Editorial Advisers
Rosemary Ashton, University of London; Gillian Beer, University of Cambridge; Gordon Campbell, University of Leicester; Terry Castle, Stanford University; Margaret Ann Doody, Vanderbilt University; Richard Gray, University of Essex; Joseph Harris, Harvard University; Karen L. Kilcup, University of North Carolina, Greensboro; Jerome J. McGann, University of Virginia; David Norbrook, University of Oxford; Tom Paulin, University of Oxford; Michael Payne, Bucknell University; Elaine Showalter, Princeton University; John Sutherland, University of London.
Wiley Blackwell Anthologies are a series of extensive and comprehensive volumes designed to address the numerous issues raised by recent debates regarding the literary canon, value, text, context, gender, genre, and period. While providing the reader with key canonical writings in their entirety, the series is also ambitious in its coverage of hitherto marginalized texts, and flexible in the overall variety of its approaches to periods and movements. Each volume has been thoroughly researched to meet the current needs of teachers and students.
Old and Middle English c.890–c.1450: An Anthology. Third edition
edited by Elaine Treharne
Medieval Drama: An Anthology
edited by Greg Walker
Chaucer to Spenser: An Anthology of English Writing 1375–1575
edited by Derek Pearsall
Renaissance Literature: An Anthology of Poetry and Prose. Second edition
edited by John C. Hunter
Renaissance Drama: An Anthology of Plays and Entertainments.
Second edition
edited by Arthur F. Kinney
Restoration Drama: An Anthology
edited by David Womersley
British Literature 1640–1789: An Anthology. Fourth edition
edited by Robert DeMaria, Jr
Romanticism: An Anthology.
Fourth edition
edited by Duncan Wu
Irish Literature 1750–1900: An Anthology
edited by Julia Wright
Children’s Literature: An Anthology 1801–1902
edited by Peter Hunt
Victorian Women Poets: An Anthology
edited by Angela Leighton and Margaret Reynolds
Victorian Literature: An Anthology
edited by Victor Shea and William Whitla
Modernism: An Anthology
edited by Lawrence Rainey
The Literatures of Colonial America: An Anthology
edited by Susan Castillo and Ivy T. Schweitzer
African American Literature: Volume 1, 1746–1920
edited by Gene Andrew Jarrett
African American Literature: Volume 2, 1920 to the Present
edited by Gene Andrew Jarrett
American Gothic: An Anthology from Salem Witchcraft to H. P. Lovecraft.
Second edition.
edited by Charles L. Crow
Nineteenth-Century American Women Writers: An Anthology
edited by Karen L. Kilcup
Nineteenth-Century American Women Poets: An Anthology
edited by Paula Bernat Bennett
Native American Women’s Writing: An Anthology of Works c.1800–1924
edited by Karen L. Kilcup
Fourth Edition
EDITED BY ROBERT DEMARIA, JR
This fourth edition first published 2016
© 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
Edition history: Blackwell Publishers Ltd (1e, 1996); Blackwell Publishing Ltd (2e, 2001 and 3e, 2008)
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Cover image: Woman Reading a Book, by Jean-Frédéric Schall / Private Collection / Photo © Rafael Valls Gallery, London / Bridgeman Images
Joseph Addison (1672–1719)
Mary Astell (1666–1731)
Ballads And Newsbooks from the Civil War (1640–1649)
Anna Laetitia Aiken Barbauld (1743–1825)
Aphra Behn (1640?–1689)
William Blake (1757–1827)
James Boswell (1740–1795)
John Bunyan (1628–1688)
Edmund Burke (1729–1797)
