This book is designed to provide a comprehensive and stimulating introduction to T. S. Eliot's poetry for those reading and studying it. The poems, as well as some of the poetic drama (particularly Sweeney Agonistes) and relevant sections of the prose criticism, are discussed in detail and placed in relation to the development of Eliot's œuvre, and more briefly to his life and a wider context of philosophical and religious enquiry.  Meer

While providing a critical introduction for the student of Samuel Beckett's work and for other readers and theatre-goers who have been influenced by it, this study also presents an original perspective on one of the twentieth century's greatest writers of prose fiction and drama.  Meer

This introductory study provides a comprehensive and coherent account of all Andrew Marvell's poetry for those with no specialised knowledge of seventeenth-century literature and history.  Meer

A critical introduction to William Blake's poetry, which concentrates on the most accessible of Blake's writings, but which also gives careful consideration to the longer prophetic works.  Meer

H. G. Wells wrote almost a hundred books, yet he is generally remembered for only a handful of them. He is known above all as a writer who heralded the future, yet throughout his life he clung to fixed attitudes from the Victorian past.  Meer

Since E. M. Forster's death in 1970, his novel Maurice and a volume of short stories have been published for the first time. When it was published in 1976, this book was one of the first full-length critical introductions to Forster's fiction to include these posthumous works.  Meer

Most people agree, perhaps without enthusiasm, that Wordsworth is 'great'; it is not easy to say why. Professor Durrant sets out to show this clearly, freshly and forcibly, with detailed reference to particular poems.  Meer

A good deal of Scott's commercial writing is now of historical interest only. But there are important and valuable books, especially those where Scott is contemplating the detribalization of Scotland after the Jacobite rebellions, and the political and social stresses this brought about.  Meer

Although Pope's reputation as a poet has never been higher among scholars and academics, changes in our attitudes to the writing of poetry and to traditional literary values and fashions in versification have created barriers between his genius and the general reader.  Meer

This study of Thomas Hardy provides a substantial introduction to his six major novels and his poems. It deals more briefly with the minor fiction. Hardy now seems a more important novelist and poet than at any previous time.  Meer

Since his death in 1930, D. H. Lawrence has become not only one of the most controversial English novelists of the twentieth century, but also one of the most widely read and quoted writers in the language.  Meer

Although the importance of Conrad's work has long been recognized, Jacques Berthoud attempts a full demonstration of the clarity, consistency, and depth of thought evident in the novels written during the first decade of this century.  Meer

Dryden has sometimes been regarded as a writer narrowly of his period, a Restoration satirist whose work is largely concerned with the personalities, debates, and tastes of his own age.  Meer

This book provides a valuable introduction for students and other readers of Tennyson's poetry and presents an account of its major themes and concerns.  Meer

This book offers a revaluation of Keats' major poetry. It reveals how Keats' work is both an oblique criticism of the dominant attitudes to literature, sexuality, religion and politics in his period, and a powerful critique of the claims of the imagination.  Meer

This book offers a critical assessment of the career of one of the most formidable figures of English literature, the most influential poet and dramatist of the early seventeenth century.  Meer

A critical introduction to Jane Austen's writings, which considers in turn her letters, the minor works and the six complete novels, Northanger Abbey, Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma and Persuasion.  Meer

This concise and lucid study provides an ideal introduction to the major work of Henry Fielding for all students. Fielding's stature as a great comic novelist is assured, but as Professor Varey illustrates, he was a remarkably versatile writer.  Meer

James Joyce holds a unique position in literature. No writer has a higher reputation, none attracts more ardent devotees, and none poses so many difficulties for the first-time reader.  Meer

Mr Jones treats the main novels in chronological sequence examining with the aid of extensive quotation George Eliot's means of description and characterisation and the moral purpose of her fiction.  Meer