October 2008 marks the 400th anniversary of the birth of John Milton, a man who rivals Shakespeare as a coiner of phrases still in everyday use (“Tomorrow to fresh woods and pastures new”, “They also serve who only stand and wait”, “A good book is the precious lifeblood of a master spirit”, “The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven”, “Now, Voyager …”).
To celebrate, Naxos has compiled 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 Lesser, who excels as the doomed but magnificently heroic Lucifer. The sixth is a chronological selection of Milton’s poetry, which shifts from rural idyll to thumping polemic. The seventh offers extracts from his most famous prose writings. If, like, me, you have always meant to read Paradise Lost, then do as I did and get to know Milton the man before attempting his awesome mountain of blank verse.
Begin by listening to the last CD, an illuminating biography written and read by Roy McMillan. It sets Milton in his age: the troubled Civil War years of the seventeenth century. He was a Protestant disowned by his father for leaving the Roman Catholic Church, an arrogant student convinced early of his own genius. He became a Puritan apologist whose arguments in favour of divorce (as a result of his own initially disastrous matrimonial experiences), the freedom of the press and parliamentary democracy are memorably trenchant.
Once I’d listened to the poems and prose, I knew the mindset of the man, and cantered confidently into Paradise Lost. OK, I haven’t finished listening to it yet – but this time I will.