The Longman Anthology of British Literature is the first new anthology of British literature to appear in over
25 years. A major work of scholarship, it brings together an extraordinary collection of writings spanning some
1300 years of literary history from the Middle Ages to the present. Volume One covers The Middle Ages, The Early
Modern Period, and The Restoration and the Eighteenth Century. The text aims to give a less monumental, more contextualized
presentation of British literature. The traditional canonical writers are fully represented, with coverage of such
central figures as Spencer, Milton, and Shakespeare. But alongside these are numerous other literary voices, especially
those of women. The most distinctive feature of the anthology are groupings of texts that allow contemporary social,
political, and literary controversies to unfold in the voices of those who participated in them, thus enabling
the great works of British literature to be taught in the context of their times.