4 h 35 minAudiobook8 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 4 h 35 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What happens when a young poet brings cheerful pleasures, stern virtue, and grief into the same world?
In Milton: Minor Poems, John Milton tests his range before Paradise Lost. These shorter works bring together the Bible and the poetry of Greece and Rome. On the Morning of Christ's Nativity offers a Christmas hymn, while L'Allegro and Il Penseroso explore cheerful and thoughtful ways of living.
The collection moves from paired moods to virtue under pressure in Comus, a masque that joins poetry, song, and dance. In Lycidas, Milton remembers Edward King, a fellow Cambridge student who drowns in the Irish Sea, and turns mourning into hard questions. The sonnets bring public and private concerns into a tightly shaped form.
What you’ll discover
- A young poet's range Meet Milton as he tries playful and stern voices, drawing on biblical and classical poetry.
- Two ways to live Explore cheerful and thoughtful moods through the matched poems L'Allegro and Il Penseroso.
- Virtue under pressure Enter Comus, where a defence of virtue takes shape through poetry, song, and dance.
- Grief that asks questions Discover how Lycidas makes room for searching questions rather than offering a simple lament.
- Sonnets with muscular sound Hear sentences stretch across line endings as Milton gives public and private concerns their weight.
Who will love it
You will love this if you enjoy poems that sound beautiful aloud, Greek myths and English countryside, Christmas and church music, or a poet who writes of faith, friendship and grief.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A young poet brings a Christmas gift
- Peace, stars and angels welcome the child
- The old gods flee as the child sleeps
- Two moods, one day, one night
- Melancholy turns the night into study
- Three short pieces tune the ear
- Comus tests a lady in a wild wood
- Lycidas mourns a friend and warns the church
- Sonnets turn private life into public song
- Blindness, friendship and loss in fourteen lines
Formats and delivery
- eBook
- On your phone, tablet or computer, once the book texts are online.
- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, once the book texts are online.
- Audiobook
- Read by Lucas Linden, complete. It opens once the recording is online.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 8 minutes, to read today.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
Every printed copy is made when you order it and shipped worldwide; shipping is shown at checkout. The eBook and the audiobook open when the book texts go online.
How it works
- Start free. Nothing to pay today; the eBook of this book is yours to keep.
- Read, listen and print. 200,000+ classics as eBook, large-print eBook, audiobook and 15-minute summary, and any book printed at cost as a paperback, hardcover or large print, 5 accounts for the price of one.
- We remind you first. Free for 3 months, and we email you 7 days before your first payment. Then 0,14 USD a day in your first year on the yearly plan and 0,27 USD a day after, or 0,66 USD a day on the monthly plan. Cancel online in two clicks.
Bought on its own? Every eBook, audiobook and printed book you buy without the plan carries our 30-day money-back guarantee.
Poèmes mineurs de Milton
by John Milton
A student at Cambridge brings a Christmas hymn to the newborn Christ while the old gods flee their temples.
Medium level2–5 hours to readfrançais
Excellent
- Read or listen
- Print and large print at cost
- 5 accounts for the price of one
Free for 3 months · starts right away, on any device
Read free3 months free · cancel anytimeFree for 3 months, then 0,14 USD a dayCancel anytimeHow it works
In short
What does a twenty-one-year-old student give to a newborn child? In 1629, at Cambridge, John Milton gives a poem.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A young poet brings a Christmas gift
The collection opens with the Ode on the Morning of Christ's Nativity, composed in 1629. Milton is twenty-one and studying at Cambridge.
The poem begins with four stanzas in the poet's own voice. He asks his Muse whether she has any gift for the infant God. The wise men hurry along the eastern road with perfumes, and he tells her to get there first with a humble ode.
Free for 3 months · Cancel anytime
You looked at
Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 8 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- Language
- français
- Reading time
- 2 h 55 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Milton, John. Milton: Minor Poems. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/milton-minor-poems.
Milton, J. (2026). Milton: Minor poems. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/milton-minor-poems
Milton, John. Milton: Minor Poems. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/milton-minor-poems.
@book{milton2026milton,
author = {Milton, John},
title = {Milton: Minor Poems},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/milton-minor-poems}
}
Free gifts
580 USD in free gifts when you start
Every book in every format and in 25 languages, 5 accounts for the price of one. Nothing to pay today.
- 200,000+ classic eBooksIn 25 languages, side by side
170 USDFREE - Every audiobookIn 25 languages, any device
120 USDFREE - 15-minute summariesRead or listen, in 25 languages
60 USDFREE - Print at cost, no markupPaperback, hardcover, large print
60 USDFREE - 5 accounts for the price of oneA shelf for everyone at home
170 USDFREE - A part in rebuilding the libraryNew languages and books for all
FREE
Questions about Poèmes mineurs de Milton
Can I read it free?
Yes. The first key idea of the 15-minute summary is free with no sign-up. Start free and the whole book is yours for 3 months, with the eBook to keep, plus 200,000+ more classics and any book printed at cost as a paperback, hardcover or large print. Nothing to pay today: we email you 7 days before your first payment, and you can cancel online in two clicks.
Can I buy the printed book?
Soon. The paperback, hardcover and large print editions are being prepared. Choose Paperback or Hardcover above, leave your email, and we tell you the day you can order it, printed at cost.
How many accounts do I get?
Five, for the price of one: you and 4 more people, each with their own login, shelf and their own place in every book.
Can I cancel anytime?
Yes. Cancel online in two clicks at any time and nothing more is charged. Nothing is charged in your first 3 months, and we email you 7 days before your first payment.
What is Milton's Minor Poems about?
It gathers Milton's shorter works, including the Nativity ode, L'Allegro, Il Penseroso, the masque Comus, the elegy Lycidas and fifteen selected sonnets. Together they treat faith, music, friendship, virtue, politics, blindness and grief.
What is the difference between L'Allegro and Il Penseroso?
They are a pair. L'Allegro follows a cheerful man through a day of country and city pleasures, while Il Penseroso follows a thoughtful man through a night of study, solitude and quiet beauty.
What is Comus and who is Comus?
Comus is a masque performed at Ludlow Castle in 1634. Comus is a sorcerer, son of Bacchus and Circe, who tempts travelers with a cup that changes their faces into those of beasts.
The author
John Milton
1608–1674 · English poet
John Milton (1608–1674) was an English poet and civil servant who lived mainly in London. He wrote poetry and prose, including Comus (1634), Areopagitica (1644), Paradise Lost (1667), and Paradise Regained (1671). He served as secretary for foreign tongues under England’s Commonwealth government. He became blind in 1652.
More by John Milton
All 6 booksMore like this
Our mission
The library burned once. We are building it back.
Every great book, in every language and every format, for every family. Every plan helps pay for new languages, new audiobooks and books for readers who have never had them. Join the movement.
Read our story- Every language25 languages today, side by side, and more every year
- No wastePrinted on demand: no warehouses, no unsold stock, no pulped copies
- For everyonePaperback, hardcover and large print at the cost of printing
