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Description:  Delightful introduction to the writers of English literature whose works hold the greatest appeal for the youthful reader. The life and personality of each author is given in outline, with enough material quoted from his works to give an idea of what he wrote. For most authors suggestions for further reading are included. The outline of historical background enables the young reader to grasp the connection between the literature and the life of the time. Excellent as a companion to a chronological study of English literature.

Additional information:

1. In the Listening Time
2. The Story of the Cattle Raid of Cooley 
3. One of the Sorrows of Story-Telling 
4. The Story of a Literary Lie 
5. The Story of Fingal 
6. About Some Old Welsh Stories and Story-Tellers 
7. How the Story of Arthur Was Written in English 
8. The Beginning of the Reading Time 
9. "The Passing of Arthur" 
10. The Adventures of an Old English Book 
11. The Story of Beowulf 
12. The Father of English Song 
13. How Caedmon Sang 
14. The Father of English History 
15. How Alfred the Great Fought with His Pen 
16. When English Slept 
17. The Story of Havelok the Dane 
18. About Some Song Stories 
19. "Piers the Ploughman" 
20. "Piers the Ploughman"—continued 
21. How the Bible Came to the People 
22. Chaucer—Bread and Milk for Children 
23. Chaucer—"The Canterbury Tales" 
24. Chaucer—At the Tabard Inn 
25. The First English Guide-book 
26. Barbour—"The Bruce," Beginning of a Struggle 
27. Barbour—"The Bruce," The End of the Struggle 
28. A Poet King 
29. The Death of the Poet King 
30. Dunbar—The Wedding of Thistle and Rose 
31. At the Sign of the Red Pale 
32. About the Beginning of the Theater 
33. How the Shepherds Watched Their Flocks 
34. The Story of Everyman 
35. How a Poet Comforted a Girl 
36. The Renaissance 
37. The Land of Nowhere 
38. The Death of Sir Thomas More 
39. How the Sonnet Came to England 
40. The Beginning of Blank Verse 
41. Spenser—"The Shepherd's Calendar" 
42. Spenser—"The Faery Queen" 
43. Spenser—His Last Days 

44. About the First Theaters
45. Shakespeare—The Boy 
46. Shakespeare—The Man 
47. Shakespeare—"The Merchant of Venice" 
48. Jonson—"Every Man in His Humor" 
49. Jonson—"The Sad Shepherd" 
50. Raleigh—"The Revenge" 
51. Raleigh—"The History of the World" 
52. Bacon—New Ways of Wisdom 
53. Bacon—The Happy Island 
54. About Some Lyric Poets 
55. Herbert—The Parson Poet 
56. Herrick and Marvell—Of Blossoms and Bowers 
57. Milton—Sight and Growth 
58. Milton—Darkness and Death 
59. Bunyan—"The Pilgrim's Progress" 
60. Dryden—The New Poetry 
61. Defoe—The First Newspapers 
62. Defoe—"Robinson Crusoe" 
63. Swift—"The Journal to Stella" 
64. Swift—"Gullivers Travels" 
65. Addison—"The Spectator" 
66. Steele—The Soldier Author 
67. Pope—"The Rape of the Lock" 
68. Johnson—Days of Struggle 
69. Johnson—The End of the Journey 
70. Goldsmith—The Vagabond 
71. Goldsmith—"The Vicar of Wakefield" 
72. Burns—The Ploughman Poet 
73. Cowper—"The Task" 
74. Wordsworth—The Poet of Nature 
75. Wordsworth and Coleridge—The Lake Poets
76. Coleridge and Southey—Sunshine and Shadow 
77. Scott—The Awakening of Romance 
78. Scott—"The Wizard of the North" 
79. Byron—"Childe Harold's Pilgrimage" 
80. Shelley—The Poet of Love 
81. Keats—The Poet of Beauty 
82. Carlyle—The Sage of Chelsea 
83. Thackeray—The Cynic? 
84. Dickens—Smiles and Tears 
85. Tennyson—The Poet of Friendship

The Chaucer Story Book

by Eva March Tappan

The Oxford Book of English Verse, Part 3

by Arthur Quiller-Couch