Johnson's Milton

Johnson the reader/writer : appropriating Milton's texts. Summoning Milton's ghost : Miltonic allusion in the periodical essays ; 'No Miltonian fire'? : Miltonic allusion in Johnson's poetry ; Rasselas : a rewriting of Paradise lost? ; 'Licence they mean when they cry liberty' : the 1770s tracts

Johnson the critic : assessing Milton's achievement. 'Phantoms which cannot be wounded' : the Lauder affair ; Cutting a Colossus : Johnson's criticism of Paradise lost ; Cherry-stones : Johnson on Milton's shorter poems

Johnson the biographer : constructing Milton's character. 'An acrimonious and surly republican' : Milton as political subject ; 'Domestick privacies' : Milton as private subject ; Conclusion : 'what other author ever soared so high?'