Frances Burney (Later D’Arblay) (1752–1840)
Robert Burns (1759–1796)
Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle (1623–1673)
Thomas Chatterton (1752–1770)
Jane Collier (1714/15–1755)
Mary Collier (1688?–1762)
William Collins (1721–1759)
William Congreve (1670–1729)
Abraham Cowley (1618–1667)
William Cowper (1731–1800)
Daniel Defoe (1660–1731)
John Dryden (1631–1700)
Stephen Duck (1705–1756)
Olaudah Equiano (1745?–1797)
Anne Kingsmill Finch, Countess of Winchilsea (1661–1720)
John Gay (1685–1732)
Oliver Goldsmith (1728–1774)
Thomas Gray (1716–1771)
Eliza Fowler Haywood (1693–1756)
Robert Herrick (1591–1674)
Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679)
David Hume (1711–1776)
Samuel Johnson (1709–1784)
Mary Jones (1707–1778)
Mary Leapor (1722–1746)
John Locke (1632–1704)
James Macpherson (1736–1796)
Delarivier Manley (C.1670–1724)
Andrew Marvell (1621–1678)
John Milton (1608–1674)
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (1689–1762)
Hannah More (1745–1833)
John Newton (1725–1807)
Samson Occom (1723–1792)
Thomas Paine (1737–1809)
Samuel Pepys (1633–1703)
Katherine Philips (1632–1664)
Hester Lynch Thrale Piozzi (1741–1821)
Alexander Pope (1688–1744)
Allan Ramsay (1684–1758)
Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751–1816)
Christopher Smart (1722–1771)
Richard Steele (1672–1729)
Jonathan Swift (1667–1745)
James Thomson (1700–1748)
Trials at the Old Bailey (1722–1727)
Isaac Watts (1674–1748)
John Wilmot, Second Earl of Rochester (1647–1680)
Mary Wollstonecraft (1759–1797)
Ann Cromartie Yearsley (1753–1806)
| Date | Literary event | Historical event |
| 1638 | John Milton, Lycidas | |
| 1640 | John Donne, LXXX Sermons | Long Parliament assembled Archbishop Laud and the Earl of Strafford impeached |
| 1641 | Milton, Of Reformation | Strafford executed |
| 1642 | First English Civil War begins | |
| 1643 | Milton, The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce | London theaters closed |
| 1644 | Milton, Areopagitica | |
| 1645 | Archbishop Laud executed | |
| 1646 | Milton, Poems (dated 1645) | Charles I surrenders at Southwell after falling out of favor |
| End of the first English Civil War | ||
| 1647 | Abraham Cowley, The Mistress | |
| 1648 | Robert Herrick, Hesperides | Second English Civil War begins |
| Oliver Cromwell defeats Scots at Preston | ||
| End of the Thirty Years’ War | ||
| 1649 | Charles I, Eikon Basilike | Charles I tried and executed |
| Richard Lovelace, Lucasta | Commonwealth proclaimed | |
| Milton, Eikonoklastes | Monarchy and the House of Lords abolished | |
| Cromwell invades Ireland | ||
| 1650 | Anne Bradstreet, The Tenth Muse | Cromwell defeats Scots at Dunbar |
| Abiezer Coppe, A Fiery Flying Roll | ||
| Andrew Marvell, An Horatian Ode upon Cromwell’s Return from Ireland composed | ||
| 1651 | Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan | Charles II crowned king of the Scots |
| Charles II invades England, is defeated at Worcester, and flees to France | ||
| 1652 | Correspondence between Dorothy Osborne and her future husband William Temple begins | |
| 1653 | Margaret Cavendish, Poems and Fancies | A new parliament is nominated |
| Protectorate established | ||
| 1654 | Isaac Walton, The Compleat Angler | Cromwell becomes Lord Protector |
| 1655 | Henry Vaughan, Silex Scintillans (second edition) | Parliament is dissolved after attempting to reduce the army |
| 1656 | John Reeve and Lodowicke Muggleton, A Divine Looking Glass | English capture Jamaica |
