The Norton Anthology of English Literature (Ninth Edition) (Vol. A)

I'm glad I got this three volume set instead of the all-in-one book, which is way too thick and heavy to carry around easily. It's probably also much cheaper than the ones sold in most college bookstores. These books were in good condition as described by the seller, and arrived quickly.

I have to agree with all of my teaching assistants on this book, the annotations ruin it. Half of them seem to be unnecessary, and other useful information is left out.
That being said, this is a far better version to buy than the one volume. The divided volumes made it much easier to bring to class, and presumably kept me from breaking my back.

I have ordered books from here before, and usually they are in better condition, but I bought a used book. It is ripped on some pagses, written it, and one section comes out of the book, but I would have spen $40more on a new one so this one is great! Good save for sure.

I have ordered books from here before, and usually they are in better condition, but I bought a used book. It is ripped on some pagses, written it, and one section comes out of the book, but I would have spen $40more on a new one so this one is great! Good save for sure.

This is one large book broken down into three separate books by centuries. I rented the 9th edition but I received the 8th edition of the 16th/17th century book so none of my pages numbers match up with my course.

I was very pleased with the speedy delivery and accurate description of the quality and content of the product. I received the Norton Anthology well before the date expected, (plenty of time before the school semester began--in Hawai'i), which is always a relief. The price of the product, (Brand New) plus shipping was less than if I purchased it USED at the college bookstore. I honestly recommend this seller to those interested.

The name on the the store picture for the book is “The Norton Anthology of English Literature” 8 received 3 books titled “The Norton Anthology of World Literature” Definitely not the right books!

The questions seem to make this book sound like fiction book. It is more of a textbook as it's an anthology of historical English/British literature. I appreciate that the translations are mostly decipherable (some translations still leave a lot to interpret or to study in order to understand).
If I weren't a student needing it for a class, I would not be at all interested since Brit Lit does not pique my interest which also means I wouldn't really recommend this to anyone unless I knew they were a Brit Lit buff.

Was in good condition, although quite a bit of writing throughout the book. When I see that the book is like new, I expect it to look like new. The one benefit from this book though was the notes that the purchaser had written were quite helpful.

The questions seem to make this book sound like fiction book. It is more of a textbook as it's an anthology of historical English/British literature. I appreciate that the translations are mostly decipherable (some translations still leave a lot to interpret or to study in order to understand).
If I weren't a student needing it for a class, I would not be at all interested since Brit Lit does not pique my interest which also means I wouldn't really recommend this to anyone unless I knew they were a Brit Lit buff.

Was in good condition, although quite a bit of writing throughout the book. When I see that the book is like new, I expect it to look like new. The one benefit from this book though was the notes that the purchaser had written were quite helpful.

For required text, came as described. Large hefty book, not a fan of the "bible" like pages, but I suppose thicker paper would have made this monster unmanageable. I just feel like im going to hulk out and rip the pages every time I turn them.

I gave the product a five star rating because the product arrived in excellent conditions. Furthermore, the delivery was fast and I had absolutely none problems with the product.
i will definitely recommend the product to my family and friends, for the book is absolutely brilliant.

The seller shipped the book quickly and I received my book before my class started. The book was was in good shape which is how the seller described it. I would definately purchase from this seller in the future.

Bought this book and the account told me that this book was in very good condition and it is not at all. The cover page is falling off, the edges of the book are completely curled up and inward so the book never closes all the way, and there's multiple scribbles throughout the book and torn pages.

Alright so I ordered this expecting a crap textbook that was used more than a pair of hand me down underwear.
To my wonder, it came in brand new condition, it was flawless.
Not sure if it will come in like this for everyone, but I got lucky.
Turning the pages felt like I was taking away the virginity of a beautiful woman.
It felt good.

How can one explain personal taste when making a judgement?
However whilst Norton have included many 'classic' authors, there are important ones missing as well as the inclusion of various obscure writers.
The print is small.

This is a required textbook, condition of book was great even though used. Looking forward to learning more about the 18th century in England. I wish instructors would choose complete packages as it cuts down on cost, rather than having to buy individual books from different sets.

I gave the product a five star rating because the product arrived in excellent conditions. Furthermore, the delivery was fast and I had absolutely none problems with the product.
i will definitely recommend the product to my family and friends, for the book is absolutely brilliant.

The seller shipped the book quickly and I received my book before my class started. The book was was in good shape which is how the seller described it. I would definately purchase from this seller in the future.

Bought this book and the account told me that this book was in very good condition and it is not at all. The cover page is falling off, the edges of the book are completely curled up and inward so the book never closes all the way, and there's multiple scribbles throughout the book and torn pages.

Alright so I ordered this expecting a crap textbook that was used more than a pair of hand me down underwear.
To my wonder, it came in brand new condition, it was flawless.
Not sure if it will come in like this for everyone, but I got lucky.
Turning the pages felt like I was taking away the virginity of a beautiful woman.
It felt good.

