This anthology aims to enable the reader to gauge the achievement of principal authors of English literature by providing examples of their most characteristic work. Works featured range from Beowulf written in the 15th century to contemporary literature from the likes of Larkin and Rushdie.
The classic survey of English literature in a vibrant new edition, with Stephen Greenblatt as general editor. A legendary bestseller for more than forty years, The Norton Anthology of English Literature is the classic survey to the field from the Middle Ages to the twenty-first century. With more than ninety authors, the Major Authors Edition deepens its representation of essential works in all genres, ranging from Seamus Heaney's award-winning translation of Beowulf and Shakespeare's Twelfth Night to the greats of the nineteenth centuryBlake and Wordsworth, Tennyson and Barrett Browningto twentieth-century classics of a truly global English literatureConrad's Heart of Darkness , Woolf's A Room of One's Own , poetry by Derek Walcott, and prose by Nadine Gordimer and Salman Rushdie, to name but a few. Color platesover seventy-five in allbring to life the cultural concerns of each period. Concise glosses and annotations, period introductions, biographical headnotes, timelines, and selected bibliographies help readers understand and enjoy the rich diversity of English literature.