Publisher's Synopsis
The second edition of this successful anthology continues to challenge the boundaries of eighteenth–century literary study whilst thorough revisions make it even more useful to teachers and students. Changes for the second edition include: Dryden′s major political poem, Absalom and Achitophel is now included, as is Aphra Behn′s The Golden Age . Restoration drama is newly represented in Congreve′s The Way of the World . Four key books (Books 1–2 and 9–10) of Milton′s Paradise Lost are included instead of the full 12–book version. At the same time, the features that made the anthology appealing in its first edition have been retained. The exceptional historical range of the texts, which span the period from the British Civil War to the French Revolution, and the inclusion of women writers have made this the anthology of choice for many courses. Alongside the extensive representation of canonical texts, many reprinted in their entirety from earliest recoverable versions, DeMaria offers a selection of the literature of private and public life – court reports, letters, political ballads, and broadsides – illuminating the historical and cultural contexts in which the literary works were created.
