vii

Contents

PREFACE TO THE EIGHTH EDITION xxxiii

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xliii

The Middle Ages (to ca. 1485) 1

Introduction 1Anglo-Saxon Literature 3Anglo-Norman Literature 7Middle English Literature in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth

Centuries 10Medieval English 15Old and Middle English Prosody 19

Timeline 22

ANGLO-SAXON LITERATURE 24

BEDE (ca. 673735) and CDMONS HYMN 24An Ecclesiastical History of the English People 25

[The Story of Cdmon] 25

THE DREAM OF THE ROOD 27

BEOWULF translated by Seamus Heaney 29

JUDITH 100

KING ALFRED (849899) 108Preface to the Pastoral Care 109

THE WANDERER 111

THE WIFES LAMENT 113

ANGLO-NORMAN LITERATURE 115

THE ANGLO-SAXON CHRONICLE 115[Obituary for William the Conqueror] 115

viii / Contents

legendary histories of britain 117

GEOFFREY OF MONMOUTH: The History of the Kings of Britain 118[The Story of Brutus and Dianas Prophecy] 119

WACE: Le Roman de Brut 120[The Roman Challenge] 121

LAYAMON: Brut 124[Arthurs Dream] 125

THE MYTH OF ARTHURS RETURN 127Geoffrey of Monmouth: From The History of the Kings of

Britain 127Wace: From Le Roman de Brut 127Layamon: From Brut 127

celtic contexts 128

EXILE OF THE SONS OF UISLIU 129

THOMAS OF ENGLAND: Le Roman de Tristran 136[The Deaths of Tristran and Ysolt] 137

MARIE DE FRANCE 141Lanval 142Chevrefoil 155

ANCRENE RIWLE (Rule for Anchoresses) 157[The Parable of the Christ-Knight] 158

MIDDLE ENGLISH LITERATURE IN THE FOURTEENTH

AND FIFTEENTH CENTURIES 160

SIR GAWAIN AND THE GREEN KNIGHT (ca. 13751400) 160

GEOFFREY CHAUCER (ca. 13431400) 213the canterbury tales 216The General Prologue 218Summary: The Knights Tale 238The Millers Prologue and Tale 239

The Prologue 239The Tale 241

The Man of Laws Epilogue 255The Wife of Baths Prologue and Tale 256

The Prologue 257The Tale 275

The Pardoners Prologue and Tale 284The Introduction 284The Prologue 285

Contents / ix

The Tale 288The Epilogue 297

The Nuns Priests Tale 298[Close of Canterbury Tales] 312The Parsons Tale 313

The Introduction 313Chaucers Retraction 315

lyrics and occasional verse 316Troiluss Song 316Truth 317To His Scribe Adam 318Complaint to His Purse 318

JOHN GOWER (ca. 13301408) 319The Lovers Confession 320

The Tale of Philomena and Tereus 320

WILLIAM LANGLAND (ca. 13301387) 331The Vision of Piers Plowman 333

The Prologue 333[The Field of Folk] 333

Passus 1 336[The Treasure of Truth] 336

Passus 5 340[Piers Plowman Shows the Way to Saint Truth] 340

Passus 6 343[The Plowing of Pierss Half-Acre] 343

Passus 7 350[Piers Tears Truths Pardon] 350

The C-Text 352[The Dreamer Meets Conscience and Reason] 352

christs humanity 355

WILLIAM LANGLAND 356The Vision of Piers Plowman 357

Passus 18 357[The Crucifixion and Harrowing of Hell] 357

MIDDLE ENGLISH INCARNATION AND CRUCIFIXION LYRICS 367What is he, this lordling, that cometh from the fight 368Ye That Pasen by the Weye 369Sunset on Calvary 369I sing of a Maiden 369Adam Lay Bound 370The Corpus Christi Carol 370

JULIAN OF NORWICH (1342ca. 1416) 371A Book of Showings to the Anchoress Julian of Norwich 372

Chapter 3 [Julians Bodily Sickness and the Woundsof Christ] 372

Chapter 4 [Christs Passion and Incarnation] 373

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Chapter 5 [All Creation as a Hazelnut] 374Chapter 7 [Christ as Homely and Courteous] 375Chapter 27 [Sin Is Fitting] 376Chapters 58, 59, 60, 61 [Jesus as Mother] 377Chapter 86 [Christs Meaning] 382

MARGERY KEMPE (ca. 13731438) 383The Book of Margery Kempe 384

Book 1.1 [The Birth of Her First Child and Her First Vision] 384Book 1.11 [Margery and Her Husband Reach a Settlement] 385Book 1.20 [Margery Sees the Host Flutter at Mass] 387Book 1.28 [Pilgrimage to Jerusalem] 388Book 1.3536 [Margerys Marriage to and Intimacy with

Christ] 389Book 1.60 [Margerys Reaction to a Pieta`] 392Book 1.76 [Margery Nurses Her Husband in His Old Age] 394Book 1.79 [Margerys Vision of the Passion Sequence] 395

THE YORK PLAY OF THE CRUCIFIXION (ca. 1425) 398

MYSTERY PLAYS 406The Wakefield Second Shepherds Play 407

MIDDLE ENGLISH LYRICS 435The Cuckoo Song 436Alison 436My Lief Is Faren in Londe 437Western Wind 437I Am of Ireland 437

