Following the editors' introduction to the collection, the essays in Scholarly Milton examine the nature of Milton's own formidable scholarship and its implications for his prose and poetry-"scholarly Milton" the writer-as well as subsequent scholars' historical and theoretical framing of Milton studies as an object of scholarly attention-"scholarly Milton" as at first an emergent and later an established academic discipline. The essays are particularly concerned with the topics of the ethical ends of learning, of Milton's attention to the trivium within the Renaissance humanist educational system, and the development of scholarly commentary on Milton's writings. Originally selected from the best essays presented at the 2015 Conference on John Milton in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, the essays have been considerably revised and expanded for publication.

Bringing together eight original essays from leading and emerging Miltonists, this volume explores a second wave of critical thought about Milton's monist materialism, the view that all existence arises from a single substance or reality. Contributors examine sensory matters of fragrance and sound, the literary politics of walking and of sexual reproduction, the ontology of embodiment as human beings and angels, and the appropriation of Milton's materialism by both early Mormons in the nineteenth century and fringe figures such as gun enthusiasts in the twentieth. In so doing, they demonstrate the ongoing relevance of Milton's writings in the history of views of embodiment and materialist thought.