5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent

P. · 20 August 2024

(function() { P.when('cr-A', 'ready').execute(function(A) { if(typeof A.toggleExpanderAriaLabel === 'function') { A.toggleExpanderAriaLabel('review_text_read_more', 'Read more of this review', 'Read less of this review'); } }); })(); .review-text-read-more-expander:focus-visible { outline: 2px solid #2162a1; outline-offset: 2px; border-radius: 5px; } This is an excellent book. It gives an authoritative overview of the period and is written with Lewis’s usual style. The price was also brilliant as I had been offered the same book in a discount bookshop for almost three times as much. I would certainly recommend this wonderful book.

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful stuff!

L. · 21 April 2013

The size and the price might keep you away, but if you have enjoyed CS Lewis's other works and you are keen on English Literature then this volume, which he spent a considerable amount of time to complete, will surprise you with its readability. I've enjoyed it very much indeed. I've included short excerpts on The Church History Blog, so you can sample a few portions there first if you like.

4.0 out of 5 stars Lewis at the day job

R.W. · 15 August 2011

I hope you are as lucky as I was when you buy this; I received mine at the appointed time and, imagine my pleasure on opening the long-searched for package to discover it was a first edition. Additionally, having been in the library of the Weston-Super-Mare Grammar School for Boys, it had not had a great deal of use!BOOK 1 - Late MedievalClose of the Middle Ages in ScotlandClose of the Middle Ages in EnglandBOOK 2 - "Drab"Religious Controversy and TranslationDrab Age VerseDrab and Traditional VerseBOOK 3 - "Golden"Sideny and SpencerProse in the "Golden" PeriodVerse in the "Golden" PeriodEpilogue: New Tendencies"When I began this book, I had the idea of giving each author the space in proportion to the value I set on him; but I found it would not do." Lewis then goes on to outline some of the challenges to his authorship, e.g. even "bad books" require enough space to consider them, if only from the point of view of taste and setting the parameters by which to judge the "good books".In these 1944 Clarke Lectures at Trinity College, Cambridge, Lewis shows himself to be a master of his craft right at home in the complexities of judging sixteenth century writers and, considering the length of the text, it is easy to understand why he omitted the drama!Scholarly and lengthy with the real "feel" of the authoritative Oxford Don but, for those not lucky enough to attend the lectures, it is a good substitute.

The man knew his English literature

G.Y. · 9 January 2023

(function() { P.when('cr-A', 'ready').execute(function(A) { if(typeof A.toggleExpanderAriaLabel === 'function') { A.toggleExpanderAriaLabel('review_text_read_more', 'Read more of this review', 'Read less of this review'); } }); })(); .review-text-read-more-expander:focus-visible { outline: 2px solid #2162a1; outline-offset: 2px; border-radius: 5px; } We know C.S. Lewis as a popular theologian, a writer of children’s stories like The Chronicles of Narnia and science fiction stories, the man who gave us “Mere Christianity,” “A Grief Observed,” and “The Screwtape Letters. “We know him as one of the Inklings, a small group of Oxford dons (and a few others) who met regularly at The Eagle and Child (or Bird and Baby) Pub and C.S. Lewis’s rooms in Oxford to discuss their works in progress, life, religion, and everything else.What we often forget is that, before he was a Christian and even after, before his wartime broadcast for the BBC, and before Narnia, Lewis was a scholar. He was a Fellow and Tutor of English Literature at Oxford, and he was chair of Medieval and Renaissance Literature at Cambridge University.In 1944, he gave a series of lectures at Cambridge under the general title of “English Literature in the 16th Century.” He eventually edited the lectures and published them in 1954 as “English Literature in the 16th Century (Excluding Drama).” Almost 70 years later, HarperCollins has republished the volume under its 1954 title. It’s a broad choice of subject, made somewhat easier by the “exclusion of drama,” which means the lectures did not include any discussion of Elizabethan drama, including Shakespeare’s early plays.Still, the subject is large. And Lewis’s grasp of the subject is large, if not astounding. He covers poetry, theology (and it’s a period of a lot of theology), political writing, philosophy, and fiction. And while academic readers may chafe somewhat, the text is highly readable and accessible by general readers – likely a reflection of how the book started life as a lecture series. At times, it seems almost conversational.The broad strokes of understanding are simply described. Literature in the 16th century was marked by a battle between the Scholastics and the Humanists, which the Humanists eventually won (I don’t think Lewis viewed that as a positive development). The was marked by the theological battles between, first, the Catholic establishment and the English translators like John Wycliffe, and then the religious wars between the Protestants and the Catholics. Sir Thomas Moe and John Wycliffe were martyred a year apart and for different reasons. Lewis also devotes considerable attention to one of the most important works of the 16th century – “The Book of Common Prayer.”Lewis notes that, for Scotland, the century began as an almost golden age in literature, while for England it was what he calls the “Drab Period.” No one, he notes, would have expected the Drab Period to eventually give way to the amazing English literature of the last half of the century. But it did, and he says he can’t offer a reason for why it happened.In detail, he covers the greatest writers of the century – Edmund Spenser, Tyndale John Knox, More, Christopher Marlowe, John Donne, Shakespeare (his sonnets).and many others. His descriptions and understanding make it clear that he’s not only read these authors, he’s read about these authors. The breadth and depth of Lewis’s scholarship is astonishing.“English Literature in the Sixteenth Century” is not only an in-depth introduction to the great and not-so-great works of the period; it’s also a display of Lewis’s scholarly knowledge and understanding. And it was this incisive mind that also gave us his well-known works on Christianity, which Lewis himself might see as of a piece.

For the Lewis reader moving beyond his popular works.

V.B.M.I. · 14 December 2019

Lewis in his field and perhaps at his very best. A hidden gem for Lewis readers familiar with his specifically Christian writings.

A Cliff Notes of the rtenaisance

D.S. · 28 July 2013

Gives the Frameword to that Odd explotion of Litery talent that was the age of ELIZABEH I. Many minor & plain bad authors are delalt with as in nessesary to create context .Although Shakespeare Hooker & Marlow are dealt with more thoroughlyUseful as backround to an BA and also for those intresting in the birth of Science

Excluding drama, and also excluding the Chronological Table and ...

M. · 11 March 2018

Excluding drama, and also excluding the Chronological Table and extensive Bibliography in this paperback version. But, still a 5-Star purchase. On the hunt for a PDF of the table and bibliography.

Five Stars

B.S. · 31 March 2016

One of my favorite books by one of my favorite authors.