SIR THOMAS MALORY (ca. 14051471) 438Morte Darthur 439

[The Conspiracy against Lancelot and Guinevere] 439[War Breaks Out between Arthur and Lancelot] 444[The Death of Arthur] 448[The Deaths of Lancelot and Guinevere] 453

ROBERT HENRYSON (ca. 1425ca. 1500) 456The Cock and the Fox 457

EVERYMAN (after 1485) 463

The Sixteenth Century (14851603) 485

Introduction 485

Timeline 512

JOHN SKELTON (ca. 14601529) 514Mannerly Margery Milk and Ale 515With lullay, lullay, like a child 515

Contents / xi

The Tunning of Elinour Rumming 516Secundus Passus 516

SIR THOMAS MORE (14781535) 518Utopia 521The History of King Richard III 590

[A Kings Mistress] 590

SIR THOMAS WYATT THE ELDER (15031542) 592The long love that in my thought doth harbor 594

Petrarch, Rima 140 594Whoso list to hunt 595

Petrarch, Rima 190 595Farewell, Love 596I find no peace 596

Petrarch, Rima 134 596My galley 597

Petrarch, Rima 189 597Divers doth use 598What vaileth truth? 598Madam, withouten many words 599They flee from me 599The Lover Showeth How He Is Forsaken of Such as He

Sometime Enjoyed 600My lute, awake! 600Forget not yet 601Blame not my lute 602Stand whoso list 603Who list his wealth and ease retain 603Mine own John Poins 604

HENRY HOWARD, EARL OF SURREY (15171547) 607The soote season 608

Petrarch, Rima 310 608Love, that doth reign and live within my thought 608Alas! so all things now do hold their peace 609

Petrarch, Rima 164 609ThAssyrians king, in peace with foul desire 610So cruel prison how could betide 610Wyatt resteth here, that quick could never rest 612O happy dames, that may embrace 613Martial, the things for to attain 614The Fourth Book of Virgil 614

[Dido in Love] 614

faith in conflict 616

THE ENGLISH BIBLE 6181 Corinthians 13 619

From Tyndales Translation 619From The Geneva Bible 619

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From The Douay-Rheims Version 620From The Authorized (King James) Version 620

WILLIAM TYNDALE: The Obedience of a Christian Man 621[The Forgiveness of Sins] 621[Scriptural Interpretation] 622

THOMAS MORE: A Dialogue Concerning Heresies 623From Chapter 28 623

JOHN CALVIN: The Institution of Christian Religion 625From Book 3, Chapter 21 625

ANNE ASKEW: From The First Examination of Anne Askew 628

JOHN FOXE: Acts and Monuments 631[The Death of Anne Askew] 631

BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER: From The Form of Solemnizationof Matrimony 632

BOOK OF HOMILIES: From An Homily Against Disobedienceand Willful Rebellion 635

RICHARD HOOKER: Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity 637Book 1, Chapter 3 638

[On the Several Kinds of Law, and on the Natural Law] 638

ROBERT SOUTHWELL: The Burning Babe 640

ROGER ASCHAM (15151568) 641The Schoolmaster 642

The First Book for the Youth 642[Teaching Latin] 642[The Italianate Englishman] 643

SIR THOMAS HOBY (15301566) 645Castigliones The Courtier 646

Book 1 646[Grace] 646

Book 4 647[The Ladder of Love] 647

women in power 662

MARY I (MARY TUDOR) 663Letter to Henry VIII 664From An Ambassadorial Dispatch to the Holy Roman Emperor,

Charles V: The Coronation of Mary I 665The Oration of Queen Mary in the Guildhall, on the First of

February, 1554 666

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LADY JANE GREY 668Roger Aschams Schoolmaster 669

A Talk with Lady Jane 669From A Letter of the Lady Jane to M.H. 670A Letter of the Lady Jane, Sent unto her Father 672A Prayer of the Lady Jane 673A Second Letter to Her Father 674Foxes Acts and Monuments 674

The Words and Behavior of the Lady Jane upon the Scaffold 674

MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS 675From Casket Letter Number 2 677A Letter to Elizabeth I, May 17, 1568 679From Narrative of the Execution of the Queen of Scots 681

ELIZABETH I 687Verses Written with a Diamond 688From The Passage of Our Most Dread Sovereign Lady Queen

Elizabeth through the City of London to Westminster on theDay before Her Coronation 688

Speech to the House of Commons, January 28, 1563 690From A Speech to a Joint Delegation of Lords and Commons,

November 5, 1566 692From A Letter to Mary, Queen of Scots, February 24, 1567 694The doubt of future foes 695On Monsieurs Departure 695A Letter to Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, February 10, 1586 696A Letter to Sir Amyas Paulet, August 1586 697A Letter to King James VI of Scotland, February 14, 1587 697Verse Exchange between Elizabeth and Sir Walter Ralegh 698Speech to the Troops at Tilbury 699The Golden Speech 700

ARTHUR GOLDING (15361605) 703Ovids Metamorphoses 704

[The Four Ages] 704

EDMUND SPENSER (15521599) 708The Shepheardes Calender 708

To His Booke 708October 709

The Faerie Queene 714A Letter of the Authors 716Book 1 719Book 2 857

Summary 857Canto 12 857

[The Bower of Bliss] 857Book 3 867

Summary 867

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Canto 6 868[The Garden of Adonis] 868

