This study of Thomas Hardy provides a substantial introduction to his six major novels and his poems. It deals more briefly with the minor fiction.

Hardy now seems a more important novelist and poet than at any previous time. This importance is only partly due to his capabilities as a social historian or provincial chronicler. Far more important than these is his faithful exploration of the daily trials and tragedies of men and women as feeling beings. Man and woman in love, man and woman 'up against it', are his theme.

Mr. Butler's study of his work emphasizes this central aspect of...

Since his death in 1930, D. H. Lawrence has become not only the most controversial English novelist of the twentieth century, but also one of the most widely read and quoted writers in the language.

In this new study of his major fiction, Alastair Niven revalues all the novels, tracing how Lawrence developed through them, both as an artist and a thinker. He pays particular attention to the relationship of Lawrence's language to his themes. At the centre of the book Dr. Niven discusses "The Rainbow" and "Women in Love" as the diverse products of a single creative intention, nothing less...

This straightforward and businesslike study shows the nature of Keats's true achievement: the quality of the poetry.

Originally published in 1965, this book is an introduction to the reading and study of English literature.

Mr Mayhead examines Scott's contemplation of the detribalization of Scotland after the Jacobite rebellions, noticing a vein of shrewd moral wisdom within his works.