How can one explain personal taste when making a judgement?
However whilst Norton have included many 'classic' authors, there are important ones missing as well as the inclusion of various obscure writers.
The print is small.

This is a required textbook, condition of book was great even though used. Looking forward to learning more about the 18th century in England. I wish instructors would choose complete packages as it cuts down on cost, rather than having to buy individual books from different sets.

The book was sent in a short period of time. I received the book a day after it was sent. The book was in outstanding condition. I am surprised I got it for such a low price. It looks brand new. Very well taken care of. I highly recommend this seller.

Twice in a row, I have received an incomplete set. Would not recommend. It is hard to take a class without the complete set of books.

Updated 2/3/2015: On the third order, I finally received all three volumes.

This was the required set of textbooks for my Brit Lit class. It came in really good time (5 days or so, minus the weekend?) and in great condition. Five weeks into the semester, this seems like a good survey of the literature of the times. It has helpful footnotes and introductions, and the formatting is very comfortable to read.

I resent that I had to buy this for a mandatory class for my major. I feel like I'm being ripped off from professors sharing their real knowledge about literature because of some preconscribed program wherein I (as a student) am being bled for textbook $$. The pages are thinner than a motel bible, and the soft cover bends too easily in a backpack.

I guess this 3 volume set was a good rental for my son, last semester. However, not very pleased that upon returning said rental along with another text book, my credit card has now been charged as purchasing this set because it was said to have been "missing" from my return shipment. Not complaint about the text, just the rental receiving department.

This was a book I needed for college. It's a fat, chunky book. I bought it here because it was so much cheaper than the college bookstore. I got a deal here on the store it was way cheaper. Very happy with my purchase.

I only recieved Volume C of the package. I needed the entire set for my literature class; I'm still waiting for Volumes A and B to arrive, though I doubt they will. I'm incredibly disappointed, and will defer from ordering textbooks from the store.

Book is not terrible. Being forced to buy it for a class was. If you like British Literature you'll love this book. If no you will hate that it's not even worth the effort to sell when you are done with it

While there have been changes made to the Norton Anthology of English Literature, Volume 1 (or A), there's no mistaking that in its genre, this is a masterpiece. It's easy to quibble with which selections make it in and which versions are used, etc. But this is an incredibly rich resource of early English literature.

This is one of the books that helped foster my love of literature, and that of many others. It is a portal to any number of authors you wish to read in more detail. It's hard not to love a book that gives you introductions to the following authors and works - and many, many more!

Bede and Beowulf
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Chaucer's Canterbury Tales
Julian of Norwich
Thomas Mallory and the Arthurian Legends
Sir Thomas More and Utopia
William Tyndale, John Calvin, John Foxe
The Book of Common Prayer
Queen Elizabeth
Spencer's The Fairie Queene
Sir Walter Raleigh
Many of Shakespeare's sonnets and 2 of his plays
John Donne
Francis Bacon
George Herbert
John Dryden
Jonathan Swift
Alexander Pope
And John Bunyan

The Norton Anthology series does exactly what it should: introduce its readers to a smorgasbord of the best of English literature. Don't let the size or price daunt you. The size is worth it for the breadth and depth of content. As for price, there are many inexpensive used editions around, going back to many earlier editions.

This book should be on every bookshelf!

This is currently by far the best anthology of 16th and 17th century English literature out there. Perhaps the best improvement since the last edition is the inclusion of the complete text of Sidney's Defence (or Apology for) of Poetry. It is hard to beat a book which contains Twelfth Night, King Lear, book 1 of The Faerie Queene, Utopia, Doctor Faustus, Volpone, the Duchess of Malfi, and all of Paradise Lost, plus Donne, Herbert, and the rest. Really there's a lifetime of interest just in this volume. It usually comes packaged with the Middle Ages and the Restoration and 18th century, but (apart from Seamus Heaney's Beowulf) I hardly look at them. This one I carry around on trips.

While there have been changes made to the Norton Anthology of English Literature, Volume 1 (or A), there's no mistaking that in its genre, this is a masterpiece. It's easy to quibble with which selections make it in and which versions are used, etc. But this is an incredibly rich resource of early English literature.

This is one of the books that helped foster my love of literature, and that of many others. It is a portal to any number of authors you wish to read in more detail. It's hard not to love a book that gives you introductions to the following authors and works - and many, many more!

Bede and Beowulf
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Chaucer's Canterbury Tales
Julian of Norwich
Thomas Mallory and the Arthurian Legends
Sir Thomas More and Utopia
William Tyndale, John Calvin, John Foxe
The Book of Common Prayer
Queen Elizabeth
Spencer's The Fairie Queene
Sir Walter Raleigh
Many of Shakespeare's sonnets and 2 of his plays
John Donne
Francis Bacon
George Herbert
John Dryden
Jonathan Swift
Alexander Pope
And John Bunyan

The Norton Anthology series does exactly what it should: introduce its readers to a smorgasbord of the best of English literature. Don't let the size or price daunt you. The size is worth it for the breadth and depth of content. As for price, there are many inexpensive used editions around, going back to many earlier editions.