| 1657 | Cromwell is offered and declines the crown | |
| 1658 | Richard Allestree, The Whole Duty of Man | Death of Oliver Cromwell |
| Edward Phillips, The New World of English Words | Richard Cromwell succeeds as Lord Protector | |
| 1659 | Collapse of the Protectorate | |
| 1660 | Samuel Pepys begins his diary | End of the Commonwealth |
| Robert Boyle, New Experiments | Charles II begins his reign | |
| John Dryden, Astraea Redux | ||
| Milton, Readie and Easy Way | ||
| 1662 | Act of Uniformity requires English to accept the book of Common Prayer | |
| 1663 | William Shakespeare, Third Folio | |
| 1664 | Katherine Philips, Poems | |
| 1665 | The Great Plague | |
| 1666 | John Bunyan, Grace Abounding | The Great Fire of London |
| 1667 | Milton, Paradise Lost | |
| Dryden, Annus Mirabilis | ||
| 1668 | Dryden, Of Dramatic Poesy | England takes control of Bombay, India |
| 1671 | Milton, Paradise Regained | |
| 1672 | George Villiers, The Rehearsal | Declaration of Indulgence proffers religious freedom |
| 1673 | Parliament passes the Test Act, precluding Roman Catholics from holding public office | |
| 1674 | Milton, Paradise Lost (second edition) | |
| 1675 | William Wycherley, The Country-Wife | |
| 1676 | Dryden, Aureng-Zebe | Charles II signs secret treaty with Louis XIV |
| 1677 | Aphra Behn, The Rover | |
| 1678 | Bunyan, Pilgrim’s Progress | Popish Plot to kill Charles II and crown the Duke of York is exposed |
| Dryden, All for Love | ||
| 1679 | “Ephelia,” Female Poems | Parliament passes the Habeas Corpus Act |
| John Wilmot, Second Earl of Rochester, Satyr against Reason and Mankind | ||
| Lucy Hutchinson, Order and Disorder | ||
| 1680 | Robert Filmer, Patriarcha | |
| Rochester, Poems | ||
| 1681 | Dryden, Absalom and Achitophel | Exclusion Bill defeated |
| 1682 | Dryden, Mac Flecknoe published | |
| 1684 | Behn, Poems | |
| 1685 | Death of Charles II | |
| Execution of Duke of Monmouth | ||
| James II begins his reign | ||
| 1686 | Sarah Fyge Egerton, The Female Advocate | Isaac Newton proposes his laws of motion and theory of gravity |
| 1687 | Dryden, The Hind and the Panther | James II issues Declaration of Indulgence, suspending the Test Act and allowing freedom of worship |
| 1688 | Behn, Oroonoko: or, the Royal Slave. A True History | William of Orange marches on London, causing James II to flee |
| Jane Barker, Poetical Recreations | Beginning of the Glorious Revolution | |
| Anne Wharton, Christian Love | ||
| 1689 | Parliament formulates Declaration of Rights | |
| William and Mary accept the Declaration and the crown | ||
| William III and Mary II begin their reign | ||
| 1690 | John Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding and Two Treatises of Government | Battle of the Boyne |
| 1691 | John Dunton, Athenian Gazette | |
| 1694 | Mary Astell, A Serious Proposal | |
| George Fox, Journal | ||
| 1695 | William Congreve, Love for Love | |
| Richard Blackmore, Prince Arthur | ||
| 1696 | Thomas Southerne, Oroonoko | |
| 1697 | Daniel Defoe, An Essay upon Projects | Treaty of Ryswick |
| Dryden, The Works of Virgil | ||
| 1698 | Edward Ward, London Spy | |
| Mary Pix, Queen Catharine | ||
| 1700 | Congreve, The Way of the World | |
| Dryden, Fables Ancient and Modern | ||
| 1701 | Mary Chudleigh, The Ladies Defence | Grand Alliance formed |
| 1702 | Defoe, The Shortest-Way with the Dissenters | Death of William III |
