Critical introductions to a range of literary topics and genres. The emotional power and intellectual challenge of metaphysical poetry are such that it still appeals to modern readers. This book looks at the many ways in which readers at different times have read metaphysical poetry, suggesting approaches for readers today.

The Gothic Tradition is a new title in the Cambridge Contexts in Literature series. It is designed to support the needs of advanced level students of English literature. Each title in the series has the quality, content and level endorsed by the OCR examination board. However, the texts provide the background and focus suitable for any examination board at advanced level.The series explores the contextual study of texts by concentrating on key periods, topics and comparisons in literature. Each book adopts an interactive approach and provides the background for understanding the significance of literary, historical and social contexts. Students are encouraged to investigate different interpretations that may be applied to literary texts by different readers, through a variety of activities and questions, the use of study aids, such as chronologies and glossaries, and the inclusion of anthology sections to exemplify issues.

Critical introductions to a range of literary topics and genres. Shakespeare's reputation since his death has been so spectacular that we can be misled into thinking of him as a genius working in inspired solitude. But theatre is practical, collaborative and commercial, and plays emerge from the historical, cultural and social influences of their birth. Shakespeare on Stage provides invaluable information on the theatre of Shakespeare's lifetime, but it also explores a wider context.

Critical introductions to a range of literary topics and genres. Looking back on 20th century British drama from its' historical, social and political perspective enables the reader to set each play in a broader context. Contents include a selection of play extracts from well-known authors including Harold Brighouse, John Osborne, Harold Pinter, Tom Stoppard and Timberlake Wertenbaker.

Critical introductions to a range of literary topics and genres. Landscape and Literature introduces students to the exploration of different ways in which landscape has been represented in literature. It focuses on key aspects of this topic such as the importance of pastoral, contrasts between city and country, eighteenth-century developments from neo-classical to picturesque and Romantic ideas of the sublime, regional novels of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and varied styles of twentieth-century poetry from the Georgian poets to Heaney and Hughes. Poems and prose extracts from writers such as Marvell, Wordsworth, George Eliot, Hardy, Lawrence and Seamus Heaney are included.

The Modern Short Story is a new title in the Cambridge Contexts in Literature series. It is designed to support the needs of advanced level students of English literature. Each title in the series has the quality, content and level endorsed by the OCR examination board. However, the texts provide the background and focus suitable for any examination board at advanced level.The series explores the contextual study of texts by concentrating on key periods, topics and comparisons in literature. Each book adopts an interactive approach and provides the background for understanding the significance of literary, historical and social contexts. Students are encouraged to investigate different interpretations that may be applied to literary texts by different readers, through a variety of activities and questions, the use of study aids, such as chronologies and glossaries, and the inclusion of anthology sections to exemplify issues.

Critical introductions to a range of literary topics and genres. This book encompasses experiences of the British Empire such as life in Nigeria before the arrival of the British, through to the British retreat from the Empire after the Second World War and on to reggae and 'dub' beats of black British poetry today. Includes writing from Indian, African, South African and Caribbean authors such as Salman Rushdie, Chinua Achebe, J.M. Coetzee and Derek Walcott.

Satire is a new title in the Cambridge Contexts in Literature series for advanced level students of English Literature. Each title in the series has the quality, content and level endorsed by the OCR examination board. However, the texts provide the background and focus suitable for any examination board at advanced level.The series explores the contextual study of texts by concentrating on key periods, topics and comparisons in literature. Each book adopts an interactive approach and provides the background for understanding the significance of literary, historical and social contexts. Students are encouraged to investigate different interpretations that may be applied to literary texts by different readers, through a variety of activities and questions, the use of study aids, such as chronologies and glossaries, and the inclusion of anthology sections to exemplify issues.