This book should be on every bookshelf!

If you want to read selections of poetry from Ben Jonson, for example, which is included in the print text, you have to locate the PDF of the Jonson's poetry at their online site. What a major, major pain in the butt. ALL OF JONSON'S POETRY SHOULD BE IN THE MAIN TEXT OF THE KINDLE EDITION THAT ONE PURCHASES FOR THE GOODLY SUM OF $50. NO EXCUSES FOR THE MISSING TEXT(S). Come on fellas, do the right thing!!! Kenneth D. Fink

While there have been changes made to the Norton Anthology of English Literature, Volume 1 (or A), there's no mistaking that in its genre, this is a masterpiece. It's easy to quibble with which selections make it in and which versions are used, etc. But this is an incredibly rich resource of early English literature.

This is one of the books that helped foster my love of literature, and that of many others. It is a portal to any number of authors you wish to read in more detail. It's hard not to love a book that gives you introductions to the following authors and works - and many, many more!

Bede and Beowulf
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Chaucer's Canterbury Tales
Julian of Norwich
Thomas Mallory and the Arthurian Legends
Sir Thomas More and Utopia
William Tyndale, John Calvin, John Foxe
The Book of Common Prayer
Queen Elizabeth
Spencer's The Fairie Queene
Sir Walter Raleigh
Many of Shakespeare's sonnets and 2 of his plays
John Donne
Francis Bacon
George Herbert
John Dryden
Jonathan Swift
Alexander Pope
And John Bunyan

The Norton Anthology series does exactly what it should: introduce its readers to a smorgasbord of the best of English literature. Don't let the size or price daunt you. The size is worth it for the breadth and depth of content. As for price, there are many inexpensive used editions around, going back to many earlier editions.

This book should be on every bookshelf!

The Norton Anthology of English Literature - Vol. 1 / 0-393-95469-2

If you are looking at purchasing this book, you've either been required to purchase it for a college course, or you are considering investing in an English literature anthology for your own library and you want to know if this anthology is worth your money. If you are required to buy this book for a course, my review won't matter to you much one way or another, so this is slated towards the latter group.

This is an excellent resource for English literature selections and excerpts. A good deal of the selections are poetry or lyrical selections; most of the prose selections are small excerpts meant only to give you the "feel" of the author's writing style. Nor does this book waste space duplicating works readily available elsewhere - the Shakespeare section is entirely lyrical, under the assumption that a Shakespeare dilettante can easily find access to the plays elsewhere. Invest in a copy if you have any interest in early English literature (particularly poetry) and you won't be sorry. The authors and contents represented include:

OLD ENGLISH SELECTIONS
- Battle of Maldon
- Bede and Caedmon's Hymn
- Beowulf
- Chaucer, Geoffrey
- Dream of the Rood
- Everyman
- Kempe, Margery
- Malory, Sir Thomas
- Piers Plowman
- Second Shephers' Play
- Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
- Wanderer
- York Play of the Crucifixion

SIXTEENTH CENTURY AUTHORS
- Ascham, Roger
- Campion, Thomas
- Daniel, Samuel
- Davies, Sir John
- Drayton, Michael
- Foxe, John
- Gascoigne, George
- Golding, Arthur
- Herbert, Mary
- Hoby, Sir Thomas
- Hooker, Richard
- Howard, Henry
- Lane, Ralph
- Lanyer, Aemilia
- Lyly, John
- Marlowe, Christopher
- More, Sir Thomas
- Nashe, Thomas
- Ralegh, Sir Walter
- Shakespeare, William
- Sidney, Sir Philip
- Skelton, John
- Southwell, Robert
- Spenser, Edmund
- Wroth, Lady Mary
- Wyatt, Sir Thomas

SEVENTEENTH CENTURY AUTHORS
- Bacon, Fracis
- Brown, Sir Thomas
- Burton, Robert
- Carew, Thomas
- Cowley, Abraham
- Crashaw, Richard
- Denham, Sir John
- Donne, John
- Halkett, Lady Anne
- Herbert, George
- Herrick, Robert
- Hobbes, Thomas
- Hyde, Edward
- Jonson, Ben
- King, Henry
- Lilburne, John
- Locke, John
- Lovelace, Richard
- Marvell, Andrew
- Milton, John
- Newton, Sir Isaac
- Osborne, Dorothy
- Suckling, Sir John
- Traherne, Thomas
- Vaughan, Henry
- Waller, Edmund
- Walton, Izaak
- Webster, John

