The aim of the author, who has long been interested in the history of ideas, has been to give some illustrations of the ways in which at various periods English poetry has reflected current views of the human mind, with special reference to such topics as its place in the cosmos, its relations with the body, the connections between sense, passions, and reason, the problem of soul and its possible survival after death. The subject matter is important, for many of the more self-conscious writers have been profoundly affected by their assumptions about the senses and passions, the reason and...

In this volume, Professor Bronson is primarily interested in the three worlds which appear in Chaucer's poetry: the dream world; the world of the mundane existence and waking observation; and the world of imagined life through reading. A study of these worlds raises questions about the kind of truth which resides in each, the literary values which can be extracted from them, their essentail relation to one another, and the perennial problem of appearance and reality.

Professor Bronson is also concerned with the general critical approach to Chaucer's writings. He feels that many...

The Alexander Lectures for 1949-50. In his Preface, Professor Brown says, "Isolating a single element or group of elements in the novel, and considering it in unreal separation from all the other elements which it actually fuses, is artificial, but so is all criticism. The artificiality is justified if when one turns back from the criticism to the novels these appear more intelligible and more delightful. That is the test." Applying the test to Dr. Brown's present work, the method is more than justified by the results. they are titled: "Phrase, Character, Incident," "Expanding Symbols,"...