Milton at Monticello

Book excerpt: Milton at Monticello focuses on how Thomas Jefferson read John Milton’s political tracts, Paradise Lost, and Samson Agonistes. While examining Jefferson’s “Thoughts on English Prosody” and entries from his Literary Commonplace Book, I listened for echoes between Jefferson and Milton. Through the lens of Lycidas and Sonnet 23, I probe how Jefferson lived with grief. With the intuition of a poet, I approached these icons of Liberty and Reason with an imaginative ear for the making and keeping of a Republic. In his work Kemmer Anderson shines a light on the subtle kinship of these two great figures, who with their powers shouldered not only their own times, but considerable futures. He offers the reader a thoughtful nexus for the spirit of their gifts. Lawrence Mathis, poet & architect.