Cantos 710 Summary 880Canto 11 880Canto 12 892

Amoretti and Epithalamion 902amoretti 903

Sonnet 1 (Happy ye leaves when as those lilly hands) 903Sonnet 34 (Lyke as a ship that through the Ocean wyde) 903Sonnet 37 (What guyle is this, that those her golden tresses) 904Sonnet 54 (Of this worlds Theatre in which we stay) 904Sonnet 64 (Comming to kisse her lyps [such grace I found]) 904Sonnet 65 (The doubt which ye misdeeme, fayre love, is

vaine) 905Sonnet 67 (Lyke as a huntsman after weary chace) 905Sonnet 68 (Most glorious Lord of lyfe, that on this day) 905Sonnet 74 (Most happy letters framd by skilfull trade) 906Sonnet 75 (One day I wrote her name upon the strand) 906Sonnet 79 (Men call you fayre, and you doe credit it) 907

Epithalamion 907

SIR WALTER RALEGH (15521618) 917The Nymphs Reply to the Shepherd 917What is our life? 918[Sir Walter Ralegh to His Son] 918The Lie 919Farewell, false love 921Methought I saw the grave where Laura lay 921Nature, that washed her hands in milk 922[The Authors Epitaph, Made by Himself] 923From The discovery of the large, rich, and beautiful Empire of

Guiana 923The History of the World 926

[Conclusion: On Death] 926

the wider world 927

FROBISHERS VOYAGES TO THE ARCTIC, 157678 928From A true discourse of the late voyages of discovery 928

DRAKES CIRCUMNAVIGATION OF THE GLOBE, 157780 932From The famous voyage of Sir Francis Drake into the South

Sea 932

AMADAS AND BARLOWES VOYAGE TO VIRGINIA, 1584 935From The first voyage made to Virginia 935

HARIOTS REPORT ON VIRGINIA, 1585 938From A brief and true report of the new-found land of Virginia 939

Contents / xv

JOHN LYLY (15541606) 944Euphues: The Anatomy of Wit 944

[Euphues Introduced] 944

SIR PHILIP SIDNEY (15541586) 947The Countess of Pembrokes Arcadia 948

Book 2, Chapter 1 949The Defense of Poesy 953

[The Lessons of Horsemanship] 954[The Poet, Poetry] 955[Three Kinds of Poets] 958[Poetry, Philosophy, History] 959[The Poetic Kinds] 963[Answers to Charges against Poetry] 967[Poetry in England] 968[Conclusion] 973

Astrophil and Stella 9751 (Loving in truth, and fain in verse my love to show) 9752 (Not at first sight, nor with a dribbe`d shot) 9765 (It is most true that eyes are formed to serve) 9766 (Some lovers speak, when they their muses entertain) 9777 (When Nature made her chief work, Stellas eyes) 9779 (Queen Virtues court, which some call Stellas face) 977

10 (Reason, in faith thou art well served, that still) 97815 (You that do search for every purling spring) 97816 (In nature apt to like when I did see) 97818 (With what sharp checks I in myself am shent) 97920 (Fly, fly, my friends, I have my death-wound, fly) 97921 (Your words, my friend [right healthful caustics], blame) 97927 (Because I oft, in dark abstracted guise) 98028 (You that with allegorys curious frame) 98031 (With how sad steps, O Moon, thou climbst the skies) 98033 (I might [unhappy word], O me, I might) 98134 (Come, let me write. And to what end? ) 98137 (My mouth doth water, and my breast doth swell) 98239 (Come sleep! O sleep the certain knot of peace) 98241 (Having this day my horse, my hand, my lance) 98245 (Stella oft sees the very face of woe) 98347 (What, have I thus betrayed my liberty?) 98349 (I on my horse, and Love on me doth try) 98352 (A strife is grown between Virtue and Love) 98453 (In martial sports I had my cunning tried) 98454 (Because I breathe not love to everyone) 98456 (Fie, school of Patience, fie, your lesson is) 98561 (Oft with true sighs, oft with uncalle`d tears) 98569 (O joy, too high for my low style to show) 98671 (Who will in fairest book of Nature know) 98672 (Desire, though thou my old companion art) 98674 (I never drank of Aganippe well) 98781 (O kiss, which dost those ruddy gems impart) 987Fourth Song (Only joy, now here you are) 987

xvi / Contents

87 (When I was forced from Stella ever dear) 98989 (Now that of absence the most irksome night) 98991 (Stella, while now by Honors cruel might) 98994 (Grief, find the words; for thou hast made my brain) 990Eleventh Song (Who is it that this dark night) 990

106 (O absent presence, Stella is not here) 991108 (When Sorrow [using mine own fires might]) 992

FULKE GREVILLE, LORD BROOKE (15541628) 992Caelica 993

100 (In night when colors all to black are cast) 993

MARY (SIDNEY) HERBERT, COUNTESS OF PEMBROKE(15621621) 993

Psalm 52 994Psalm 139 995

SAMUEL DANIEL (15621619) 997Delia 998

33 (When men shall find thy flower, thy glory pass) 99845 (Care-charmer Sleep, son of the sable Night) 99846 (Let others sing of knights and paladins) 998

