CONTENTS

Part I The 5th Century till the First Half of the 14th Century: The

Age of Anglo-Saxon Poetry and the Anglo-Norman Poetry

Chapter 1 The Anglo-Saxon Period (449-1066)......................................3

Beowulf......................................................................... 4

Chapter 2 The Anglo-Norman Period (1066–1350).............................. 15

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight............................................... 16

Part II The 14th Century: The Age of Geoffrey Chaucer

Chapter 3 Geoffrey Chaucer.............................................. 27

The Canterbury Tales........................................................ 29

Part III The 15th Century: The Age of Popular Ballads

Chapter 4 Popular Ballads................................................... 37

Robin Hood and Allin-a-Dale................................................. 38

Get Up and Bar the Door.................................................... 42

Sir Patrick Spens......................................................... 45

Part IV The 16th Century: The Age of Drama and Poetry

Introduction.............................................................. 51

Chapter 5 Thomas Wyatt.................................................. 54

I Find No Peace........................................................... 55

Chapter 6 Henry Howard.................................................... 57

The Soote Season.......................................................... 59

Chapter 7 Edmund Spenser.................................................. 61

Sonnet 34................................................................. 63

Sonnet 75................................................................. 64

Chapter 8 Walter Raleigh.................................................. 66

The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd...................................... 67

Chapter 9 Philip Sidney................................................... 69

Leave Me, O Love.......................................................... 70

Chapter 10 Francis Bacon................................................. 72

Of Studies............................................................... 73

Chapter 11 Christopher Marlowe......................................... 76

The Passionate Shepherd to His Love..................................... 77

Chapter 12 William Shakespeare....................................... 79

Hamlet.............................................................. 82

Sonnet 1.............................................................. 94

Sonnet 18............................................................. 95

Sonnet 29............................................................ 96

Chapter 13 Ben Jonson.............................................. 98

Song: To Celia.................................................... 99

Part V The 17th Century: Revolution, Restoration and New Poetic

Expression

Introduction..............................................103

Chapter 14 John Donne........................................106

A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning..................................108

The Flea............................................................110

Song (Go and catch a falling star)................................112

Death, Be Not Proud.................................................114

Chapter 15 Robert Herrick.......................................115

To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time.............................116

Chapter 16 George Herbert...........................................118

Virtue..............................................................119

Chapter 17 John Milton.........................................121

Paradise Lost.....................................................123

On His Blindness................................................128

On His Deceased Wife..........................................129

Chapter 18 John Suckling and Richard Lovelace...........................130

Out upon It! Song (Why so pale and wan, fond lover)......................131

To Lucasta, Going to the Wars........................................132

Chapter 19 Andrew Marvell...............................................134

To His Coy Mistress..................................................135

Chapter 20 John Bunyan.......................................138

The Pilgrim’s Progress............................................139

Part VI The 18th Century: Enlightenment, Neo-classicism and Pre-romanticism

Introduction.....................................................147

Chapter 21 John Dryden.................................................152

A Song for St Cecilia’s Day............................................153

Chapter 22 Daniel Defoe..................................................157

Robinson Crusoe....................................................158

Chapter 23 Jonathan Swift.......................................165

Gulliver’s Travels.............................................166

A Modest Proposal...............................................174

Chapter 24 Joseph Addison and Richard Steele.........................182

Sir Roger at Church............................................185

Chapter 25 Alexander Pope......................................188

An Essay on Criticism.......................................190

Chapter 26 Henry Fielding.................................193

The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling......................................195

Chapter 27 Thomas Gray..........................................................201

Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard.....................................202

Chapter 28 Oliver Goldsmith................................................208

The Vicar of Wakefield.................................................209

Chapter 29 Richard Brinsley Sheridan..................................214

The School for Scandal.............................................215

Chapter 30 William Blake.................................................227

London.............................................................229

The Tyger......................................................230

The Chimney Sweeper..............................................231

The Sick Rose......................................................232

Chapter 31 Robert Burns............................................233

My Heart’s in the Highlands...................................235

John Anderson, My Jo.............................................236

A Red, Red Rose..................................................237

Auld Lang Syne..................................................238

Mary Morison....................................................240

Scots, Wha Hae...............................................242