Aloha Promises Forever has previously provided background information with respect to John Milton.  We ask that for further information on this man’s life you might refer back to that material.

Samson Agonistes is a tragic closet drama written to be read by one reader or in a small group.  This work was within the same publication in 1671 of Paradise Regained.    Coming as it did following the English Civil War and the Restoration, this piece was filled with ruminations regarding the current circumstances contemporary to the writing of this work.  It was Milton’s aspiration that in combining Samson with the traits of other Biblical heroes he might find the perfect hero to deal with complex theological issues.  The blindness of Samson was an allusion to Milton’s own blindness in the latter part of his life.

You may read an annotated version of the entirety of Samson Agonistes here:

http://www.dartmouth.edu/~milton/reading_room/samson/drama/text.shtml

Alternatively, you may listen to an audiobook version of the epic here: