Complete in 2 volumes.

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

V.A. The Middle Ages / James Simpson, Alfred David. Introduction ; Timeline ; Anglo-Saxon literature : Bede (ca. 673-735) and Cædmon's hymn ; The dream of the rood ; Beowulf ; Judith ; The wanderer ; The wife's lament ; Irish literature: Cúchulainn's boyhood deeds ; Early Irish lyrics ; Anglo-Norman literature: The myth of Arthur's return ; Thomas of England ; Ancrene Wisse (Guide for Anchoresses) ; Romance: Marie de France, Sir Orfeo ; Middle English literature in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (ca. 1375-1400): Geoffrey Chaucer (ca. 1343-1400) ; John Gower (ca. 1330-1408) ; Thomas Hoccleve (ca. 1367-1426) ; William Langland (ca. 1330-1387) ; Middle English incarnation and crucifixion lyrics : Julian of Norwich ; Margery Kempe ; The York play of the crucifixion : Mystery plays : Middle English lyrics : Sir Thomas Malory (ca. 1405-1471) : Robert Henryson (ca. 1425-ca. 1500) ; Everyman (after 1485) ; Appendixes ; General bibliography ; Literary terminology ; Geographic nomenclature ; British money ; The British baronage ; The royal lines of England and Great Britain ; Religions in England ; Illustration: The universe according to Ptolemy ; v. B. The Sixteenth century and the early Seventeenth century / Stephen Greenblatt, George Logan [and others] v. C. The Restoration and the Eighteenth century / James Noggle, Lawrence Lipking v. D. The Romantic Period / Deidre Sauna Lynch, Jack Stillinger v. E. The Victorian Age / Catherine Robson, Carol T. Christ v. F. The Twentieth Century and after / Jahan Ramazani, Jon Stallworthy.

v. B. The Sixteenth century and the early Seventeenth century / Stephen Greenblatt, George Logan [and others] : The sixteenth century (1485-1603. Introduction ; Timeline ; John Skelton (ca. 1460-1529) ; Sir Thomas More (1478-1535) ; Sir Thomas Wyatt the Elder (1503-1542) ; Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey (1517-1547) ; Faith in conflict ; The English Bible ; William Tyndale ; Thomas More ; John Calvin ; Anne Askew ; John Foxe ; Book of Common Prayer ; Book of homilies ; Richard Hooker ; Robert Southwell ; Roger Ascham ; Sir Thomas Hoby ; Women in power ; Mary I (Mary Tudor) ; Lady Jane Grey ; Mary, Queen of Scots ; Elizabeth I ; Edmund Spenser (1552?-1599) ; Renaissance love and desire : Thomas, Lord Vaux ; George Gascoigne ; Edward De Vere ; Earl of Oxford ; Fulke Greville, Lord Brooke ; Thomas Lodge ; Henry Constable ; Samuel Daniel ; Michael Drayton ; Thomas Campion ; Sir John Davies ; Barnabe Barnes ; Richard Barnfield ; Richard Linche ; Sir Walter Ralegh (1552-1618) : The early seventeenth century (1603-1660). Introduction ; Timeline ; John Donne (1572-1631) ; Izaak Walton (1593-1683) ; Aemilia Lanyer (1569-1645) ; Ben Jonson (1572-1637) ; Mary Wroth (1587-1651?) ; John Webster (1580?-1625?) ; Gender relations : conflict and counsel ; Joseph Swetnam ; Rachel Speght ; William Gouge ; Inquiry and experience: Sir Francis Bacon ; William Harvey ; Robert Burton ; Sir Thomas Browne ; George Herbert (1593-1633) ; Henry Vaughan (1621-1695) ; Richard Crashaw (ca. 1613-1649) ; Robert Herrick (1591-1674) ; Thomas Carew (1595-1640) ; Richard Lovelace (1618-1657) ; Katherine Philips (1632-1664) ; Andrew Marvell (1621-1678) ; Crisis of authority: Reporting the news ; Political writing, Writing the self ; Thomas Traherne (1637-1674) ; Margaret Cavendish (1623-1673) ; John Milton (1608-1674) ; Appendixes ; General bibliography ; Literary terminology ; Geographic nomenclature ; British money ; The British baronage ; The royal lines of England and Great Britain ; Religions in England ; Illustration: The universe according to Ptolemy ; Illustration: A London playhouse of Shakespeare's time.

v. C. The Restoration and the Eighteenth century / James Noggle, Lawrence Lipking. Introduction ; Timeline ; John Dryden (1631-1700) ; Samuel Pepys (1633-1703) ; John Bunyan (1628-1688) ; John Locke (1632-1704) ; Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727) ; Samuel Butler (1612-1680) ; John Wilmot ; Second Earl of Rochester (1647-1680) ; Aphra Behn (1640?-1689) ; William Congreve (1670-1729) ; Mary Astell (1666-1731) ; Daniel Defoe (ca. 1660-1731) ; Anne Finch, Countess of Winchilsea (1661-1720) ; Low people and high people: Henry Fielding ; Matthew Prior ; Stephen Duck ; Mary Collier ; Mary Barberv ; Mary Jones ; Laurence Sterne ; Thomas Chatterton ; Samuel Johnson ; George Crabbe ; Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) ; Joseph Addison (1672-1719) and Sir Richard Steele (1672-1729) ; Alexander Pope (1688-1744) ; Eliza Haywood (1693?-1756) ; Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (1689-1762) ; Debating women : arguments in verse ; Jonathan Swift ; Lady Mary Wortley Montagu ; Alexander Pope ; Anne Ingram ; Viscountess Irwin ; Mary Leapor ; John Gay (1685-1732) ; William Hogarth (1697-1764) ; Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) ; James Boswell (1740-1795) ; Frances Burney (1752-1840) ; Liberty: John Locke ; Mary Astell ; James Thomson ; David Hume ; Edmund Burke ; Samuel Johnson ; Olaudah Equiano ; James Thomson (1700-1748) ; Thomas Gray (1716-1771) ; William Collins (1721-1759) ; Christopher Smart (1722-1771) ; Oliver Goldsmith (ca. 1730-1774) ; William Cowper (1731-1800) ; Appendixes : General bibliography ; Literary terminology ; Geographic nomenclature ; British money ; The British baronage ; The royal lines of England and Great Britain ; Religions in England ; Illustration: The universe according to Ptolemy ; v. D. The Romantic Period / Deidre Sauna Lynch, Jack Stillinger. v. E. The Victorian Age / Catherine Robson, Carol T. Christ. v. F. The Twentieth Century and after / Jahan Ramazani, Jon Stallworthy.