ABSTRACT
IN the preceding lectures I have tried to suggest some methods of approaching isolated pieces of prose and verse. In these last two lectures I am going to try to give you a picture (in the broadest outline) of English literary history. All that I can do is to suggest some impressions of what seem to me the larger rhythms and movements in time. I want you to see these in terms of the facts—dates and so on—in the pamphlet 1 which you have before you. You will see that the left-hand column contains the names of the more important authors, and their dates. In the next are the titles of works—one or two, but usually not more—which will serve, if you like, as starting-points for going more deeply into each particular author. Or, from another point of view, you would, if you read all these works, have a background of knowledge that many professional students of literature would be glad to possess.
