Halleck's New English Literature

by Reuben Post Halleck

Reuben Post Halleck, a Kentucky educator, wrote Halleck's New English Literature as a textbook for high schools and colleges, building on his earlier and widely used History of English Literature. It traces the growth of English literature from the Anglo-Saxon period through the Norman Conquest, Chaucer, the age of Elizabeth, the Puritan age, the Restoration and the eighteenth century to the Romantic and Victorian writers and beyond. Halleck stresses literary movements and the spirit of each age, and every chapter ends with detailed suggested readings meant to send students to the books themselves. Clear, enthusiastic and well organized, it gives a compact overview of more than a thousand years of writing in English. The full text is available to read online in your browser on Vinteuil, and the first chapter is free.