PREFACE In this shorter book I have not hesitated to make what use I could of my earlier Introduction to English Literature, but I have found that comparatively little of it was suited to my present purpose. The general plan, and chief chronological divisions have been retained, but apart from this the present book is largely new, written in a simple style and designed to meet a different need. There is less literary criticism and relatively more biography, while many authors and books mentioned in the larger work are here barely alluded to or passed over altogether. As far as possible the mere enumeration of authors and titles has been avoided, and the student has been led to concentrate his attention upon a comparatively small number of authors of the first importance. Like its predecessor this book aims to treat the history of English literature in its broad relations to the social, religious, and political history of England, and of Europe; to make the student realize that literature is a vital and significant part of a nation's history, and one of the most intimate revelations of the national life and aspiration. It tries to show him that the literary history of England is not the record of a meaningless and fortuitous succession of men and events, but rather a continuous and fascinating story, in which each age is largely the product of those that have gone before it, and in which the present. is in a real and apparent way the daughter of the past. A book of this kind should be clear, brief, and accurate, but even this is not enough. It should aim above all to M187538 |