MICHAEL DRAYTON (15631631) 999Idea 999

To the Reader of These Sonnets 9996 (How many paltry, foolish, painted things) 100061 (Since theres no help, come, let us kiss and part) 1000

Ode. To the Virginian Voyage 1000

CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE (15641593) 1001Hero and Leander 1004The Passionate Shepherd to His Love 1022Doctor Faustus 1022

The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus 1023The Two Texts of Doctor Faustus 1056

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE (15641616) 1058sonnets 1060

1 (From fairest creatures we desire increase) 10623 (Look in thy glass and tell the face thou viewest) 1062

12 (When I do count the clock that tells the time) 106215 (When I consider every thing that grows) 106318 (Shall I compare thee to a summers day?) 106319 (Devouring Time, blunt thou the lions paws) 106320 (A womans face with Natures own hand painted) 106423 (As an unperfect actor on the stage) 106429 (When, in disgrace with Fortune and mens eyes) 106530 (When to the sessions of sweet silent thought) 106533 (Full many a glorious morning have I seen) 106535 (No more be grieved at that which thou hast done) 106655 (Not marble, nor the gilded monuments) 1066

Contents / xvii

60 (Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore) 106662 (Sin of self-love possesseth all mine eye) 106765 (Since brass, nor stone, nor earth, nor boundless sea) 106771 (No longer mourn for me when I am dead) 106773 (That time of year thou mayst in me behold) 106874 (But be contented; when that fell arrest) 106880 (O, how I faint when I of you do write) 106885 (My tongue-tied muse in manners holds her still) 106987 (Farewell: thou art too dear for my possessing) 106993 (So shall I live supposing thou art true) 106994 (They that have power to hurt and will do none) 107097 (How like a winter hath my absence been) 107098 (From you have I been absent in the spring) 1071

105 (Let not my love be called idolatry) 1071106 (When in the chronicle of wasted time) 1071107 (Not mine own fears, nor the prophetic soul) 1072110 (Alas, tis true I have gone here and there) 1072116 (Let me not to the marriage of true minds) 1072126 (O thou, my lovely boy, who in thy power) 1073127 (In the old age black was not counted fair) 1073128 (How oft when thou, my music, music playst) 1073129 (Th expense of spirit in a waste of shame) 1074130 (My mistress eyes are nothing like the sun) 1074135 (Whoever hath her wish, thou hast thy Will) 1075138 (When my love swears that she is made of truth) 1075144 (Two loves I have of comfort and despair) 1075146 (Poor soul, the center of my sinful earth) 1076147 (My love is as a fever, longing still) 1076152 (In loving thee thou knowst I am forsworn) 1076

Twelfth Night 1077King Lear 1139

Excerpts from the Two Texts of King Lear 1224From The History of King Lear: Scene 8 1224From The Tragedy of King Lear: 3.1 1225

THOMAS CAMPION (15671620) 1228My sweetest Lesbia 1228I care not for these ladies 1228When to her lute Corinna sings 1229Now winter nights enlarge 1230There is a garden in her face 1230Fain would I wed 1231

THOMAS NASHE (15671601) 1231A Litany in Time of Plague 1232

RICHARD BARNFIELD (15741627) 1233Cynthia 1234

Sonnet 9 (Diana [on a time] walking the wood) 1234Sonnet 11 (Sighing, and sadly sitting by my love) 1234

xviii / Contents

The Early Seventeenth Century (16031660) 1235

Introduction 1235

Timeline 1258

JOHN DONNE (15721631) 1260songs and sonnets 1263The Flea 1263The Good-Morrow 1263Song (Go and catch a falling star) 1264The Undertaking 1265The Sun Rising 1266The Indifferent 1267The Canonization 1267Song (Sweetest love, I do not go) 1269Air and Angels 1270Break of Day 1270A Valediction: Of Weeping 1271Loves Alchemy 1272A Nocturnal upon Saint Lucys Day, Being the Shortest Day 1272The Bait 1274The Apparition 1274A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning 1275The Ecstasy 1276The Funeral 1278The Blossom 1279The Relic 1280A Lecture upon the Shadow 1281

Elegy 16. On His Mistress 1281Elegy 19. To His Mistress Going to Bed 1283Satire 3 1284Sappho to Philaenis 1287From An Anatomy of the World: The First Anniversary 1289Holy Sonnets 1295

1 (Thou hast made me, and shall thy work decay?) 12955 (I am a little world made cunningly) 12957 (At the round earths imagined corners, blow) 12959 (If poisonous minerals, and if that tree) 1296

10 (Death, be not proud, though some have calle`d thee) 129611 (Spit in my face, you Jews) 129713 (What if this present were the worlds last night?) 129714 (Batter my heart, three-personed God; for you) 129717 (Since she whom I loved hath paid her last debt) 129818 (Show me, dear Christ, thy spouse so bright and clear) 129819 (Oh, to vex me, contraries meet in one) 1299

Good Friday, 1613. Riding Westward 1299A Hymn to Christ, at the Authors Last Going into Germany 1300Hymn to God My God, in My Sickness 1301A Hymn to God the Father 1302

Contents / xix

From Biathanatos 1303Devotions upon Emergent Occasions 1303

Meditation 4 1303Meditation 17 1305From Expostulation 19 [The Language of God] 1306

