Methought I Saw my Late Espoused Saint (Sonnet 23) Resources

Get your "Methought" on with this version of the poem, brought to you by the University of Toronto's Representative Poetry Online.

Here's another online edition, this one through Dartmouth's Milton Reading Room, with very thorough notes. You'll also find links to some other Milton poems and to scholarly research, if you were hoping to geek out on the guy.

This excellent exhibit from the University of South Carolina's Rare Books and Manuscripts Library places Milton in the context of seventeenth-century British politics and culture, both of which had a huge impact on his poetry. It provides images of some of the first publications of his work and explores Milton's role as a political and religious commentator and pamphleteer involved in the domestic and political controversies of his day. What can we say? The guy would have rocked the vote for sure.

Looking for a concise bio of your new favorite poet? Here's your page. Plus links to commentary on his work by near-contemporaries, information on related poets, and selected poems.

So listen to Sonnet 23, introduced by famous Brit, Sir John Gielgud, and read aloud by the awesome Shakespearean actor, Ian Richardson.

Scroll down to download the audio file, and own forever this awesome poem. Or as long as your computer's hard drive lasts, that is.

We know you're dying for a visual to accompany the poem's first simile, so here you go. Take a peek at German painter Heinrich Füger's take on the myth.

Looking pretty dour if you ask Shmoop. Cheer up, Johnny!

A Milton anthology for the obsessed among us.

This one's the standard, scholarly edition, in case any of you are aiming for elbow patches.