This definitive Companion provides a critical overview of literary culture in the period from John Milton to William Blake. Its broad chronological range responds to recent reshapings of the canon and identifies new directions of study.

Introduction: David Womersley. Notes on Contributors. Part I: Contexts, Issues and Debates:. 1. The Civil War and British Literature: Martin Dzelzainis. 2. Women Writers and Readers: Sue Wiseman. 3. Literature and Party: Brean Hammond. 4. Sentiment and Sensibility: Ann Jessie van Sant. 5. Classical Imitation: David Hopkins. 6. Forgery and Plagiarism: Nick Groom. 7. Literature and Nationhood: Murray Pittock. 8. The Book Trade: Michael Suarez. Part II: Readings: . 9. Milton, Areopagitica: Martin Dzelzainis. 10. Herrick, Hesperides: Peter Davidson. 11. Marvell, Horatian Ode: Thomas Healy. 12. Hobbes, Leviathan: David Wootton. 13. Katherine Philips, Poems: Jane Spencer. 14. Lucy Hutchinson, Memoirs: David Norbrook. 15. Bunyan, Grace Abounding: Anita Pacheco. 16. Milton, Paradise Lost: Nicholas von Maltzahn. 17. Aphra Behn, The Rover: Ros Ballaster. 18. Rochester, Satyr Against Reason a: Paddy Lyons. 19. Aphra Behn, Poems: Sarah Prescott. 20. Dryden, Fables: David Hopkins. 21. Congreve, The Way of the World: Malcolm Kelsall. 22. Swift, Tale of a Tub: Claude Rawson. 23. Pope, Windsor Forest: Christine Gerrard. 24. Gay, Trivia: David Nokes. 25. Defoe, Journal of the Plague Year: David Womersley. 26. Eliza Haywood, Fantomina: Sarah Prescott. 27. Thomson, The Seasons: David Fairer. 28. Pope, Dunciad: Valerie Rumbold. 29. Duck, Poems on Several Subjects: Bridget Keegan. 30. Akenside, Pleasures of the Imagination: David Fairer. 31. Collins, Ode on the Poetical Character: Katherine Turner. 32. Richardson, Clarissa: Tom Keymer. 33. Johnson, The Vanity of Human Wishes: Tom Kaminski. 34. Fielding, Tom Jones: Richard Braverman. 35. Gray, An Elegy a:Katherine Turner. 36. Johnson, Dictionary: Anne McDermott. 37. Johnson, Rasselas: Anne McDermott. 38. Smart, Jubilate Agno: Alun David. 39. Sterne, Tristram Shandy: David Fairer. 40. Macpherson, Fingal: Dafydd Moore. 41. Mackenzie, The Man of Feeling: David Womersley. 42. Boswell, The Life of Johnson: Bruce Redford. 43. Blake, Innocence and Experience: Jon Mee. Part III: Periods:. 45. 1681--1688: Abigail Williams. 46. 1701--1713: Stuart Sherman. 47. 1733--1742: Christine Gerrard. 48. 1756--1776: Nick Groom. Part IV: Genres and Modes:. 49. Pamphlets and News: Joad Raymond. 50. Political Writing: David Wootton. 51. Philosophical Writing: Peter Walmsley. 52. Historical Writing: Karen Oa Brien. 53. Religious Writing: Brian Young. 54. The Novel: Simon Varey. 55. Poetry: David Fairer. 56. Drama: Paulina Kewes. Index.