BOOK COVER -- TITLE -- COPYRIGHT -- CONTENTS -- INTRODUCTION -- CHAPTER 1: THE OLD ENGLISH PERIOD -- POETRY -- The Major Manuscripts -- PROBLEMS OF DATING -- RELIGIOUS VERSE -- ELEGIAC AND HEROIC VERSE -- PROSE -- EARLY TRANSLATIONS INTO ENGLISH -- LATE 10TH- AND 11TH-CENTURY PROSE -- SIGNIFICANT FIGURES AND TEXTS -- NOTABLE OLD ENGLISH WRITERS -- NOTABLE OLD ENGLISH TEXTS -- CHAPTER 2: THE MIDDLE ENGLISH PERIOD -- EARLY MIDDLE ENGLISH POETRY -- INFLUENCE OF FRENCH POETRY -- Fabliau -- DIDACTIC POETRY -- VERSE ROMANCE -- Beast Epic -- ARTHURIAN LEGEND -- Breton Lay -- THE LYRIC -- EARLY MIDDLE ENGLISH PROSE -- LATER MIDDLE ENGLISH POETRY -- ALLITERATIVE POETRY -- COURTLY POETRY -- POPULAR AND SECULAR VERSE -- Political Verse -- LATER MIDDLE ENGLISH PROSE -- RELIGIOUS PROSE -- SECULAR PROSE -- MIDDLE ENGLISH DRAMA -- MYSTERY PLAYS -- MORALITY PLAYS -- Everyman -- MIRACLE PLAYS -- THE TRANSITION FROM MEDIEVAL TO RENAISSANCE -- SIGNIFICANT MIDDLE ENGLISH LITERARY FIGURES -- WILLIAM CAXTON -- GEOFFREY CHAUCER -- JOHN GOWER -- LAWAMON -- ROBERT MANNYNG -- ORM -- RICHARD ROLLE -- CHAPTER 3: THE RENAISSANCE PERIOD (1550-1660) -- SOCIAL CONDITIONS -- INTELLECTUAL AND RELIGIOUS REVOLUTION -- THE RACE FOR CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT -- ELIZABETHAN POETRY AND PROSE -- DEVELOPMENT OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE -- SIR PHILIP SIDNEY AND EDMUND SPENSER -- ELIZABETHAN LYRIC -- THE SONNET SEQUENCE -- OTHER POETIC STYLES -- PROSE STYLES, 1550-1600 -- EARLY STUART POETRY AND PROSE -- House of Stuart -- THE METAPHYSICAL POETS -- The Metaphysicals -- BEN JONSON AND THE CAVALIER POETS -- CONTINUED INFLUENCE OF SPENSER -- Spenserian Stanza -- THE EFFECT OF RELIGION AND SCIENCE ON EARLY STUART PROSE -- PROSE STYLES -- JOHN MILTON AND THE RENAISSANCE -- MILTON'S LIFE AND WORKS -- MILTON'S INFLUENCE -- CHAPTER 4: ELIZABETHAN AND EARLY STUART DRAMA.

THEATRES IN LONDON AND THE PROVINCES -- PROFESSIONAL PLAYWRIGHTS -- Blank Verse -- CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE -- MARLOWE'S WORKS -- LITERARY CAREER -- ASSESSMENT -- WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE -- SHAKESPEARE THE MAN -- SHAKESPEARE'S EARLY PLAYS -- PLAYS OF THE MIDDLE AND LATE YEARS -- THE POEMS -- Collaborations and Spurious Attributions -- QUESTIONS OF AUTHORSHIP -- PLAYWRIGHTS AFTER SHAKESPEARE -- BEN JONSON -- OTHER JACOBEAN DRAMATISTS -- THE LAST RENAISSANCE DRAMATISTS -- EPILOGUE -- GLOSSARY -- BIBLIOGRAPHY -- THE OLD ENGLISH PERIOD -- THE MIDDLE ENGLISH PERIOD -- THE RENAISSANCE PERIOD, 1550-1660 -- ELIZABETHAN POETRY AND PROSE -- EARLY STUART POETRY AND PROSE -- ELIZABETHAN AND EARLY STUART DRAMA -- INDEX -- BACK COVER.