EIGHTEENTH CENTURY AUTHORS
- Addison, Joseph
- Astell, Mary
- Boswell, James
- Bunyan, John
- Butler, Samuel
- Collins, William
- Congreve, William
- Cowper, William
- Crabbe, George
- Defoe, Daniel
- Dryden, John
- Finch, Anne
- Gay, John
- Goldsmith, Oliver
- Gray, Thomas
- Johnson, Samuel
- Montagu, Lady Mary Wortley
- Pepys, Samuel
- Pope, Alexander
- Prior, Matthew
- Smart, Christopher
- Steele, Sir Richard
- Swift, Jonathan
- Thomson, James
- Wilmot, John

~ Ana Mardoll

True each edition reflects a different way of looking at the material and occasionally a new insight. However coming from near zero and have read the basic literature without the aid of a trained eye, to tell you what you are missing.

I am having hours of great fun just reading from front to back. It is like getting may free books (annotations, introductions, and explanations) all wrapped up in one. Not only do you learn more about the literature, but you can retain more when the story has meaning and is in a context.

I do have to confess that there is some literature that I never heard about. So in the process of reading I am also expanding my repertoire.

Large book, well written. Reasonable textbook price for the size. However, not too thrilled with the quality of the pages. I understand that they need to be that thin on a 3,000+ paged book in order to even be usable, but the pages are super thin/delicate.

As a self styled student of literature, I use Norton Anthologies in lieu of actual mentors. Personally, I am fascinated by the evolution and tradition of English Literature. This edition is a base text for me, that I work off of for further study. It is not for everybody, but I find it invaluable. Thank You...

Of course as a student one is bound to hesitate before spending fifty quid on a book, but this one is absolutely worth ist. Abrams and Greenblatt have not just gathered what is indispensable in English literature; the Norton Anthology features brilliant introductions and short biographies, which are concise and readable. All the works presented are scrupulously annotated. And finally the reader gets suggestions for further reading which really help.
There may be a bias towards poetry and high literature in the selection. Poetry, however, is the only genre in which an anthology of this size can give you almost everything you want to know. Individual edititons of classic novels or plays, however, are a lot easier to get hold of than books of poetry, so I feel the editors' choice is fully justified. You will find yourself turn back to the Norton Anthology even long after you have finished college; it is a book that opens up new worlds.

If you're a book lover, how can you not love a book like this? It was my required reading for a literature class, and I was all too happy to have an excuse to buy it. Satisfyingly fat at 3000 pages, it exudes that delicious book smell when you flip through it, and its matte-sheen cover feels good in your hands and protects its sizable contents quite well.

For me, this was worth getting just for Seamus Heaney's wonderful translation of Beowulf. You can smell the ocean and hear the armor clank as this readable version places you right there in the sixth century. Along with the usual excerpts from such works as the Canterbury Tales, you get complete versions of King Lear, Twelfth Night, Utopia, and Paradise Lost. After looking over the excerpts from Gulliver's Travels, it appears that sections 1,2, and 4 are presented complete, with only some material edited from section 3, so you get almost all of that, too. The footnotes for this, and all the other works, are enormously useful.

I have a few gripes about the book, however these don't merit the subtraction of a star in the rating. First - this book is SO heavy. Obviously there was no way around this in publishing, because to put this many pages on good-quality paper the laws of physics are working against you. But I have literally suffered backache from bringing it around with me in my book bag, and have had to sorrowfully leave it at home at times because of this. Second, I wish it included a clear list of which major works are presented complete, for those of us who want to make sure to read the whole thing. My final beef is with the editorial introduction to The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale from the Canterbury Tales. Reading this rant about "antifeminist writings" was like stepping from the high halls of classic academia into the junior-college classroom of some washed-up 1970s holdover. I HATE agenda in my education, and in my opinion, applying 20th century (yes, 20th) sentiments to 14th century literature is anachronistic and inappropriate. But such is the state of education these days, and here is your evidence in a volume that should have known better. However, that has been the only thing I have come upon that irritated me.

Buying this book is a great way to get a bunch of classics all at once, and there is so much to it that you can enjoy a long read or a short read anytime you want, once you find a way to work around its mass. I look forward to the years of reading pleasure I'll get from my copy.

If you like classical English literature, you'll love this collection of poetry, fictional prose, and nonfictional prose all scribed by authors from that grand old island we call Great Britain. I used it as a text book, but I can see why people would want it on their shelves to take out and occasionally peruse. It's great for those times when you feel as though you've had enough of modern authors and reruns of Hill Street Blues. It's also a great conversation piece. I can imagine a couple inviting their close friends over and, having nothing else about which they may talk, mentioning the gigantic collection of literature this couple owns and currently displays proudly on their coffee table. My views are that such a book shouldn't go unnoticed by passers-by in the local bookstore. It's great to have this in your collection of masterpiece literature. When you run out of sappy romance novels, pick this up and start from "Beowulf" and finish with a little Joseph Conrad. You'll finish it in no time. So, give me a call in my corner of Louisiana when you're done... if you're still alive.

