Dr Samuel Johnson’s literary works are full of variety and interest. They include biographies, essays, political pamphlets, significant poems, a body of literary criticism remarkable for its range and shrewdness, a famous dictionary, and an edition of Shakespeare’s plays.Throughout his life, Johnson suffered from strong feelings of guilt and a very real fear of insanity. These feelings had a strong influence on his writings, forcing him to communicate, to ‘remind’ his readers of th...

Henry Fielding (1933) examines Fielding’s prodigious activity as dramatist, journalist, novelist and magistrate. Though Fielding lived mainly by his pen, the profession he had chosen for himself, and the one in which he ardently desired to succeed, was that of the law, and this book takes the man as a whole in looking at his writings and his success at law.

First published in 1971, Reinterpretations focusses upon a group of closely related major poems—L’Allegro and Il Penseroso, Milton’s companion pieces, and Lycidas, Pope’s Rape of the Lock and Epistle to Dr Arbuthnot, and Johnson’s London. The critical and interpretive light which Professor Hardy brings to bear on these works constitutes a considerable reinterpretation which informs our understanding of seventeenth and eighteent...

"On the Art of Writing" by Arthur Quiller-Couch is a profound exploration of the craft of writing, offering insights that resonate with both aspiring and seasoned writers. Quiller-Couch emphasizes the importance of clarity, style, and the writer's voice, encouraging authors to cultivate their unique perspectives. He draws on literary examples to illustrate his points, making the book not only a guide but also a celebration of literature itself. The work serves as a reminder that writing is...

According to Wikipedia: "George Edward Bateman Saintsbury (23 October 1845 - 28 January 1933), was an English writer and critic.... His first book, A Primer of French Literature (1880), and his Short History of French Literature (1882), were followed by a series of editions of French classics and of books and articles on the history of French literature, which made him the most prominent English authority on the subject. His studies in English literature were no less comprehensive, and inc...

'If a man is to write A Panegyrick, he may keep vices out of sight; but if he professes to write A Life, he must represent it really as it was.' In the last of his major writings, Samuel Johnson looked back over the previous two centuries of English Literature in order to describe the personalities as well as the achievements of the leading English poets. The major Lives - of Milton, Dryden, Swift, and Pope - are memorable cameos of the life of ...

First published in 1979, this book provides thorough a guide through Coleridge’s diverse body of work, looking not just his poetry but also his literary criticism and theories, plays, political journalism and theory, and writings on religion and philosophy. The author is careful to avoid emphasising one aspect of his work over another and consequently the whole emerges as a richer, more complete body of thought — less esoteric and more concerned with the world. It challenges the notion of ...

Restoration and Eighteenth-Century Poetry 1660-1780, originally published in 1981, considers poetry written between 1660 and 1780, a period which, although largely recovered from its nineteenth-century reputation, still attracts widely varying critical responses. Abandoning the old labels such as ‘neoclassicism’, ‘romanticism’ and ‘sensibility’, the author focuses on descriptions of genres and their formal elements and traces the broader patterns of literary and historical change running t...

In recent years the canon of eighteenth-century poetry has greatly expanded to include women poets, labouring-class and provincial poets, and many previously unheard voices. Fairer’s book takes up the challenge this ought to pose to our traditional understanding of the subject.This book seeks to question some of the structures, categories, and labels that have given the age its reassuring shape in literary history. In doing so Fairer offers a fresh and detailed look at a wide range...

A fascinating and comprehensive look at English literature from early Briton and Saxon days right through to the beginning of the 20th century, including a fantastic wealth of references for further study.

This comprehensive eBook presents significant works of this famous and brilliant writer in one ebook - estimated 21800 pages easy-to-read and easy-to-navigate: • A Treatise of Human Nature • An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding • An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals • Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion • The History of England • Essays • A History Of England From Early TimesT. Smollett, Edward Farr, and E. H. Nolan • The History of England • Of the Delicacy of Taste and P...

With his trademark warmth and wit, Lewis offers invaluable insight and intellectual delight for readers.Includes: An Experiment in Criticism The Allegory of Love The Discarded Image Studies in Words Image and Imagination Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Literature Selected Literary Essays The Personal Heresy