Milton's 1645 Poems

Appearing in late 1645 or 1646 (see 1646 in poetry), the octavo volume, whose full title is Poems of Mr. John Milton both English and Latin, compos'd at several times, was issued by the Royalist publisher Humphrey Moseley.

[2] The verses read in translation, Looking at the form of the original, you could say, perhaps, that this likeness had been drawn by a rank beginner; but, my friends, since you do not recognize what is pictured here, have a chuckle at a caricature by a useless artist.

on several occasions by Mr John Milton, both English and Latin, composed at several times, etc., also includes a tract on education.

According to the list published by Dartmouth College, poems included in the 1673 book but not in the 1645 book are: The sonnets included are usually referred to as numbers 11, 12, 13, 14, 18, 19, 20, 21 and 23, according to the numbering Milton gave them in his autograph notebook referred to as the "Trinity Manuscript" (see Revard, 2009, p. 543), from its location in the Wren Library of Trinity College, Cambridge.

Thus, for example, the famous sonnet that begins When I Consider How My Light is Spent, usually (though inauthentically) referred to as On his blindness, is numbered 19 by Milton but 16 in the printed edition (see Revard, 2009, p. 569).

[9] Yet a strong argument can be made that Milton did subtly inscribe his radical Puritan politics in the Poems through such works as Lycidas.