| Queen Anne begins her reign | ||
| England declares war on France | ||
| 1703 | Nicholas Rowe, The Fair Penitent | |
| 1704 | Jonathan Swift, A Tale of a Tub | Duke of Marlborough victorious at Blenheim |
| John Dennis, The Grounds of Criticism in Poetry | ||
| 1705 | Susanna Centlivre, The Gamester | |
| 1706 | George Farquhar, The Recruiting Officer | Marlborough defeats French at Ramillies |
| 1707 | Farquhar, The Beaux Stratagem | Act of Union joining England and Scotland |
| 1708 | Isaac Watts, Hymns | Abortive invasion by Pretender |
| 1709 | Delarivier Manley, New Atalantis and The Female Tatler | |
| Richard Steele et al., The Tatler | ||
| 1710 | Swift, The Examiner | Tories win general election |
| 1711 | Alexander Pope, An Essay on Criticism | Inception of South Sea Company |
| 1712 | Pope, The Rape of the Lock in two cantos | |
| 1713 | Joseph Addison, Cato | Treaty of Utrecht |
| Anne Kingsmill Finch, Miscellany Poems | ||
| 1714 | Pope, The Rape of the Lock in five cantos | Death of Queen Anne |
| Bernard Mandeville, The Fable of the Bees | George I begins his reign | |
| 1715 | Pope, Homer’s Iliad, vol. 1 | Jacobite Rebellion in Scotland |
| 1716 | John Gay, Trivia | Whigs win general election |
| Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, Court Poems | ||
| Mary Molesworth Monck, Marinda | ||
| 1718 | Centlivre, A Bold Stroke for a Wife | Quadruple Alliance |
| Allan Ramsay, Scots Songs | ||
| 1719 | Defoe, Robinson Crusoe | |
| Matthew Prior, Poems on Several Occasions | ||
| 1720 | South Sea Bubble | |
| 1721 | Nathan Bailey, Universal Etymological Dictionary | |
| 1722 | Defoe, Moll Flanders and Journal of the Plague Year | |
| 1723 | George I visits Hanover | |
| 1724 | Swift, Drapier’s Letters | |
| Eliza Fowler Haywood, Fantomina | ||
| 1725 | Pope’s edition of The Works of Shakespeare | George I in Hanover for seven months |
| 1726 | Swift, Gulliver’s Travels | |
| 1727 | James Thomson, Winter | Death of George I |
| Gay, Fables | George II begins his reign | |
| 1728 | Ephraim Chambers, Cyclopaedia | |
| John Gay, The Beggar’s Opera | ||
| 1729 | Pope, The Dunciad | |
| Swift, A Modest Proposal | ||
| 1730 | Pope, The Dunciad Variorum | |
| Stephen Duck, Poems on Several Subjects | ||
| 1731 | Gentleman’s Magazine, vol. 1 | |
| 1732 | Georgia founded | |
| 1733 | Pope, An Essay on Man | Excise crisis |
| 1734 | Mary Barber, Poems on Several Occasions | |
| George Sale (trans.), Koran | ||
| 1735 | Pope, Epistle to Arbuthnot and Epistle to a Lady | |
| 1737 | Death of Queen Caroline | |
| 1738 | Elizabeth Carter, Poems Upon Particular Occasions | |
| Samuel Johnson, London | ||
| 1739 | Mary Collier, The Woman’s Labour | War of Jenkins’ Ear |
| 1740 | Samuel Richardson, Pamela | War of Austrian Succession |
| 1741 | David Hume, Essays Moral and Political | |
| 1742 | Pope, The New Dunciad | Robert Walpole resigns as prime minister |
| Henry Fielding, Joseph Andrews | ||
| Edward Young, Night-Thoughts | ||
| 1744 | John Armstrong, The Art of Preserving Health | Declaration of war with France |
| 1745 | Johnson, Shakespeare Proposals | Second Jacobite Rebellion |
| 1746 | William Collins, Odes on Several Descriptive and Allegoric Subjects | Battle of Culloden |
| 1747 | Johnson, The Plan of a Dictionary | |
| Richardson, Clarissa | ||
| 1748 | Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding | Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle |
