Produced by Thierry Alberto, Stephen Hutcheson and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net The Academy Series of English Classics _MILTON_ MINOR POEMS L'Allegro Il Penseroso Comus Arcades On the Nativity Lycidas On Shakespeare At a Solemn Music Sonnets WITH INTRODUCTION AND NOTES BY SAMUEL THURBER ALLYN AND BACON _Boston and Chicago_ COPYRIGHT, 1901, BY SAMUEL THURBER. _Norwood Press_ J. S. Cushing & Co.--Berwick & Smith Norwood Mass. U.S.A. CONTENTS. Preface Outlines of the Life of Milton TEXT: On the Morning of Christ's Nativity On Shakespeare L'Allegro Il Penseroso Arcades At a Solemn Music Comus Lycidas Sonnets: I. To the Nightingale II. On his having arrived at the Age of Twenty-three 68 VIII. When the Assault was intended to the City 69 IX. To a Virtuous Young Lady 70 X. To the Lady Margaret Ley 70 XIII. To Mr. H. Lawes on his Airs 71 XV. On the Lord General Fairfax, at the Siege of Colchester 72 XVI. To the Lord General Cromwell, May, 1652 72 XVII. To Sir Henry Vane the Younger 73 XVIII. On the Late Massacre in Piedmont 74 XIX. On his Blindness 74 XX. To Mr. Lawrence 75 XXI. To Cyriack Skinner 76 XXII. To the Same 76 XXIII. On his Deceased Wife 77 Notes 79 PREFACE. The purpose held in view by those who place the study of Milton in high school English courses is twofold: first, that youth may seasonably become acquainted with a portion of our great classic poetry; and, secondly, that they may in this poetry encounter and learn to conquer difficulties more serious than those they have met in the literature they have hitherto read. It is for the teacher to see to it that both these aims are attained. The pupil must read with interest, and he must expect at the same time to have to do some strenuous thinking and not to object to turning over many books.