13 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Norton Anthology of English Literature by Abrams et al., February 21, 2004
This review is from: The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Vol. 1 B: The SixteenthCentury/The Early Seventeenth Century (Paperback)
This is an excellent reference guide for the English Literature
of the 1600s and 1700s. There is an exhaustive coverage of
the following works:
o Caedmon's Hymn
o Beowulf
o Geoffrey Chaucer
o Middle Age Lyrics
o Sir Thomas Mallory
o Medieval Attitudes Toward Life on Earth
o Christopher Marlowe
o Sir Thomas Moore
o Shakespeare
o Sir Walter Ralegh
o John Donne
o Robert Herrick
o George Herbert
o John Milton
o Richard Lovelace
o Samuel Butler
o Jonathan Swift
o Alexander Pope
o Samuel Johnson
o James Boswell
o Restoration Literature of the 18th Century
Here is a paragraph from "The Wife of Bath's Tale":
"The wise astrologen daun Ptolomce,
That saith this proverbe in his Almageste:
' Of alle men his wisdom is the hyeste
That rekketh nat who hath the world in honde.
By this proverbe thou shalt understonde."
This work is perfect for majors of English literature and
college courses in literature. A beauty of the work is that
it is written in the original English dialect of the
centuries represented. Critiques of this work alone could
fill a dozen or so academic dissertations.The book in my personal library
is an earlier version. There are many subsequent editions. In each subsequent edition, the author has made some additions/deletions.
The subject matter of my review is a late 60s/early 70s version of the book. Check on the Amazon.com for "used books for sale" to acquire the
earlier version.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great books, September 14, 2011
This review is from: The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Vol. 1 B: The SixteenthCentury/The Early Seventeenth Century (Paperback)
I had to get these for class a couple years ago and I regretted selling them back because I loved the material so much. Tons of great literature included.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
16 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Survey of sixteenth and seventeenth century British Lit., January 19, 2001
This review is from: The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Vol. 1 B: The SixteenthCentury/The Early Seventeenth Century (Paperback)
Volume 1B of the Norton Anthology of English Literature covers much of the Sixteenth Century and the beginning of the Seventeenth Century. Included in this book are works from:
John Skelton
Sir Thomas More
Sir Thomas Wyatt the Elder
William Tyndale
John Calvin
Anne Askew
John Foxe
Richard Hooker
Roger Ascham
Henrey Howard, Earl of Surrey
Sir Thomas Hoby
Queen Elizabeth
Arthur Golding
George Gascoigne
Isabella Whitney
Edmund Spenser - The Faerie Queen and the Amoretti
Sir Walter Ralegh
John Lyly
Sir Philip Sidney
Fulke Greville, Lord Baron Brooke
Robert Southwelle
Mary (Sidney) Herbert, Countess of Pembroke
Samuel Daniel
Michael Drayton
Christopher Marlowe - Hero and Leander, The Passionate Sheperd to his Love, and Doctor Faustus
William Shakespeare - Twelth Night, King Lear, and selected sonnets
Thomas Campion
Thomas Nashe
John Donne
Aemilia Lanyer
Ben Johnson - The Masque of Blackness, Volpone or the Fox, and selected poems and prose
Mary Wroth
John Webster
Elizabeth Cary
Francis Bacon
Martha Moulsworth
Rachel Speght
Robert Burton
Sir Thomas Browne
Izaak Walton
Thomas Hobbes - Including Leviathan
George Herbert
Henrey Vaughan
Richard Crashaw
Robert Herrick
Thomas Carew
Sir John Suckling
Richard Lovelace
Edmund Waller
Abraham Cowley
Katherine Philips
Andrew Marvell
Lucy Hutchinson
Lady Anne Halkett
John Lilburne
Gerrard Winstanley
Anna Trapnel
Abiezer Coppe
Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon
Thomas Traherne
Margaret Cavendish
John Milton - Paradise Lost, selected Poems and Sonnets
Alexander Pope - The Rape of the Lock and An Essay on Man
Samuel Johnson - The Vanity of Human Wishes
Thomas Gray - Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard
It is an adequate anthology, with good bindings for a softcover book. The text is small and somewhat cramped and the paper is thin and light, as is the standard for anthologies of this size. If you are looking for a specific work or works, it is probabably more rewarding and convenient to get an individual volume for the specified work. If, however, you need a decent survey of the period's literature (without too much depth concerning any one author) this is a fine, inexpensive volume.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
