Shaw, Thomas B., M. A. William Smith, LL.D., ed. A Complete Manual of English Literature. New York: Sheldon & Co., 1867.
PREFACE
The present work, which was originally published under the title of “Outlines of English Literature” has been entirely re-written with a special view to the requirements of Students, so as to make it, as far as space would allow, a complete History of English Literature. The Author has devoted to its composition the labor of several years, sparing neither time nor pains to render it both instructive and interesting. In consequence of Mr. Shaw’s lamented death the [manuscript] was placed in my hands to prepare it for publication as one of Mr. Murray’s Student’s Manuals, for which purpose it seems to me peculiarly well adapted. Through long familiarity with the subject, and great experience as a teacher, the Author knew how to seize the salient points in English literature, and to give prominence to those writers and those subjects which ought to occupy the main attention of the Student. Considering the size of the book, the amount of information which it conveys is really remarkable, while the space devoted to the more important names, such as Bacon, Shakespeare, Milton, Dryden, Addison, Sir Walter Scott, and others, it is sufficient to impress upon the Student a vivid idea of their lives and writings. The Author has certainly succeeded in his attempt “to render the work as little dry – as readable, in short – as is consistent with accuracy and comprehensiveness.”
As Editor, I have carefully revised the whole work, completed the concluding chapters left unfinished by the Author, and inserted at the end of the first and second chapters a brief account of Anglo-Saxon, Norman, and early English Literature, in order to render the work as useful as possible to Students preparing for the examination of the India Civil Service, the University of London, and the like. Moreover I have, in the other Notes and Illustrations, given an account of the less important persons, which, though not designed for continuous perusal, will be useful for reference, for which purpose a copious Index has been added. All living writers are, for obvious reasons, excluded.
London, January, 1864 W.S.
Second Edition
In this edition, a few errors in names and dates have been corrected, and considerable additions have been made to the later chapters of the work. A brief account of the lives and works of more than two hundred and twenty authors has been added; and it is believed that the work, in its present form, will be found to contain information respecting every writer who deserves a place in the history of our literature.
London, January, 1865 W.S.
CONTENTS
A Brief Memoir of the Author
Chapter I: Origin of the English Language and Literature
Notes and Illustrations:
Anglo-Saxon Literature
Anglo-Norman Literature
Semi-Saxon Literature
Old English Literature
Chapter II: The Age of Chaucer
Notes and Illustrations:
The Predecessors of Gower, and Chaucer
John Gower
Wicliffe and his School
Chapter III: From the Death of Chaucer to the Age of Elizabeth
N and I
Minor Poets
Minor Prose Writers
Chapter IV: The Elizabethan Poets (including the Reign of James I)
N and I
The Mirrour for Magistrates
Minor Poets in the Reigns of Elizabeth and James I
Chapter V: The New Philosophy and Prose Literature in the Reigns of Elizabeth and James I
N and I:
Minor Prose Writers in the Reigns of Elizabeth and James I.
Chapter VI: The Dawn of the Drama
Chapter VII: Shakespeare
Chapter VIII: The Shakespearean Dramatists
N and I:
Other Dramatists
Chapter IX: The So-Called Metaphysical Poets
N and I:
Other Poets
Chapter X: Theological Writers of the Civil War and the Commonwealth
N and I:
Other Theological and Moral Writers
Chapter XI: John Milton
N and I:
Contemporaries of Milton
Chapter XII: The Age of the Restoration
N and I:
Other Writers
Chapter XIII: The New Drama and the Correct Poets
Chapter XIV: The Second Revolution
N and I:
A. Other Theological Writers
B. Other Prose Writers
Chapter XV: Pope, Swift, and the Augustan Poets
N and I:
Minor Poets
Chapter XVI: The Essayists
N and I:
A. Minor Essayists, &c.
B. Boyle and Bentley Controversy
Other Writers
Chapter XVII: The Great Novelists
N and I:
Other Novelists
Chapter XVIII: Historical, Moral, Political and Theological Writers of the Eighteenth Century
N and I:
Theological Writers
Philosophical Writers
Historians and Scholars
Miscellaneous Writers
Novelists
Chapter XIX: The Dawn of Romantic Poetry
N and I:
Other Poets of the Eighteenth Century
Chapter XX: Walter Scott
Chapter XXI: Byron, Moore, Shelley, Keats, Campbell, Leigh Hunt, and Walter Savage Landor
Chapter XXII: Wordsworth, Coleridge, and Southey
Chapter XXIII: The Modern Novelists
N and I:
Other Novelists
Chapter XXIV: Prose Literature of the Nineteenth Century
N and I:
Other Prose Writers of the Nineteenth Century
Sketch of American Literature
Index to English Literature
Index to American Literature