painting of an old ship "Methinks I see in my mind a noble…nation rousing herself like a strong man after sleep, and shaking her invincible locks."
—John Milton, from Areopagitica

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Table of Contents

PART 1: THE WAR AGAINST TIME
Comparing Literary Works
John Donne Song Poem 422
A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning Poem 424
Holy Sonnet 10 Poem 426
Meditation 17 Poem 428
Comparing Literary Works
Ben Jonson On My First Son Poem 436
Still to Be Neat Poem 438
Song: To Celia Poem 440
Comparing Literary Works
Andrew Marvell To His Coy Mistress Poem 446
Robert Herrick To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time Poem 449
Sir John Suckling Song Poem 450


PART 2: A NATION DIVIDED
Comparing Literary Works
John Milton Sonnet VII ("How soon hath Time") Poem 464
Sonnet XIX ("When I consider") Poem 466
from Paradise Lost Epic 468
Comparing Literary Works
Amelia Lanier from Eve's Apology in Defense of Women Poem 482
Richard Lovelace To Lucasta, on Going to the Wars Poem 484
To Althea, from Prison Poem 485


PART 3: THE TIES THAT BIND
Comparing Literary Works
Samuel Pepys from The Diary Nonfiction 496
Daniel Defoe from A Journal of the Plague Year Fiction 503
Comparing Literary Works
Jonathan Swift from Gulliver's Travels
from A Voyage to Lilliput Fiction 514
from A Voyage to Brobdingnag Fiction 520
Comparing Literary Works
Alexander Pope from An Essay on Man Poem 530
from The Rape of the Lock Poem 532
Comparing Literary Works
Samuel Johnson The Preface from A Dictionary of the English Language Nonfiction 548
Selected Entries from A Dictionary of the English Language Nonfiction 551
James Boswell from The Life of Samuel Johnson Nonfiction 554
Comparing Literary Works
Thomas Gray Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard Poem 570
Anne Finch, Countess of Winchilsea A Nocturnal Reverie Poem 576


PART 4: FOCUS ON LITERARY FORMS: THE ESSAY
Comparing Literary Works
Samuel Johnson On Spring Nonfiction 588
Joseph Addison from The Aims of the Spectator Nonfiction 592