Professor Colin Burrow is a fellow of All Souls College, Oxford and one of the major literary critics writing today. His books include Shakespeare and Classical Antiquity and Imitating Authors: Plato to Futurity, as well as editions of Ben Jonson, Shakespeare, and the metaphysical poets. He is a regular contributor to the London Review of Books. 

In these clips, Colin argues for Milton as both a modern and a moral writer. They are taken from Christ's College's 'Milton vs. Darwin' debate held in 2024. Darwin is the college's other great alumnus, so this debate was an opportunity to pit one of the greatest poets against one of the greatest scientists of all time. Colin's comments stand on their own, however, as a reading and a defence of Milton. Colin also writes about loving Milton here, and speaks here about why Paradise Lost is the best poem in English.