Professor of English Literature of King’s College, London observes thus: “This is an extremely bold and far-reaching attempt at a comprehensive theory of poetry. There is evidence everywhere of extensive learning and of acute and sensitive literary mind. The author draws with equal ease on Indian poetics and on English and European literature, aesthetics and philosophy. The candidate stands very much in the tradition of that manner of thinking which may be associated with I.A. Richards, of whom he is no unworthy follower. This is not an easy thesis on which to pass judgment. I am impressed and convinced by the distinction of mind and the continuity of thought. I believe, it is worthy of the highest doctoral degree, if that is now D.Litt. should be described and therefore of publication.”

Table of Contents:
Volume 2 Book - VII Caroline Literature 1. Blank Verse and The New Couplet The central period of English prosody—Distribution of Caroline poetry—Milton—His life—The earlier poems—Comus—The blank verse—Lycidas—Sonnets—The longer poems—Their blank verse—Their matter—Milton’s place in English prosody—Cowley—His couplets—The lyrics—The Pindarics—Denham—Waller—The “reform of our numbers.” 2. The Metaphysicals—The Lyric Poets—The Miscellanists, etc. Meaning of the term “metaphysical”—Crashaw—George Herbert—Vaughan—Herrick—Carew—Randolph—Habington—Cartwright—Corbet—Suckling—Lovelace—Cleveland and others—Marvell—Bishop King—Sherburne, Godolphin, Stanley, Cotton, Brome—Quarles, More, Beaumont—Davenant—Chamberlayne—Miscellanies. 3. The Drama till the Closing of the Theatres Massinger—Ford—Shirley—Randolph—Suckling—Davenant—Brome—Nabbes and Davenport—Glapthorne. 4. The Golden Age of the English Pulpit—II 566 Jeremy Taylor—Fuller—South—Barrow—Baxter—Chillingworth, Hales, and others. 5. Miscellaneous Prose Milton’s prose—Its faults and beauties—Sir Thomas Browne—Religio Medici—Vulgar Errors—Urn Burial—The Garden of Cyrus—Clarendon—Hobbes—Felltham—Howell—Walton. 6. Scots Poetry and Prose Reformation verse—Alexander Scott—Montgomerie—Sir Robert Ayton—The Earl of Stirling—Drummond—Prose—The Complaint of Scotland—Knox and Buchanan—King James—Sir Thomas Urquhart. Interchapter 7 Book - VIII The Augustan Ages 1. The Age of Dryden—Poetry The term “Augustan”—Its use here—Dryden—His life—His earlier poems—The satires, etc.—The Fables—His verse—Butler—Restoration lyric—Satires of Marvell and Oldham. 2. The Age of Dryden—Drama The stage at the Restoration—The Heroic play—Dryden’s comedies—Etherege— Shadwell—Sedley—Mrs. Behn—Wycherley—The Rehearsal—The great artificial comedy—Congreve—Vanbrugh—Farquhar—Cibber—Mrs. Centlivre—Restoration tragedy—Dryden’s Heroic plays—His blank-verse plays—His play-songs and prologues—Crowne and Settle—Otway—Lee—Southerne and Rowe. 3. The Age of Dryden—Prose Tendency of Restoration prose—Its pioneers—Cowley’s prose—Dryden—Temple—Tillotson—Halifax—Sprat—The Royal Society and style—Bunyan—His four chief things—The English Rogue—Thomas Burnet—Glanvill—The Diarists—Evelyn—Pepys—Roger North—Minors—Locke—Degradation of style at the close of the century—L’Estrange—Collier—Tom Brown—Dunton. 4. Queen Anne Prose Swift—His life—His verse—His prose—His quality and achievement—The Essayists—Steele—His plays—Addison’s life—His miscellaneous work—His and Steele’s Essays—Bentley—Middleton—Arbuthnot—Atterbury—Bolingbroke—Butler and other divines—Shaftesbury—Mandeville—Berkeley—Excellence of his style—Defoe. 5. Pope and His Elder Contemporaries in Verse Divisions of eighteenth-century verse—Pope: his life—His work—His character—His poetry—His couplet and paragraph—His phrase—His subjects—Garth—Blackmore—Congreve, etc.