From Deaths Duel 1307

IZAAK WALTON (15931683) 1309The Life of Dr. John Donne 1309

[Donne on His Deathbed] 1309

AEMILIA LANYER (15691645) 1313Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum 1314

To the Doubtful Reader 1314To the Queens Most Excellent Majesty 1314To the Virtuous Reader 1315Eves Apology in Defense of Women 1317

The Description of Cookham 1319

BEN JONSON (15721637) 1324The Masque of Blackness 1326Volpone, or The Fox 1334

epigrams 1427To My Book 1427On Something, That Walks Somewhere 1428To William Camden 1428On My First Daughter 1428To John Donne 1429On Giles and Joan 1429On My First Son 1430On Lucy, Countess of Bedford 1430To Lucy, Countess of Bedford, with Mr. Donnes Satires 1431To Sir Thomas Roe 1431Inviting a Friend to Supper 1432On Gut 1433Epitaph on S. P., a Child of Queen Elizabeths Chapel 1433

the forest 1434To Penshurst 1434Song: To Celia 1436To Heaven 1436

underwood 1437From A Celebration of Charis in Ten Lyric Pieces: 4. Her

Triumph 1437A Sonnet to the Noble Lady, the Lady Mary Wroth 1438My Picture Left in Scotland 1438To the Immortal Memory and Friendship of That Noble Pair, Sir Lucius

Cary and Sir H. Morison 1439

Slow, Slow, Fresh Fount 1443Queen and Huntress 1443

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Still to Be Neat 1444To the Memory of My Beloved, The Author, Mr. William

Shakespeare 1444Ode to Himself 1446From Timber, or Discoveries 1448

MARY WROTH (15871651?) 1451The Countess of Montgomerys Urania 1453

From The First Book 1453Song (Love what art thou? A vain thought) 1456

Pamphilia to Amphilanthus 14571 (When nights black mantle could most darkness prove) 1457

16 (Am I thus conquered? Have I lost the powers) 145728 Song (Sweetest love, return again) 145839 (Take heed mine eyes, how you your looks do cast) 145840 (False hope which feeds but to destroy, and spill) 145968 (My pain, still smothered in my grieve`d breast) 145974 Song (Love a child is ever crying) 1459From A Crown of Sonnets Dedicated to Love 146077 (In this strange labyrinth how shall I turn?) 1460

103 (My muse now happy, lay thyself to rest) 1461

JOHN WEBSTER (1580?1625?) 1461The Duchess of Malfi 1462

ELIZABETH CARY (1585?1639) 1536The Tragedy of Mariam, the Fair Queen of Jewry 1537

From Act 3 1538Scene 3 [On the Duties of a Wife] 1538

From Act 4 1541Scene 8 [Mariams Fate] 1541

the gender wars 1543

JOSEPH SWETNAM: From The Arraignment of Lewd, Idle,Froward, and Unconstant Women 1544

RACHEL SPEGHT: From A Muzzle for Melastomus 1546

forms of inquiry 1550

SIR FRANCIS BACON (15611626) 1550essays 1552Of Truth 1552Of Marriage and Single Life 1553Of Great Place 1554Of Superstition 1556Of Plantations 1557Of Negotiating 1559Of Masques and Triumphs 1560Of Studies [1597 version] 1561Of Studies [1625 version] 1562

Contents / xxi

The Advancement of Learning 1563[The Abuses of Language] 1563

From Novum Organum 1565The New Atlantis 1569

[Solomons House] 1569

ROBERT BURTON (15771640) 1573The Anatomy of Melancholy 1574

From Democritus Junior to the Reader 1574From Love Melancholy 1578

SIR THOMAS BROWNE (16051682) 1581Religio Medici 1582

Part 1, Sections 16, 9, 15, 16, 34, 59 1582Part 2, Section 1 1589

Hydriotaphia, or Urn-Burial 1590From Chapter 5 1590

THOMAS HOBBES (15881679) 1594Leviathan 1596

The Introduction 1596[The Artificial Man] 1596

Part 1. Of Man 1596Chapter 1. Of Sense 1596Chapter 13. Of the Natural Condition of Mankind as Concerning

Their Felicity and Misery 1598From Chapter 14. Of the First and Second Natural Laws 1600From Chapter 15. Of Other Laws of Nature 1601

Part 2. Of Commonwealth 1602Chapter 17. Of the Causes, Generation, and Definition of a

Commonwealth 1602

GEORGE HERBERT (15931633) 1605the temple 1607The Altar 1607Redemption 1607Easter 1608Easter Wings 1609Affliction (1) 1609Prayer (1) 1611Jordan (1) 1611Church Monuments 1612The Windows 1612Denial 1613Virtue 1614Man 1614Jordan (2) 1615Time 1616The Bunch of Grapes 1617The Pilgrimage 1618

xxii / Contents

The Holdfast 1619The Collar 1619The Pulley 1620The Flower 1621The Forerunners 1622Discipline 1623Death 1624Love (3) 1624

HENRY VAUGHAN (16211695) 1625poems 1626A Song to Amoret 1626

silex scintillans 1627Regeneration 1627The Retreat 1629Silence, and Stealth of Days! 1630Corruption 1631Unprofitableness 1632The World 1632They Are All Gone into the World of Light! 1634Cock-Crowing 1635The Night 1636The Waterfall 1638