I WANTED TO BUY THIS BOOK-BUT
No where on this page does it say just what is in the book. It gives all the contributors and their awards, but just not what authors and pieces of literature are in the book. I wanted to replace a textbook that was caught in a flood, a book from college that I treasured, but I want certain authors. Why didn't the publishers tell us who is included in the text and what works are in it.

I bought the Norton Anthology of English Literature, seventh edition, volume 1, for one of my core classes in my English lit major, and I've found it to be a very worthy addition to my literature collection. Heaney's verse translation of Beowulf(as compared to the prose translation of the 6th edition) is engaging and fun to read(not to mention wonderful poetry). Chaucer's Canterbury Tales appear in their original Middle English, while Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is translated into modern English. This edition contains samples of numerous authors up until the 18th century, and it's an excellent buy for a survey of English literature.

Bought the book for school. I'm an English major. While British Literature is not my most favorite class, this book is pretty decent. The footnotes and introductions to each author are helpful. The supplemental online stuff is helpful also, if you want to do further reading for some reason.
The book itself is pretty hefty at 3000+ pages. I'm not a fan of the super thin tissue paper pages, because it makes the book feel too delicate and not very practical for highlighting, but the book would have probably been way too thick and heavy otherwise. If the publisher had split the book up into two or three separate volumes with thicker pages, that would have been preferable.

Interface: Poetry and Selected Readings, Volume One, 2010

If you love ancient english and reading in a foreign tongue than this book is for you. Some of the words are difficult to understand but that is the challenge in reading ancient literature. Should be read slowly to fully appreciate the beauty of the words. Good job!!!

In graduate school I read and reread this work, studied and re- studied it.

As it contains many the major masterpieces ( or excerpts of them) of English Literature it is a work which lends itself to this kind of reading and rereading. The introductions to each individual writer are also informative and in many cases a help in reading the work.

It is probably still the best one- volume introduction to English Literature that there is.

I'm a university professor, and I've used the Norton anthologies in my surveys of English literature for years. But it's absurd that every few years, a new edition is brought out (with little or no substantive changes), forcing students to buy a new text rather than the used texts that are widely (and cheaply) available. A further absurdity is that the hardcover version of the 7th edition is only two dollars more than the paper. Anyone interested in buying the Norton anthologies for reading pleasure (rather than as a required text) would be just as well suited by a used copy of either the fifth or sixth editions.

I absolutely love that I got the three book set new for the same price that my classmates paid for a used single volume edition at the bookstore. Having the book in three parts makes carrying it around campus much easier considering the single volume anthology could be compared to a cinderblock in size. I am happy with my purchase and glad it arrived on time.

I'm required to have all 3 volumes of this set for school. It's hardly available anywhere and I've a horrible time trying to acquire the full set. Needless to say I was extraordinarily angry to open my package and find only the first volume...

Change your description guys, seriously. I would've been happy if I'd paid to just get the first one, but I assumed I was getting all 3, considering the product title. Fix it.

I must be sensible enough to acknowledge that for volume alone this anthology has some merit. This comment was more true in the pre-1980's and the arrival of a little thing called the "www" and the internet. Carry one giant unwieldy book printed on what feels like ultra thin less than "one ply" bathroom paper. Too thin to take notes upon and too large to read from - truly how does one read Chaucer out of this book? I looked at my copy from the 80's and this one and was horrified by the ignorance of the editorial commentary that serves as introductions to the authors and major geo-political-economic shifts in time.
I am sure Chaucer while writing for an illiterate King that he contemplated his anti-feminist stance and his portrayal of the abject degradation of woman at the time of his writing. Really? Yes really its is one of the many examples of ignorance we are asked to swallow by the so called experts on the editorial board. Women were extremely empowered in all areas. This simplistic "world view" that is the guilt complex of educated white - usually American - men is not only inaccurate it casts a shadow on the judgment of the editors in their selections.
Also this is the kind of volume that substitutes for a real class syllabus. Let's lump english lit into this text book and its other editions and make some easy cuts along historical timelines and viola you have an English lit class. I pose the question: if one can tolerate reading Donne why not read him thoroughly and texts that contrast his and those (many) that run circles around his. Let's look at the treatment of language and concepts of sensibility, Nature, Aristotle, God etc....go deep instead of wide, Make students who do not study literature take a survey class that glosses over thousands of important works. Everyone else go deep please.

The best available anthology of for English Literature through the Eighteenth Century. Includes Seamus Heaney's epic translation of Beowulf, the Second Shepherd's Play, King Lear, Dr. Faustus, ALL of Milton's Paradise Lost, The Duchess of Malfi, and many many others.

