This book is a comprehensive account of Milton's two aristocratic entertainments, Arcades and Comus.

List of illustrations; Acknowledgements; Abbreviations; Introduction; 1. Contexts and occasions; 2. The arcadians; 3. Komos - the adversary for the occasion; 4. The young heroes - realism and idealism; 5. Spiritual instructions; 6. 1634 and 1637 - texts, epilogues, audiences; 7. The sense of vocation in the 1630s; Appendix; A note on the Golden Grove portrait; Notes; Index.