—Prior—His metrical importance—Gay—Young—Parnell—Lady Winchelsea. Interchapter 8 Book - IX Middle and Later Eighteenth-Century Literature 1. The Poets from Thomson to Crabbe Thomson—His life—His minor poems—The Seasons—The Castle of Indolence—Dyer—Blair and Green—Shenstone—Collins—Gray—Byrom, Savage, and others—Akenside—Resurrection of the Ballad: Percy and others—Dodsley’s Miscellany—Smart—Mason—Falconer—The Wartons—Churchill—Chatterton—Beattie—Langhorne and Mickle—Cowper—Crabbe—Blake—Burns—His predecessors from Ramsay to Fergusson—His poetic quality. 2. The Eighteenth-Century Novel Richardson—Fielding—Smollett—Sterne—Minor novelists—Walpole—Beckford—Mrs. Radcliffe—Lewis. 3. Johnson, Goldsmith, and the Later Essayists Writers-of-all-work—Johnson’s life—His reputation—Work—And style—Goldsmith—His verse—His prose—Other essayists. 4. The Graver Prose Lateness of history in English—Hume—Robertson—Minors—Gibbon—The Autobiography—The Decline and Fall—His style—Burke—His rhetorical supremacy—Qualities of his style and method—Theology and philosophy—Warburton—Paley—Adam Smith—Godwin—His importance and position. 5. Eighteenth-Century Drama The conundrum of the drama—Fading of eighteenth-century tragedy—Minor comic writers: the domestic play—Goldsmith—Sheridan—His three great pieces 6. Miscellaneous Writers The letter-writers—Lady Mary—Chesterfield—Horace Walpole—“Junius”—Boswell Interchapter 9 Book - X The Triumph of Romance 1. The Poets from Coleridge to Keats The turning-point—Coleridge—His criticism—Wordsworth—His inequality—His theories—His genius and its limitations—Southey—Scott—His poetical quality—Byron—His reputation—And contribution to English poetry—Shelley—His poems and his poetry—Keats—Landor—Moore—Campbell. 2. The Novel—Scott and Miss Austen The novel, c. 1800-1814—Scott’s adoption of it—Waverley and its successors—His general achievement—Miss Austen—Miss Edgeworth—Miss Ferrier—Galt—Ainsworth and James—Lord Beaconsfield—Bulwer-Lytton—Others: Lockhart—Peacock—Lever—Marryat—Michael Scott—Hook and others. 3. The New Essay Progress and defects of the earlier essay—Magazines and Reviews—The Edinburgh: Jeffrey—Its contributors: Scott’s criticism—Brougham—Sydney Smith—The Quarterly—The new Magazine—Blackwood’s: “Christopher North”—Lockhart—The London—Lamb—Leigh Hunt—Hazlitt—De Quincey—Landor’s prose—Cobbett. 4. The Last Georgian Prose Southey’s prose—Historical writing: Milford, Roscoe, and others—Hallam—Milman—Arnold, Grote, and Thirlwall—Mackintosh and Bentham—Macaulay. 5. The Minor Poets of 1800-1830 Rogers—Leigh Hunt and Hogg—A group of minors—Elliott, Mrs. Hemans, and “L.E.L.”—Hood—Praed—Macaulay—Hawker and Barnes—Hartley Coleridge—Sir H. Taylor—Home—Darley—Beddoes. Interchapter 10 Book - XI Victorian Literature 1. Tennyson and Browning Tennyson: his early work and its character—The volumes of 1842—His later life and works—The Princess—In Memoriam—Maud—The Idylls of the King, etc.—Robert Browning—Periods of his work—His favourite method—His real poetical appeal—Edward FitzGerald—Elizabeth Barrett Browning. 2. The Victorian Novel Dickens—Thackeray—His early work—Charlotte Brontë—Mrs.  Gaskell—Charles Reade—Anthony Trollope—George Eliot—Charles Kingsley—Others—R.L. Stevenson. 3. History and Criticism Carlyle—His life and works—His genius—His style—Kinglake—Buckle—Freeman—Green—Froude—Matthew Arnold—Mr. Ruskin—Art in English literature—Symonds—Pater. 4. Poetry Since the Middle of the Century Matthew Arnold—The “Spasmodics”—Clough—Locker—The Earl of Lytton—The Pre-Raphaelites—Their preparation—Dante and Christina Rossetti—William Morris—O’Shaughnessy—Others. 5. Miscellaneous J.S. Mill—Mansel—John Austin—Others—Newman—Borrow—Others—Science—Darwin—The Vestiges—Hugh Miller—Huxley Conclusion Index