Abbreviations - Introduction - Education: the 'Vacation Exercise' and Early Latin Poetry - Cultivating the Self: the 'Nativity Ode', Petrarchism, and the Social Poet - Occasions, Impulses, and the Sense of Vocation: from 'Arcades' to 'Lycidas' - Italy, Politics, and the Voice of Authority - Cultural Renewal in a Time of Free Speaking - Servant and Defender of the Commonwealth - Prophet to the Commonwealth - Paradise Lost: Spiritual Strengthening for Adverse Times - Last Days: Patience and Monuments - Notes - Brief Suggestions for Further Reading - Index
