An English Anthology of Prose and Poetry: Shewing the Main Stream of English Literature Through Six Centuries (14th Century19th

Excerpt From An English Anthology Of Prose And Poetry: Shewing The Main Stream Of English Literature Through Six Centuries (14Th Century19Th Century) The Plan Of This Book Is Simple, But It Is Believed To Be New. My Object Has Been Not To Supply One More Portable Collection Of Gems, But To Show The Progress Of The English Language And Literature As The Gradual Gathering Of Many Tributaries Into One Stream, Or Of Many Characters And Inuences Into One Great National Concourse. In Attempting This I Found At Once That Three Conditions Imposed Them Selves. The Selection Must Include Both Prose And Verse And It Must Treat Upon The Same Footing All Printed Work Of Interest, Whether Scientific, Philosophical, Political Or Creative. But Thirdly, An Arrangement Must Be Devised By Which The Reader Should Be Enabled To Follow The Stream Continuously, To Trace Without Confusion The Entrance And Effect Of The Gathering Inuences. It Has Generally Been The Custom In Making A Volume Of Selections To Place The Authors According To Their Dates Of Birth But From My Point Of View This Was Too Mechanical An Arrangement And Would Often Introduce Confusion Where It Was A Chief Object To Be Clear. The Moment Of Birth Is Not The Moment Of A Great WriterS Entry Into The World Of Thought: Nor Is It Possible To Fix Any Age At Which Genius Or Literary Inuence May Be Said In General To Take Effect. About The Publisher Forgotten Books Publishes Hundreds Of Thousands Of Rare And Classic Books. Find More At This Book Is A Reproduction Of An Important Historical Work. Forgotten Books Uses StateOfTheArt Technology To Digitally Reconstruct The Work, Preserving The Original Format Whilst Repairing Imperfections Present In The Aged Copy. In Rare Cases, An Imperfection In The Original, Such As A Blemish Or Missing Page, May Be Replicated In Our Edition. We Do, However, Repair The Vast Majority Of Imperfections Successfully; Any Imperfections That Remain Are Intentionally Left To Preserve The State Of Such Historical Works.