If books can lead us to whole new worlds, the NAEL leads us to a whole new universe. This is a book that, just as it contents do, truly transcends time. There is so much education, information, and beauty in this book, that it is not a expenditure as much as it is an investment.
This is a book that can fit into any mood you may have on a day to day basis. From the tragic action of Beowulf to the sentiment of Milton to the comedy of Chaucer. This is a book for a lifetime, not a semester.
Pundits who criticize NAEL for it's "perceived" over coverage of poetry, are being short-sighted and unappreciative. One should not question the quantity of literature, but the quality. Those same people would probably criticize Dickens and Steinbeck for being too "wordy".
This book is a must-have for anyone with the smallest amount of passion for English Literature!

This edition of the Norton Anthology should be required for any literate person to own and at least leaf through, if not completely consume. It's a terrific collection of the bests of English literature, with very insightful footnotes on each piece. A good purchase, and was a good choice for my professor, who assigned it as the text for an Eng. Lit course. The only problem was the size - this tome is a monster! Definitely not something to carry to the beach, or even on a plane.

If you really love English literature or you just like reading, this book is great for just that purpose and much more. It is enthralling and provides a tidbit of history in order for the reader to understand different themes in a literary and historical context. It may also encourage you to do further research on any given topic. If you are an English teacher, this would be a good book to use. You will not be disappointed.

For people interested in how our English language came to be, and of words, word origins and the like, this text is the one to have.The footnotes and word descriptions are very helpful in understanding the text.The pages are thin, such as one would find in a bible, but of good quality.This book was required for an upper level English class at LSU in Baton Rouge. Though other texts may be available, this one packs much information into a compact volume. I highly recommend it.

I bought this book for a class in college. I'm not into English literature enough to really be able to say if this is a good book or not. I found it all to be rather boring, which is why I went into the medical field...

Interface: Poetry and Selected Readings, Volume One, 2010

If you love ancient english and reading in a foreign tongue than this book is for you. Some of the words are difficult to understand but that is the challenge in reading ancient literature. Should be read slowly to fully appreciate the beauty of the words. Good job!!!

In graduate school I read and reread this work, studied and re- studied it.

As it contains many the major masterpieces ( or excerpts of them) of English Literature it is a work which lends itself to this kind of reading and rereading. The introductions to each individual writer are also informative and in many cases a help in reading the work.

It is probably still the best one- volume introduction to English Literature that there is.

I'm a university professor, and I've used the Norton anthologies in my surveys of English literature for years. But it's absurd that every few years, a new edition is brought out (with little or no substantive changes), forcing students to buy a new text rather than the used texts that are widely (and cheaply) available. A further absurdity is that the hardcover version of the 7th edition is only two dollars more than the paper. Anyone interested in buying the Norton anthologies for reading pleasure (rather than as a required text) would be just as well suited by a used copy of either the fifth or sixth editions.

I absolutely love that I got the three book set new for the same price that my classmates paid for a used single volume edition at the bookstore. Having the book in three parts makes carrying it around campus much easier considering the single volume anthology could be compared to a cinderblock in size. I am happy with my purchase and glad it arrived on time.

I'm required to have all 3 volumes of this set for school. It's hardly available anywhere and I've a horrible time trying to acquire the full set. Needless to say I was extraordinarily angry to open my package and find only the first volume...

Change your description guys, seriously. I would've been happy if I'd paid to just get the first one, but I assumed I was getting all 3, considering the product title. Fix it.

I must be sensible enough to acknowledge that for volume alone this anthology has some merit. This comment was more true in the pre-1980's and the arrival of a little thing called the "www" and the internet. Carry one giant unwieldy book printed on what feels like ultra thin less than "one ply" bathroom paper. Too thin to take notes upon and too large to read from - truly how does one read Chaucer out of this book? I looked at my copy from the 80's and this one and was horrified by the ignorance of the editorial commentary that serves as introductions to the authors and major geo-political-economic shifts in time.
I am sure Chaucer while writing for an illiterate King that he contemplated his anti-feminist stance and his portrayal of the abject degradation of woman at the time of his writing. Really? Yes really its is one of the many examples of ignorance we are asked to swallow by the so called experts on the editorial board. Women were extremely empowered in all areas. This simplistic "world view" that is the guilt complex of educated white - usually American - men is not only inaccurate it casts a shadow on the judgment of the editors in their selections.
Also this is the kind of volume that substitutes for a real class syllabus. Let's lump english lit into this text book and its other editions and make some easy cuts along historical timelines and viola you have an English lit class. I pose the question: if one can tolerate reading Donne why not read him thoroughly and texts that contrast his and those (many) that run circles around his. Let's look at the treatment of language and concepts of sensibility, Nature, Aristotle, God etc....go deep instead of wide, Make students who do not study literature take a survey class that glosses over thousands of important works. Everyone else go deep please.

