Transcriber's Notes: Some typographical and punctuation errors have been corrected. A complete list follows the text. Words italicized in the original are surrounded by _underscores_. Words in bold in the original are surrounded by =equal signs=. Characters superscripted in the original are inclosed in {} brackets. More Transcriber's Notes follow the text. Select English Classics SIX CENTURIES OF ENGLISH POETRY TENNYSON TO CHAUCER _TYPICAL SELECTIONS FROM THE GREAT POETS_ BY JAMES BALDWIN, PH.D. AUTHOR OF "THE BOOK LOVER" ETC., ETC. SILVER, BURDETT & COMPANY NEW YORK . . . BOSTON . . . CHICAGO COPYRIGHT 1892, BY SILVER, BURDETT & COMPANY. PUBLISHERS' NOTE. This is the first volume of a series of SELECT ENGLISH CLASSICS which the publishers have in course of preparation. The series will include an extensive variety of selections chosen from the different departments of English literature, and arranged and annotated for the use of classes in schools. It will embrace, among other things, representative specimens from all the best English writers, whether of poetry or of prose; selections from English dramatic literature, especially of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries; choice extracts from the writings of the great essayists; selections from famous English allegories; a volume of elegies and elegiacal poetry; studies of English prose fiction, with illustrative specimens, etc. Each volume will contain copious notes, critical, explanatory, and biographical, besides the necessary vocabularies, glossaries, and indexes; and the series when complete will present a varied and comprehensive view of all that is best in English literature. For supplementary reading, as well as for systematic class instruction, the books will possess many peculiarly valuable as well as novel features; while their attractive appearance, combined with the sterling quality of their contents, will commend them for general reading and make them desirable acquisitions for every library. TO TEACHERS AND STUDENTS. There is but one study more interesting than the history of literature, and that is the study of literature itself. That the former should often be mistaken for the latter is scarcely to be wondered at when we consider the intimate and almost indivisible relationship existing between them. Yet, in truth, they are as capable of separate consideration as are music and the history of music. [Sidenote: Anglo-Saxon Poetry.] [Sidenote: The Transition Period.]