Wife to Mr. Milton: The Story of Marie Powell

by Robert Graves

Book Overview

With impressive literary power, the acclaimed historical novelist and critic Robert Graves tells the story of the tragic and eventful life of Marie Powell, who, at the age of sixteen, was pushed into... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0140010246
• ISBN13: 9780140010244
• Release Date: December 1984
• Publisher: Penguin Group
• Length: 416 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.

Customer Reviews

a modern poet's view of the 'sublime' poet of the 'late rebellion'

Wife to Mr. Milton: The Story of Marie Powell by Robert Graves (New York: Creative Age Press, Inc., 1944) 380pp. Contents Foreword I. The Last Day of Christmas, 1641 II. An Alarm of the Plague III. A Sight of Royalty, and of Another IV. Life at Forest Hill V. Mun Becomes a Soldier VI. I Fall Into Piety and Out Again VII. A Strange Tale of Sympathy VIII. I Fall Into Disgrace IX. An Account of Mr. John Milton X. I Agree to Marriage XI. Mr. Milton's Courtship XII. My Marriage XIII. I Am Taken to London XIV. I Say Farewell to My Family XV. I Come Back to Forest Hill XVI. The Beginning of the War XVII. My Husband Sends for Me XVIII. I Am Persuaded to Return to My Husband XIX. I Am Got With Child; and My Father is Ruined XX. My Child is Born; and My Father Dies XXI. I Speak With Mun Again XXII. I Watch the King's Execution XXIII. Evil News from Ireland XXIV. My Husband Buys Fame at a High Price Epilogue Appendix Glossary Also by Robert Graves Fiction I, Claudius Claudius the God The Antigua Stamp Count Belisarius Sergeant Lamb's America Non-Fiction Goodbye to All That T. E. Lawrence to His Biographers (With B. H. Liddell Hart) Jacket copy of the first American edition, a Wartime Book, of 1944 : With impressive literary power, with a beauty that makes this novel live and glow in the consciousness of the reader, Robert Graves unfolds the story of the tragic and eventful life of Marie Powell, who, at the age of sixteen, was pushed into marrying the man who was England's greatest epic poet - and knew it - John Milton. This story, by an acknowledged master of the historical novel, has a triple fascination. First, for its tender account of the romance Marie Powell found outside the walls of her tyrannical husband's house, and the utter misery to which he enforced her. Then, for the astute study of the "sublime" Milton of Paradise Lost, at last portrayed in his true light, in those characteristics which led him to become Oliver Cromwell's Dr. Goebbels. And further, for the brilliant account of one of the most breath-taking epochs in English history, when that kingdom was ravaged by a bloody civil war and the tides of fortune swayed from one to the other side of the opposing camps - the King against his parliament, tyranny against freedom - culminating in the dramatic execution of Charles I, and the establishment of a republic, all of which assumes added significance in the light of today's events. Robert Graves needs no particular introduction to the American reading public, for at one stroke, his brilliantly successful novel, I, CLAUDIUS, established him as one of the outstanding historical novelists of our time. Graves was born in London in 1895, the son of Alfred Percival Graves, the poet. In his early years, he probably reaped more knowledge from his father's extensive library than from the six prep schools to which he was sent prior to his entering the famous Charterhouse. The First World War caused him to set aside the idea of going to Oxford

A great find...

I happened upon this book in a library sale, and so glad I picked it up! The prose in this book is astoundingly gorgeous....poetry. The details of everyday life in the period are vast, it's all intertwined in a bitter marriage and life of John Milton...told through his wife who was forced into marriage with him at 16...2 temperments so unsuited to one another. She loved another. You'll love this gem of a book. I am surprised it is not more well known.