Letters, Latinitas, and Latent Wordplay: John Milton's Didactic Epistles to Richard Jones

Milton's four Latin letters to his former pupil, Richard Jones, were composed between 1656 and 1659. Marked by an authoritative tone that combines overt didacticism with good-humoured wit, they seem to offer an epistolographic 'Of Education,' matched by an authorial self-fashioning that is kaleidoscopically varied. This chapter explores ways in which Milton's recourse to a variety of authoritative personae (classical, humanist, biblical) facilitates his imaginative engagement with classical poetry and prose, and the rich etymological potential afforded by Latin as a vibrant linquistic medium. It also argues that the correlation between Latinitas, 'letters,' and latent wordplay invites the reader to scrutinize text and context, to unravel intertextual links, to seek out linguistic nuances, and to become an interpreter of epistolographic meaning.