The McGraw-Hill Guide to English Literature, Volume I

by Betsy Seifter, Karen Lawrence, Lois Ratner, et al.

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0070367043
• ISBN13: 9780070367043
• Release Date: April 1985
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Companies
• Length: 497 Pages
• Weight: 1.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.0" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

For Lit Majors--Or Anyone Else Who Appreciates English Lit

Most English majors face a daunting task in putting the vast spectrum of English literature into perspective. There is an infinity of books that focus on one tiny aspect of that spectrum, and a much smaller one volume text that one might find useful in preparing for a comprehensive examination. THE McGRAW-HILL GUIDE TO ENGLISH LITERATURE Volumes 1 and 2 attempt to summarize and analyze a 1,000 year span of an assortment of writings, ideas, and ages. Both texts have a similar structure:Volume I: Old English Middle English The Renaissance The 17th Century The Restoration The Neoclassical Age The Emergence of the NovelVolume II: The Romantic Age Victorian Prose & Poetry The Victorian Novel Modern Poetry The Modern Novel & DramaEach age begins with a timeline of significant dates and events. Each entry contains a chronology for that work or author. The timeline is less helpful than the chronology in that it is difficult to make sense of data whose only connection is a connect the dots by date linking. The chronology is useful in that some attempt is made to show linkages between events in the author's life and his works. The real use of this text is a series of essay-type questions is posed with accompanying fully-written essay responses, exactly the sort of thing that students might wish to peruse before taking a test or instructors might wish to use as a source for that test. Authors Lawrence, Seifter, and Ratner have done a commendable job in eclectically sifting through a mountain of potential areas and writing about those that shaped the thoughts of that age. For example, in Volume 1, they discuss an author not often analyzed anywhere outside of the arcane trade journals--John Skelton, who wrote a satiric commentary (Colin Clout) on the world of a learned old man. Their clear essay makes a rather obscure poem come burstingly to life. True, they had to be selective. I would have appreciated more on Shakespeare and less on George Herbert, but that is quibbling. This guide is an indispensable auxialliary for anyone who needs the big picture of English literature scaled down to manageable size.