RICHARD CRASHAW (ca. 16131649) 1639the delights of the muses 1640Musics Duel 1640

steps to the temple 1644To the Infant Martyrs 1644I Am the Door 1644On the Wounds of Our Crucified Lord 1644Luke 11.[27] 1645

carmen deo nostro 1645In the Holy Nativity of Our Lord God: A Hymn Sung as by the

Shepherds 1645To the Noblest & Best of Ladies, the Countess of Denbigh 1648The Flaming Heart 1650

ROBERT HERRICK (15911674) 1653hesperides 1654The Argument of His Book 1654Upon the Loss of His Mistresses 1655The Vine 1655Dreams 1656Delight in Disorder 1656His Farewell to Sack 1656Corinnas Going A-Maying 1658To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time 1659The Hock-Cart, or Harvest Home 1660How Roses Came Red 1661

Contents / xxii i

Upon the Nipples of Julias Breast 1661Upon Jack and Jill. Epigram 1662To Marigolds 1662His Prayer to Ben Jonson 1662The Bad Season Makes the Poet Sad 1663The Night-Piece, to Julia 1663Upon His Verses 1664His Return to London 1664Upon Julias Clothes 1664Upon Prue, His Maid 1665To His Books End 1665

noble numbers 1665To His Conscience 1665Another Grace for a Child 1665

THOMAS CAREW (15951640) 1666An Elegy upon the Death of the Dean of Pauls, Dr. John

Donne 1666To Ben Jonson 1669A Song (Ask me no more where Jove bestows) 1670To Saxham 1671A Rapture 1672

SIR JOHN SUCKLING (16091642) 1676Song (Why so pale and wan, fond lover?) 1676

fragmenta aurea 1677Loving and Beloved 1677A Ballad upon a Wedding 1677

the last remains of sir john suckling 1681Out upon It! 1681

RICHARD LOVELACE (16181657) 1681lucasta 1682To Lucasta, Going to the Wars 1682The Grasshopper 1682To Althea, from Prison 1683

Love Made in the First Age. To Chloris 1684

EDMUND WALLER (16061687) 1686The Story of Phoebus and Daphne Applied 1686Song (Go, lovely rose!) 1687

ABRAHAM COWLEY (16181667) 1687Ode: Of Wit 1688

KATHERINE PHILIPS (16321664) 1690A Married State 1691Upon the Double Murder of King Charles 1691Friendships Mystery, To My Dearest Lucasia 1692

xxiv / Contents

To Mrs. M. A. at Parting 1693On the Death of My First and Dearest Child, Hector Philips 1695

ANDREW MARVELL (16211678) 1695poems 1697The Coronet 1697Bermudas 1698A Dialogue Between the Soul and Body 1699The Nymph Complaining for the Death of Her Fawn 1700To His Coy Mistress 1703The Definition of Love 1704The Picture of Little T. C. in a Prospect of Flowers 1705The Mower Against Gardens 1706Damon the Mower 1707The Mower to the Glowworms 1709The Mowers Song 1710The Garden 1710An Horatian Ode 1712Upon Appleton House 1716

crisis of authority 1737

Reporting the News 1737From The Moderate, No. 28, 1623 January 1649 1739

[The Trial of King Charles I, the first day] 1739From A Perfect Diurnal of Some Passages in Parliament,

No. 288 1741[The Execution of Charles I] 1741

Political Writing 1744ROBERT FILMER: From Patriarcha 1746JOHN MILTON: From The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates 1748GERRARD WINSTANLEY: From A New Years Gift Sent to the

Parliament and Army 1751

Writing the Self 1757LUCY HUTCHINSON: From Memoirs of the Life of Colonel John

Hutchinson 1758[Charles I and Henrietta Maria] 1759

EDWARD HYDE, EARL OF CLARENDON: From The History of theRebellion 1760

[The Character of Oliver Cromwell] 1761LADY ANNE HALKETT: From The Memoirs 1764

[Springing the Duke] 1764DOROTHY WAUGH: From A Relation Concerning Dorothy Waughs

Cruel Usage by the Mayor of Carlisle 1767

THOMAS TRAHERNE (16371674) 1769Centuries of Meditation 1770

From The Third Century 1770

Contents / xxv

Wonder 1770On Leaping over the Moon 1772

MARGARET CAVENDISH (16231673) 1773poems and fancies 1774The Poetesss Hasty Resolution 1774The Hunting of the Hare 1775

From A True Relation of My Birth, Breeding, and Life 1777From The Description of a New World, Called The Blazing

World 1780

JOHN MILTON (16081674) 1785poems 1789On the Morning of Christs Nativity 1789On Shakespeare 1797LAllegro 1797Il Penseroso 1801Lycidas 1805

The Reason of Church Government Urged Against Prelaty 1811[Plans and Projects] 1811

From Areopagitica 1816

sonnets 1825How Soon Hath Time 1826On the New Forcers of Conscience Under the Long Parliament 1826To the Lord General Cromwell, May 1652 1827When I Consider How My Light Is Spent 1828On the Late Massacre in Piedmont 1828Methought I Saw My Late Espouse`d Saint 1829