The best available anthology of for English Literature through the Eighteenth Century. Includes Seamus Heaney's epic translation of Beowulf, the Second Shepherd's Play, King Lear, Dr. Faustus, ALL of Milton's Paradise Lost, The Duchess of Malfi, and many many others.

If books can lead us to whole new worlds, the NAEL leads us to a whole new universe. This is a book that, just as it contents do, truly transcends time. There is so much education, information, and beauty in this book, that it is not a expenditure as much as it is an investment.
This is a book that can fit into any mood you may have on a day to day basis. From the tragic action of Beowulf to the sentiment of Milton to the comedy of Chaucer. This is a book for a lifetime, not a semester.
Pundits who criticize NAEL for it's "perceived" over coverage of poetry, are being short-sighted and unappreciative. One should not question the quantity of literature, but the quality. Those same people would probably criticize Dickens and Steinbeck for being too "wordy".
This book is a must-have for anyone with the smallest amount of passion for English Literature!

This edition of the Norton Anthology should be required for any literate person to own and at least leaf through, if not completely consume. It's a terrific collection of the bests of English literature, with very insightful footnotes on each piece. A good purchase, and was a good choice for my professor, who assigned it as the text for an Eng. Lit course. The only problem was the size - this tome is a monster! Definitely not something to carry to the beach, or even on a plane.

If you really love English literature or you just like reading, this book is great for just that purpose and much more. It is enthralling and provides a tidbit of history in order for the reader to understand different themes in a literary and historical context. It may also encourage you to do further research on any given topic. If you are an English teacher, this would be a good book to use. You will not be disappointed.

For people interested in how our English language came to be, and of words, word origins and the like, this text is the one to have.The footnotes and word descriptions are very helpful in understanding the text.The pages are thin, such as one would find in a bible, but of good quality.This book was required for an upper level English class at LSU in Baton Rouge. Though other texts may be available, this one packs much information into a compact volume. I highly recommend it.

I bought this book for a class in college. I'm not into English literature enough to really be able to say if this is a good book or not. I found it all to be rather boring, which is why I went into the medical field...

I am writing this not neccesarily as a review, but as a reply to some of the other reviews on the Norton Anthology of English Literature. The NAEL consists of mainly poetry is because for the most part that IS English Literature (Literature does not mean just BOOKS you know). In fact, the novel didn't exist until the 18th century. As for why it's assigned in classes (even if you don't read the entire thing)? Well, maybe your professor figured that it would be a valuable referrence book, as well as a life-long companion-- which it is.

This anthology has some great literature contained within its bindings, but I find some of the changes made since the sixth edition to be questionable; I was very disgruntled to see the Shakespearian songs taken out. The index and table of contents also have something to be desired. It was especially frustrating for me, as a college student, to look at a syllabus created by professor who does not provide us with page numbers to look for poems that were in the anthology, but not in the index. It is very annoying to spend more time looking for a peice than I actually do reading it. The translation of Beowolf is very good, and easy to understand; it was well adapted into modern English without losing its rhyme scheme.

As an undergraduate, I used to think that the canon of English literature was as fixed as were the stars tacked onto the heavens. Now as a professor myself, I realize that the stars above truly rotate, often in wild, unpredictable ways. If any reviewer wishes to review the latest edition of the NORTON ANTHOLOGY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE, that reviewer would find it wise to compare the evolution of the series from the first edition to the last. What changes have the editors wrought over the decades? What conclusions can anyone draw from these changes? Now these are weighty questions indeed, and there may be no adequate reply readily available. But I shall start with the obvious. (a) For whom is the Norton intended? Clearly the primary target audience is the undergraduate taking a two semester course in Masterpieces of English Literature. A secondary target would be those seeking to prepare for the GRE in English Literature. I think we can discount the second as a concern for the editors. Now who are the authors most likely to be analyzed in a one or two semester course, given the time limitations of a typical 15 meeting schedule? Some authors and works should be a given: Beowulf, Chaucer, More, Sidney, Marlowe, Shakespeare, Raleigh, Donne, Jonson, Marvell, Milton, Bacon, Hobbes, Butler, Dryden, Swift, Pope, Gray, Johnson, Boswell. That's quite a mouthful to digest in one semester. And look whom I have omitted: the Gawain poet, Everyman, Hooker, Wyatt & Surrey, Spenser, Skelton, Campion, Herrick, Herbert, Vaughn, Suckling, Burton, Bunyan, Defoe, Addison & Steele, Goldsmith. I defy any teacher to cover in any meaningful way even a smattering of the given, let alone the omitted. The question boils down to numbers, which in turn boil down to the ever shifting winds of literary political correctness. I can sense a change in the way this wind blows as I peruse the evolution of the Norton. Authors come and authors go, but bulk numbers remain. It is almost as if the editors wish to justify the inflated retail price by cramming in nearly 2,000 pages of literature, knowing full well that the vast majority of works and authors included will almost certainly never be used. And this brings me to (b). How to make the book more user friendly?
There are some things the editors are doing right. I like the extended discussions of each period. These historical analyses are not mere digressions; they are needed to place the literature of that era in context, and the failure of the reader to do so will merely convince him that literature is not much different from science: a bunch of works, unconnected to anything. I also like the brief introductions to the various authors; they too are instructive. What I suggest now is something that is so commonsensical that I am sure it will never come to light. Back in high school, my lit texts were written as a sort of junior version of the Norton, and I do not use 'junior' as a pejorative. These high school texts were uncluttered with the notion that text should not have response to text. As I reread my high school texts, I am often amazed at the thoughtful questions and guides that followed each selection. Apparently, the Norton editors do not allow for undergraduates to have a guide of some sort. Well, I suggest that much of the twin Nortons can be safely cut down by a judicious excising of, let's face it, unread authors of interest only to old fogies like me. Why not replace these authors with questions, guides, topics to pursue, just the sort of things that come in handy in really getting at the core meaning of literature? The answer, of course, is that for the editors to do what I suggest would require them to relearn the basic fears and inadequacies that they probably felt as unlearned undergraduates when they first realized that the literary stars in the sky are not fixed at all, but depend for their meaning on the trickiest of all props: human variability of opinion. Since that is not going to happen, I fear that all future generations of students will have to groan under the weighty mass of bulk pages and undigested ideas.

