The anthology is broadly inclusive, with writing from America as well as from the British Isles. Memoirs, letters, political texts, travel writing, prophetic literature, street ballads, and pamphlet literature are all here, as is a full representation of the literary poetry and prose of the period, including the poetry of Jonson; the prose of Bacon; the metaphysical poetry of Donne, Herbert, Marvell, and others; the lyric verse of Herrick; and substantial selections from the poetry and prose of Milton and Dryden. (While Samson Agonistes is included in its entirety, Milton’s epic poems have been excluded, in order to allow space for other works not so readily accessible elsewhere.)
The editors have included complete works wherever possible. A headnote by the editors introduces each author, and each selection has been newly annotated.
Alan Rudrum, a Professor Emeritus of English Literature at Simon Fraser University and the anthology’s senior editor, has published extensively on seventeenth-century British literature.
Joseph Black, a Professor in the English Department at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, has published articles on sixteenth- and seventeenth-century British literature and book history.
Holly Faith Nelson, who obtained her doctorate from Simon Fraser University, is a Lecturer at Trinity Western University.