Paradise Lost 1830

The Restoration and the Eighteenth Century

(16601785) 2057

Introduction 2057

Timeline 2081

JOHN DRYDEN (16311700) 2083Annus Mirabilis 2085

[London Reborn] 2085Song from Marriage a` la Mode 2087Absalom and Achitophel: A Poem 2087Mac Flecknoe 2111To the Memory of Mr. Oldham 2117A Song for St. Cecilias Day 2118Epigram on Milton 2120Alexanders Feast 2120

xxvi / Contents

criticism 2125An Essay of Dramatic Poesy 2125

[Two Sorts of Bad Poetry] 2125[The Wit of the Ancients: The Universal] 2126[Shakespeare and Ben Jonson Compared] 2128

The Authors Apology for Heroic Poetry and Heroic License 2129[Boldness of Figures and Tropes Defended: The Appeal to

Nature] 2129[Wit as Propriety] 2131

A Discourse Concerning the Original and Progress of Satire 2131[The Art of Satire] 2131

The Preface to Fables Ancient and Modern 2132[In Praise of Chaucer] 2132

SAMUEL PEPYS (16331703) 2133The Diary 2134

[The Great Fire] 2134[The Deb Willet Affair] 2138

JOHN BUNYAN (16281688) 2142The Pilgrims Progress 2143

[Christian Sets out for the Celestial City] 2143[The Slough of Despond] 2145[Vanity Fair] 2146[The River of Death and the Celestial City] 2148

JOHN LOCKE (16321704) 2151An Essay Concerning Human Understanding 2152

From The Epistle to the Reader 2152

SIR ISAAC NEWTON (16421727) 2155From A Letter of Mr. Isaac Newton 2156

SAMUEL BUTLER (16121680) 2161Hudibras 2161

From Part 1, Canto 1 2161

JOHN WILMOT, SECOND EARL OF ROCHESTER(16471680) 2167

The Disabled Debauchee 2168The Imperfect Enjoyment 2169Upon Nothing 2171A Satire against Reason and Mankind 2172

APHRA BEHN (1640?1689) 2178The Disappointment 2180Oroonoko, or The Royal Slave 2183

WILLIAM CONGREVE (16701729) 2226The Way of the World 2228

MARY ASTELL (16661731) 2284From Some Reflections upon Marriage 2285

Contents / xxvii

DANIEL DEFOE (ca. 16601731) 2288Roxana 2289

[The Cons of Marriage] 2289

ANNE FINCH, COUNTESS OF WINCHILSEA (16611720) 2294The Introduction 2295A Nocturnal Reverie 2297

MATTHEW PRIOR (16641721) 2298An Epitaph 2299A Better Answer 2300

JONATHAN SWIFT (16671745) 2301A Description of a City Shower 2303Verses on the Death of Dr. Swift 2304From A Tale of a Tub 2315Gullivers Travels 2323

A Letter from Captain Gulliver to His Cousin Sympson 2324The Publisher to the Reader 2327Part 1. A Voyage to Lilliput 2328Part 2. A Voyage to Brobdingnag 2365Part 3. A Voyage to Laputa, Balnibarbi, Glubbdubdrib, Luggnagg, and

Japan 2405Chapter 2 [The Flying Island of Laputa] 2405Chapter 5 [The Academy of Lagado] 2410Chapter 10 [The Struldbruggs] 2413

Part 4. A Voyage to the Country of the Houyhnhnms 2418A Modest Proposal 2462

JOSEPH ADDISON and SIR RICHARD STEELE(16721719) (16721729) 2468the periodical essay: manners, society, gender 2470Steele: [The Spectators Club] (Spectator 2) 2470Addison: [The Aims of the Spectator] (Spectator 10) 2473Steele: [Inkle and Yarico] (Spectator 11) 2476Addison: [The Royal Exchange] (Spectator 69) 2478

the periodical essay: ideas 2481Addison: [Wit: True, False, Mixed] (Spectator 62) 2481Addison: [Paradise Lost: General Critical Remarks]

(Spectator 267) 2485Addison: [The Pleasures of the Imagination] (Spectator 411) 2488Addison: [On the Scale of Being] (Spectator 519) 2490

ALEXANDER POPE (16881744) 2493An Essay on Criticism 2496The Rape of the Lock 2513Eloisa to Abelard 2532An Essay on Man 2540

Epistle 1. Of the Nature and State of Man, with Respect to theUniverse 2541

xxviii / Contents

From Epistle 2. Of the Nature and State of Man with Respect toHimself, as an Individual 2547

Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot 2548The Dunciad: Book the Fourth 2559

[The Educator] 2561[The Carnation and the Butterfly] 2562[The Triumph of Dulness] 2563

ELIZA HAYWOOD (1693?1756) 2565Fantomina; or, Love in a Maze 2566

LADY MARY WORTLEY MONTAGU (16891762) 2584The Lover: A Ballad 2585Epistle from Mrs. Yonge to Her Husband 2587

debating women: arguments in verse 2589

JONATHAN SWIFT: The Ladys Dressing Room 2590

LADY MARY WORTLEY MONTAGU: The Reasons That InducedDr. Swift to Write a Poem Called the Ladys Dressing Room 2593