| Mary Leapor, Poems on Several Occasions | ||
| 1749 | Johnson, The Vanity of Human Wishes | |
| Fielding, Tom Jones | ||
| 1750 | Johnson, The Rambler | London earthquake |
| Mary Jones, Miscellanies in Prose and Verse | ||
| 1751 | Thomas Gray, An Elegy Wrote in a Country Church Yard | Death of Prince Frederick |
| 1752 | Charlotte Lennox, The Female Quixote | |
| 1753 | Jane Collier, The Art of Tormenting | British Museum founded |
| 1755 | Richardson, Charles Grandison | |
| Johnson, A Dictionary of the English Language | ||
| 1756 | Seven Years’ War begins | |
| 1757 | Edmund Burke, A Philosophical Inquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and the Beautiful | |
| 1759 | Oliver Goldsmith, The Bee | Capture of Quebec |
| Johnson, Rasselas | ||
| 1760 | Death of George II | |
| George III begins his reign | ||
| 1761 | Laurence Sterne, Tristram Shandy, vol. 1 | Resignation of William Pitt as prime minister |
| 1762 | James Macpherson, Fingal | British capture Grenada and West Indies from France, and Cuba and Manila from Spain |
| 1763 | Montagu, Travels | Peace of Paris |
| Christopher Smart, A Song to David | ||
| 1764 | Horace Walpole, The Castle of Otranto | |
| 1765 | Johnson (ed.), The Plays of Shakespeare | |
| 1766 | Goldsmith, The Vicar of Wakefield | |
| 1768 | Encyclopaedia Britannica | Royal Academy founded |
| James Boswell, An Account of Corsica | ||
| 1769 | Joshua Reynolds, first Discourse | Shakespeare Jubilee |
| 1770 | Goldsmith, The Deserted Village | Boston Massacre |
| James Hargreaves’s spinning jenny patented | ||
| 1772 | Henry Mackenzie, The Man of Feeling | Financial crash |
| 1773 | Anna Laetitia Aiken Barbauld, Poems | Boston Tea Party |
| 1774 | Lord Chesterfield, Letters to his Son | Copyright law settled by Lords |
| Thomas Warton, History of English Poetry | ||
| 1775 | Richard Brinsley Sheridan, The Rivals | American War of Independence begins |
| 1776 | Thomas Paine, Common Sense | American Declaration of Independence |
| Charles Burney, History of Music | ||
| Edward Gibbon, Decline and Fall, vol. 1 | ||
| 1777 | Burke, Letter on America | |
| 1778 | Thomas Chatterton, Miscellanies | War with France |
| Frances Burney (later d’Arblay), Evelina | ||
| 1779 | Olney Hymns | War with Spain |
| 1780 | Sheridan, School for Scandal published | Gordon riots in London |
| 1781 | Gibbon, Decline and Fall, vols. 2–3 | |
| 1782 | Ignatius Sancho, Letters | |
| 1783 | William Blake, Poetical Sketches | Peace of Versailles |
| George Crabbe, The Village | ||
| 1784 | James Cook, Voyage to the Pacific Ocean | |
| 1785 | William Cowper, The Task | |
| Ann Cromartie Yearsley, Poems | ||
| 1786 | Hester Lynch Thrale Piozzi, Anecdotes of the Late Samuel Johnson | |
| Robert Burns, Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect | ||
| 1787 | Mary Wollstonecraft, Thoughts on the Education of Daughters | United States Constitution is ratified Committee for the Abolition of the Slave Trade is founded in England |
| 1788 | Hannah More, Slavery | First English settlers arrive in Australia |
| Charlotte Smith, Emmeline | ||
| 1789 | Blake, Songs of Innocence | French Revolution begins with the fall of the Bastille |
| Olaudah Equiano, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano | ||
| 1790 | Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France | |
| Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Men | ||
| 1791 | Paine, The Rights of Man |