Don't pick this book up if you want a Sunday read or something. This anthology is for serious minded academic folk who want to school themselves in writing from England. I can't imagine why you would get it if you were not a student.

In any case, it gives you many works, and all are preceded by very well written introductions, including information on the author's life.

I am considering keeping it even though my course is over.

I ordered this book for my literature studies and it is an excellent resource or English poetry, prose and literature. Not only was it more economical to order from the store, but it came sooner than expected. If you want one of the best companions for lit, this it the one.

This was a required textbook for a college course. Once again I saved $$$$ by buying my textbooks, new and used, at the store and another major on-line auction house. Why anyone would line up like lemmings to get slaughter by the high prices and poor service at college bookstores is beyond my meager comprehension. While everyone else was spending hours in line holding 20 pounds of books, I was one clicking and having my books in a couple days.

I used this anthology in college and made the mistake of selling it back to the bookstore. Years later, I bought a copy for my personal collection. I love the wide selection, the notes about the author, time period, place, etc.

There seems to be nothing wrong or displeasing about this book aside from its overall dimensions. The stories are assembled well. There is even a nice history about the authors in some instances. Like I said previous, its one gigantic book. I think it would have been perfect to maybe cut it in half, labling them "volume 1a" and "volume 1b". Oh well, its still a pretty good book.

I really like the material within the book. I did not realize that it was one huge book instead of 2-3 smaller books. It is awkward to carry to class so if you need a book to handle with comfort get the separate volumes. As for content it is very good!

An anthology that is priced at $59.56 and only contains three pages? The publishers need to do some SERIOUS revisions to their presentations. I hope these errors are rectified as well as the other demurrals posted by reviewers.

I got this book for my British Literature II class for Fall 2012. It was horrible. First, the book is extremely thick and a paperback. Why have a thick book like this be a paperback?! Plus our professor rarely used the textbook. We did read some literature in the textbook, but very little. The majority of the stuff we read came out of the two supplementary books we had to have and a collection of stories the professor had loose-leafed. If you are a literature professor who teaches this subject, take this advice from a student: don't go with this textbook.

I bought this book for my British literature class, expecting the book that is presented by the title and image above.. but when it came, it was not that book at all but rather another Norton book.. one that is completely useless to me. so then, I had to go out at the last minute and buy again the same book I was supposed to be getting to begin with. it was very annoying.

I got the book in less time that was even alotted originally. And it was wrapped like a present and had a card in the top of it with my order information. I just felt like I got the book for Christmas :) It was the best and speediest delivery I have ever had on this site! Keep up the good work!

I purchased this item and needed it right away so I paid for the additional expediated shipping and received this item within 3 days. The book was in perfect condition, brand new. I was very please with my order and would definately order from the seller again.

Thanks

because carrying this book is like carrying a brick or two. It's so ridiculously fat I can't believe my teacher picked this book for our class. Mainly a collection of poems, plays, and short stories from the great writers of Old english literature, my favorites so far have been Beowulf and Sir Gawain. The book initself could have somewhat larger font when it comes to the footnotes and the summaries of the authors lives often at the beginning before reading a collection of works by that author. other than that, no problems with the book really.

In perfect condition (new from the store). The new hardback book that I purchased from the store was cheaper (after shipping charges) than the used paperback book at a local book store. Can't beat that. Fast shipping as well. Thanks again the store.com.