Product Description

A best-seller for more than forty years, this is the survey of English literature from the Middle Ages to the twenty-first century. With 274 authors, the Eighth Edition deepens its representation of essential works in all genres, ranging from Seamus Heaney's translation of "Beowulf" to global twentieth-century classics. Over 75 colour plates and thematic clusters of brief and historically significant texts bring to life the cultural concerns of each period. Concise glosses and annotations, period introductions, biographical headnotes, timelines and selected bibliographies help readers understand and enjoy the rich diversity of English literature.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #23838 in Books
• Published on: 2006-02-17
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 2904 pages

Customer Reviews

Timeless
This anthology in both its volumes contains both complete works of literature, and extracts. It has a wide variety of poetry prose and drama chosen by a wide variety of editors. Not only does it run chronologically through English literature history, it contains collections of extracts based on subjects which have interested the editors. For example the first edition has a section of literature called "Women in Power."
This structure allows for both a student exploring literature through the ages and for someone who is simply interested.
The only real problem is that I can spend hours flicking through this anthology, perhaps without reading anything! There is so much to take in, and so little time to do it.
I have also noticed when reading the poetry that they don't always choose a poets most reknowned work and often the poems I expect to see are not there. However, this seems to be the result of very concise editing which instead portrays the different sides of a poet, not to mention preventing an already sturdy 6000 page tome (for both volumes) from becoming double that amount!
I have only just begun to explore this anthology and I have come to understand that I will be exploring it for many years. It has all the marks of a book which will last forever. I highly recommend this anthology.

Great for students
I had to buy this anthology for my literature course. It's a very useful, diverse collection, with especially helpful notes. Some of the texts are only extracts, so anyone wishing to read further would have to buy extra books. Also, it must be noted that the Anglo-Saxon poems are in translation only, sometimes not quite approximate to the originals. Overall, a very good resource.

Great guide to early English literature
I had to buy this book for my studies and thought it would be quite tedious. However, when I started reading, I was surprised at the beauty of the language, the large extracts and the general care with which everything has been done. The texts are clearly written by people who not only have a love for the English language, but also know how to communicate that enthusiasm.