I was a little surprised to see that there was no thread on Samson so I thought I would add one. Anyway, if you have not read Samson Agonistes I would highly recommend it, it is quite a short text and for anybody relatively new to Milton it is a great place to start. It tells of the story of Samson from the book of Judges after he has been betrayed by Delilah and begins with him imprisoned in Gaza. It is written in the form of Greek tragedy. It also possesses deep biographical possibilities with Samson being blinded as was Milton's fate at the time it was written. Interestingly although it is a play Milton never intended it to be performed, only read.
All the action is focused in this one place where Samson comes into contact with a variety of people. Most dramatic is the scenes with his father and with Delilah. The conclusion is dramatic and powerful and the whole thing is very accessible. I would highly recommend reading chapter 13 & 14 of the book of Judges prior to reading it though as background knowledge of the story is very useful. Anyway here more information on it and the text in full:
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~milton/rea...ma/index.shtml
If you do happen to read it because of this thread then let me know what you think of it. Also knowing that someone had read this great work just because they had stumbled onto this thread would be pretty cool.
If you have already read it what do you think of it, pass on your thoughts?