The best literature holds a mirror up to the society that produces it. By studying early literary texts, we learn about people of the past-from their sacred rituals to their love lives. We watch them handle universal struggles like grief, social change, alienation, doubt, and loss of faith. Likewise, literature can change society. Beowulf helped establish a unified English identity and culture by relaying the adventures of its hero; William Shakespeare's plays brought people from all levels of society together to experience dramatic entertainment; John Milton's
Paradise Lost
allowed its readers to examine their relationships with the Church's concept of sin. In this anthology spanning more than eight hundred years, readers experience an evolving British society through the eyes of writers who witnessed these changes firsthand.
The anthology covers writers including Caedmon, Geoffrey Chaucer, Queen Elizabeth I, Christopher Marlowe, William Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, John Webster, John Donne, George Herbert, Robert Herrick, Richard Lovelace, Henry Vaughan, Richard Crashaw, Andrew Marvell, and John Milton. Also included are complete translations of Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Primary texts are supplemented by historical and biographical introductions and period timelines.