Painting Milton by Numbers

Abstract

S ince this issue celebrates a number (the half-century mark of 50), it seems appropriate to open with some numeric reflections. In the context of my engagement with Milton studies, the last year has presented some interesting figures. 139: the number of essays that the prize committee I served on for the Milton Society of America had to consider for the 2017 James Holly Hanford article award (and 7: the number of monographs specifically on Milton that qualified for the Hanford book award, and 9: the number of titles eligible for the John Shawcross award for scholarly editions, reference works, or chapters on Milton, and 8: the number of eligible titles for the Irene SamuelMemorial award for a multi-authored volume pertaining to Milton). Approximately 70: the number of people who showed up on a weekday morning at the Philadelphia Free Library to hear my public lecture “Who Was John Milton?” (assigned title), part of the Achieving Immortality Lecture Series: Four Great Poets and the Cultures that Shaped Them. Approximately 70: the average age of these attendees. 12: the number of students who enrolled this last semester for my undergraduate Milton course. 12: the number of said students who had never heard of John Milton before registering for the course. 8: the number of said students who had never heard of Paradise Lost before registering for the course. 2: the number of English majors in the course. 5: the number of academic positions mentioning “Milton” in the 2016–17 MLA Job List, and 1⁄2: the number of those academic positions specifically dedicated to Milton. If we are painting a picture of the current state of things Miltonic by the numbers, these figures yield confusion, a word that Milton extensively