Shows that education constitutes the central metaphor of John Milton's political as well as his poetic writing. Demonstrating how Milton's theory of education emerged from his own practices as a reader and teacher, this book analyzes the relationship between Milton's own material habits as a reader and his theory of the power of books.

"In The End of Learning: Milton and Education, Thomas Festa offers an impressively learned exploration of the meaning of education as theme, practice, and motive in Milton's poetry and prose?Festa's book represents a critically important contribution to our understanding of Milton's poetry and what it means to historicize poetic education." -- Julian Koslow, Virginia Tech University, Modern Philology