ALEXANDER POPE: Impromptu to Lady Winchelsea 2595

ANNE FINCH, COUNTESS OF WINCHILSEA: The Answer(To Popes Impromptu) 2596

ALEXANDER POPE: Epistle 2. To a Lady 2597

ANNE INGRAM, VISCOUNTESS IRWIN: An Epistle to Mr. Pope 2604

MARY LEAPOR 2607An Essay on Woman 2608An Epistle to a Lady 2610

JOHN GAY (16851732) 2611The Beggars Opera 2613

WILLIAM HOGARTH (16971764) 2656Marriage A-la-Mode 2658

SAMUEL JOHNSON (17091784) 2664The Vanity of Human Wishes 2666On the Death of Dr. Robert Levet 2674Rambler No. 5 [On Spring] 2675Idler No. 31 [On Idleness] 2678The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia 2680Rambler No. 4 [On Fiction] 2743Rambler No. 60 [Biography] 2746A Dictionary of the English Language 2749

From Preface 2750[Some Definitions: A Small Anthology] 2753

Contents / xxix

The Preface to Shakespeare 2755[Shakespeares Excellence. General Nature] 2756[Shakespeares Faults. The Three Dramatic Unities] 2759[Twelfth Night] 2764[King Lear] 2764

lives of the poets 2766Cowley 2766

[Metaphysical Wit] 2766Milton 2768

[Lycidas] 2768[Paradise Lost] 2769

Pope 2774[Popes Intellectual Character. Pope and Dryden Compared] 2774

JAMES BOSWELL (17401795) 2778Boswell on the Grand Tour 2779

[Boswell Interviews Voltaire] 2779The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. 2781

[Plan of the Life] 2781[Johnsons Early Years. Marriage and London] 2782[The Letter to Chesterfield] 2787[A Memorable Year: Boswell Meets Johnson] 2790[Goldsmith. Sundry Opinions. Johnson Meets His King] 2793[Fear of Death] 2797[Ossian. Talking for Victory] 2797[Dinner with Wilkes] 2800[Dread of Solitude] 2804[A Bottom of Good Sense. Bet Flint. Clear Your Mind of

Cant] 2805[Johnson Prepares for Death] 2806[Johnson Faces Death] 2807

FRANCES BURNEY (17521840) 2810The Journal and Letters 2811

[First Journal Entry] 2811[Mr. Barlows Proposal] 2812

[Down with her, Burney!] 2815[A Young and Agreeable Infidel] 2816[Encountering the King] 2819[A Mastectomy] 2822

liberty 2828

JOHN LOCKE 2829Two Treatises of Government 2830

Chapter IV. Of Slavery 2830Chapter IX. Of the Ends of Political Society and Government 2831

MARY ASTELL: A Preface, in Answer to Some Objections toReflections upon Marriage 2833

xxx / Contents

ANTHONY ASHLEY COOPER, THIRD EARL OF SHAFTESBURY 2837Sensus Communis: An Essay on the Freedom of Wit and Humor 2838

Part 1, Section 1 2838Part 1, Section 2 2839

JAMES THOMSON: Ode: Rule, Britannia 2840

DAVID HUME: Of the Liberty of the Press 2841

EDMUND BURKE: Speech on the Conciliation with the AmericanColonies 2845

SAMUEL JOHNSON: [A Brief to Free a Slave] 2849

OLAUDAH EQUIANO: The Interesting Narrative of the Life ofOlaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African, Writtenby Himself 2850

[The Middle Passage] 2851[A Free Man] 2855

JAMES THOMSON (17001748) 2860The Seasons 2860

Autumn 2860[Evening and Night] 2860

THOMAS GRAY (17161771) 2862Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College 2863Ode on the Death of a Favorite Cat 2865Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard 2867

WILLIAM COLLINS (17211759) 2870Ode on the Poetical Character 2870Ode to Evening 2873

CHRISTOPHER SMART (17221771) 2874Jubilate Agno 2875

[My Cat Jeoffry] 2875

OLIVER GOLDSMITH (ca. 17301774) 2877The Deserted Village 2877

GEORGE CRABBE (17541832) 2886The Village 2887

From Book 1 2887

WILLIAM COWPER (17311800) 2890The Task 2891

Book 1 2891[A Landscape Described. Rural Sounds] 2891[Crazy Kate] 2892

Book 3 2893[The Stricken Deer] 2893

Contents / xxxi

Book 4 2893[The Winter Evening: A Brown Study] 2893

The Castaway 2895

POPULAR BALLADS 2898Lord Randall 2899Bonny Barbara Allan 2899The Wife of Ushers Well 2900The Three Ravens 2902Sir Patrick Spens 2902The Bonny Earl of Murray 2904

POEMS IN PROCESS A1John Milton A3

Lycidas A3Alexander Pope A5

The Rape of the Lock A5An Essay on Man A6

Samuel Johnson A7The Vanity of Human Wishes A8

Thomas Gray A9Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard A9

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHIES A13Suggested General Readings A13The Middle Ages A16The Sixteenth Century A22The Early Seventeenth Century A35The Restoration and the Eighteenth Century A46

APPENDIXESLiterary Terminology A56Geographic Nomenclature A78British Money A80The British Baronage A85

The Royal Lines of England and Great Britain A87Religions in England A90Illustration: The Universe According to Ptolemy A94Illustration: A London Playhouse of Shakespeares Time A95

Permissions Acknowledgments A97

Index A99