"Among the most celebrated figures in British literature, John Milton has inspired legions of poets and essayists. Milton's poetry and prose reflect both the exhilaration of the Renaissance and the bloody discord of the English Civil War as perceived through the eyes of a Protestant with republican ideals. This combination of prodigious talent and the mercurial era from which it emerged has made Milton a frequent subject of literary biographers."

"Compelled by the desire to understand Milton as purely the product of his historical milieu, biographers have neglected the domestic and personal influences on his life and art. While many biographies have examined Milton's life in the context of the political, social, and religious attitudes in Britain during the tumultuous seventeenth century, very few facts of the poet's private life are known. The Arms of the Family amplifies author John T. Shawcross's earlier investigation of Milton's personal relationships and attitudes in his biography, John Milton: The Self and the World. Unlike any other scholar, Shawcross introduces a crucial element previously neglected by biographers: the role that family and friends played in sculpting the revered author."--Jacket.