本书是“高级英语选修课系列教材”之一，全书分为上、下两篇。分别从《圣经》、希腊神话和英国社会三个方面进行讲解，以增进学生对英国文学作品和英国社会进程的理解。上篇的第三章英国社会与英国文学包含八个小节，形成了英国从16世纪到20世纪八个主要文学史阶段的线性串结。下篇则按照文学的三大主要文类，细分诗歌、小说和戏剧的基本要素，引领学生欣赏具体的文学作品。

全书各章由导读、文本和思考题组成。导读部分主要介绍该章的内容、基本概念；文本部分提供精选的文学片段和注释；每章最后还配有思考题或练习题，以帮助学生更好地理解和消化教材的内容。可供各大专院校作为教材使用，也可供从事相关工作的人员作为参考用书使用。

本书由上篇文化篇和下篇文学篇组成。上篇着重从圣经、希腊神话和英国社会的角度，来解读英国文学作品和文学史发展特征；下篇按文学的三大主要文类编排，旨在指导学生欣赏英国诗歌、英国小说和英国戏剧。

每章由导读、文本和思考题组成，既有总体引导，又有文本例释，配以练习题，以深化理解。教材内容丰富、选材广泛，可作为高校非英语专业选修课程的教材或外语学院英语专业英国文学课程的参考书，也是广大英语自学者和英国文学爱好者的可选读物。

Part One

Chapter One The Bible and British Literature

 Introduction to the Bible

 Section One: Important Biblical Characters

 Selected Reading: Paradise Lost by John Milton

 Section Two: Important Biblical Themes---Christian Virtues

 Selected Reading: The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare

 Section Three: Biblical Imagery

 Selected Reading: Tess of the d'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy

Chapter Two Greek Mythology and British Literature

 Introduction to Greek Mythology

 Greek Mythology in British Literature

 Selected Readings

Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw

Sonnet ⅩⅩⅢ : Methought I Saw My Late Espoused Saint by John Milton

The Garden by Andrew Marvell

Chapter Three British Society and British Literature

 Section One: English Renaissance and Humanism

 Selected Reading: Sonnet 18 by William Shakespeare

 Section Two: Metaphysical Poetry and English Society in the Early 17th Century

 Selected Reading: A Valediction: Forbidden Mourning by John Donne

 Section Three: Literature in English Revolution and Restoration Period

 Selected Reading: Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan

 Section Four: Neo-Classicism

 Selected Reading: Epigrams by Alexander Pope

 Section Five: English Romanticism

 Selected Reading: The Isles of Greece by Lord Byron

 Section Six: Critical Realism

 Selected Reading: Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

 Section Seven: Aestheticism

 Selected Reading: The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

 Section Eight: British Modernism

 Selected Reading: Araby by James Joyce

Part Two

Chapter Four British Poetry

 Key Questions to the Art of Poetry

 Sample Analysis: The Lake Isle oflnnisfree by William Butler Yeats

 Selected Readings

The Passionate Shepherd to His Love by Christopher Marlowe

Sonnet 43 by William Shakespeare

Death, Be Not Proud by John Donne

A Red Red Rose by Robert Burns

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud by William Wordsworth

When We Two Parted by George Gordon Byron

Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley

The Eagle: A Fragment by Alfred Tennyson

Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night by Dylan Thomas

Chapter Five British Fiction

 Key Questions to the Art of Fiction

 Selected Readings

Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Sons and Lovers by D. H. Lawrence

Chapter Six British Drama

 Key Questions to the Art of Drama

 Selected Readings

Hamlet by William Shakespeare

The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare

The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde

Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett