:13
Sonnet: On the detraction which followed…
Track length1:07
Sonnet: On the Late Massacre in Piedmont
Track length0:55
Lycidas
Track length6:25
cont. It was that fatal and perfidious bark…
Track length6:47
Sonnet: To the Nightingale
Track length0:56
Sonnet: On my 23rd Birthday
Track length1:38
from Paradise Lost – opening of Book I
Track length1:48
from Paradise Lost – Book 1 – The fall of Mulciber
Track length1:31
from Paradise Lost – opening of Book II
Track length1:52
from Paradise Lost – from Book XII
Track length1:30
from Paradise Regained
Track length1:39
Sonnet: Upon a Deceased Wife
Track length1:13
Sonnet: On his Blindness
Track length1:11
Sonnet: to Cyriack Skinner
Track length1:12
from Samson Agonistes
Track length2:05
The destruction of the Temple from Samson Agonistes
Track length2:11
The Final Chorus from Samson Agonistes
Track length0:48
from Comus, a Masque
Track length3:53
Introduction to Areopagitica
Track length0:48
from Areopagitica
Track length6:58
Next, what more national corruption…
Track length6:35
What advantage is it to be a man…
Track length6:13
And now the time in special…
Track length5:49
Introduction to The Doctrine and Discipline
Track length0:41
from The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce
Track length5:36
How vain therefore is it….
Track length6:49
I suppose it will be allow'd us…
Track length7:27
Introduction to The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates
Track length0:32
from The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates
Track length7:19
Since the king or magistrate…
Track length5:38
John Milton: A Life
Track length7:58
John Milton was a republican and a Protestant.
Track length7:03
In the end, his time at Cambridge…
Track length7:12
The poem, a pastoral elegy…
Track length7:02
Speculation surrounds almost every facet…
Track length7:41
In 1644 he wrote what is still probably…
Track length6:59
Milton stayed in his role…
Track length8:12
This was a dangerous thing to be doing…
Track length7:14
The poem is a dark and dramatic one.
Track length7:20
He was still working, though.
Track length6:44

Awards and reviews

a tribute that should stand as a model for how to do a great writer honour. The first three CDs are devoted to Paradise Lost and the fourth and fifth to Paradise Regained. Both are read by Anton Lesser, who excels as the doomed but magnificently heroic Lucifer.
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