Milton's Prosody (book) - Writing of The Book

Writing of The Book

Bridges had been asked by Henry Beeching, his local vicar, to write a preface for an edition of Paradise Lost that Beeching was preparing for sixth-form pupils. Beeching wanted something to counter the prevailing da-DUM-da-DUM style of reading, that artificially distorted words to fit the regular pattern of the iambic pentameter rhythm. When Gerard Manley Hopkins visited Bridges in mid August 1886, they discussed Bridges' work on the preface. The contents of the book evolved over decades through several published versions:

• Bridges, Robert (1887), "On the Elements of Milton's Blank Verse in Paradise Lost", in Beeching, H. C., Paradise Lost, Book I, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• Bridges, Robert (1889), On the Prosody of Paradise Regained and Samson Agonistes: Being a Supplement to the paper "On the Elements of Milton's Blank Verse in Paradise Lost," which is reprinted in the Rev. H. C. Beeching's edition of Paradise Lost, Book I, Clarendon Press, Oxford, Oxford: Basil Blackwell (published anonymously)
• Bridges, Robert (1893), Milton's Prosody: An Examination of the rules of the Blank Verse in Milton's Later Poems, with an Account of the Versification of Samson Agonistes and General Notes, Oxford: Clarendon Press, http://ia600300.us.archive.org/30/items/miltonsprosodyex00bridrich/miltonsprosodyex00bridrich.pdf

(A combined revision of the 1887 & 1889 works.)

• Bridges, Robert (1901), Milton's Prosody, & Classical Meters in English Verse, by William Johnson Stone, Oxford: Oxford University Press, http://ia700303.us.archive.org/23/items/miltonsprosodyby00briduoft/miltonsprosodyby00briduoft.pdf

(Classical Meters in English Verse is not directly related to Milton's Prosody, but was appended to the book because of Bridges's interest in the topic and "as a memorial to Stone's untimely death".)

• Bridges, Robert (1904), "Miltonic Elision", The Athenaeum (January 1904): 83-84, 113-14, 147-48

(3 brief papers which grew out of the study.)

• Bridges, Robert (1921), Milton's Prosody: With a Chapter on Accentual Verse and Notes (Revised final ed.), Oxford: Clarendon Press, http://ia700208.us.archive.org/11/items/miltonsprosodywi00brid/miltonsprosodywi00brid.pdf

(The definitive edition, revised, with Classical Meters... removed, and a new chapter on Accentual Verse.)