A History of English Literature

Preface to the First Edition

This Historyis written for two audiences: those who know a few landmark texts of

English literature but little of the surrounding landscape; and those who simply

want to read its long story from its origins to the present day.

The history of English writing begins very early in the Middle Ages and contin-

ues through the Renaissance, the Augustan and Romantic periods to the Victorian

age, the twentieth century, and up to the present. This account of it is written so as

to be read as a coherent whole. It can also be read in parts, and consulted for infor-

mation.Its narrative plan and layout are clear, and it aims to be both readable and

concise. Attention is paid to the greatest poets, dramatists, prose writers and novel-

ists, and to more general literary developments. Each part of the story gains from

being set in literary and social contexts. Space is given to illustrative quotation and

to critical discussions of selected major authors and works.

Minor writers and movements are described rather than discussed, but a great

deal of information about them is to be found in the full apparatus which surrounds

the narrative. This apparatus allows the Historyalso to be used as a work of refer-

ence.A look at the following pages will show the text supplemented by a set of

historical tables of events and of publications; by boxed biographies of authors and

their works; and by marginal definitions of critical and historical terms. There are

sixty-four illustrations, including maps. There are also suggestions for further read-

ing, and a full index of the authors and works discussed.

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