This is the first volume of the wonderful old Pelican guides. While the approach is decided old fashioned, it is a useful and readable survey. The real value for most of us is in the excellently chosen anthology which comprises about half of the volume. Full poems or very extended excerpts cover the period. Readers familiar of Chaucer may find these considerably more difficult, but a sensible amount of annotation eases most of the difficulties, especially if you follow the editor's sensible advice to allow yourself to go along with the general flow of the narrative and not worry too much about each individual word or sentence. ( )

The Pelican Guide to English Literature 1