Maps the literary import of Naples on Milton in the course of his one-month sojourn and beyond. As the first book devoted solely to "Manus," arguably the most accomplished of Milton's neo-Latin writings pertaining to his Italian period, it offers a series of fresh interpretations of the poem. It does so by situating it alongside Milton's seemingly voracious reading of contemporary Italian literature while abroad;...

Maps the literary import of Naples on Milton in the course of his one-month sojourn and beyond. As the first book devoted solely to "Manus," arguably the most accomplished of Milton's neo-Latin writings pertaining to his Italian period, it offers a series of fresh interpretations of the poem. It does so by situating it alongside Milton's seemingly voracious reading of contemporary Italian literature while abroad; by assessing the poem's academic, religious, topographical, and linguistic contexts; and by analyzing its classical, neo-Latin, Italian, and English intertexts. It also draws upon the writings of two Italian poets who benefitted from Manso's care and patronage, namely, Torquato Tasso and Giambattista Marino.