SOURCE: Griffith, Philip Mahone. “A Short View of Joseph Warton's Criticism of Milton.” In Papers on Milton, edited by Philip Mahone Griffith and Lester F. Zimmerman, pp. 25-35. Tulsa, Oklahoma: The University of Tulsa, 1969.

In the following essay, Griffith briefly examines Joseph Warton's life and his brother's influence on his critical interpretation of Milton.

Joseph Warton (1722-1800) was the son of the Rev. Thomas Warton (1688-1745), Professor of Poetry at Oxford and pre-romantic poet, and the elder brother of Thomas Warton the Younger, also Professor of Poetry at Oxford and historian of English poetry. Joseph added greatly to his family's distinction by his poetry but more particularly as classicist, critic, translator, and Head Master of Winchester College. He was trained at Winchester and at Oriel College, where he continued his enthusiastic study of the classics and the writing of poetry.¹ He began to write early. A letter of...