I. THE ANGLO-SAXON PERIOD ...11 // II. THE PERIOD AFTER 1066...12 // III. ENGLISH LITERATURE IN THE FOURTEENTH AND FIFTEENTH CENTURIES...14 // IV. THE RENAISSANCE IN ENGLAND...19 // 1. The Reformation...20 // 2. Humanist Prose...21 // 3. Poetry ...22 // 4. Drama ...23 // V. ENGLISH LITERATURE IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY ... 32 // 1. Puritanism in English Literature ...34 // 2. Philosophy in the Seventeenth Century ...35 // 3. Poetry...36 // 4. Restoration Comedy... 36 // VI. ENGLISH LITERATURE // IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY...38 // 1. Journalism ...38 // 2. The Rise of the Novel ...39 // 3. Classical Poetry...42 // 4. Drama ...43 // VII. THE ROMANTIC PERIOD ...44 // 1. Prose. The Gothic Novel. The Historical Novel. The Transition to Realism ...44 // 2. Poetry...46 // VHI. ENGLISH LITERATURE // IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY...53 // 1. Realism and Naturalism in the Nineteenth Century Novel . 53 // 9 // 2. Poetry. The Chartist Poets. Victorian Poetry. The Pre-Raphaelites...60 // 3. Drama ... 62 // IX. ENGLISH LITERATURE IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY... 64 // 1. Prose in the First Half of the Twentieth Century ... 64 // 2. The English Novel Since World War II ...74 // 3. Poetry ... 83 // 4. Drama ...87 // I. THE COLONIAL PERIOD ...101 // II. THE PERIOD OF THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE...103 // III. NINETEENTH CENTURY PROSE...105 // 1. The First Authors after Independence ...107 // 2. The Transcendentalist Movement ...108 // 3. Symbolism in American Prose ...111 // 4. American Humour ... i...113 // 5. The Psychological Novel...115 // IV. NINETEENTH CENTURY POETRY...118 // V. TWENTIETH CENTURY PROSE...123 // 1. Realism and Naturalism in American Literature ... 125 // 2. The Novel since World War I ...129 // 3. The Novel since World War II...137 // VI. TWENTIETH CENTURY POETRY...144 // VII. THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN LITERATURE . . 148 // VIII. THE AMERICAN THEATRE...151 // Books Consulted and Recommended for Further Study ...158