Home For Halloween: Parts 8 – 14

As a brilliant survey of English literature in terms of changing attitudes towards country and city, Williams' highly-acclaimed study reveals the shifting images and associations between these two traditional poles of life throughout the major developmental periods of English culture. Country and city A problem of perspective Pastoral and counter-pastoral Golden ages Town and country Their destiny their choice The morality of improvement Nature's threads Bred to till the earth Enclosures, commons and communities Three around Farnham Pleasing prospects The green language Change in the city People of the city Knowable communities The shadowed country Wessex and the border Cities of darkness and of light The figure in the city Surviving countrymen The border again The city and the future The new metropolis Cities and countries A survey of English literature in terms of changing attitudes towards country and city, Williams's study reveals the shifting images and associations between these two traditional poles of life throughout the major developmental periods of English culture This book is a sustained and thoroughgoing attempt to relate English literature to its social background. This book has given us a right and timely admonition against sentimental falsifications of rural life and of nature. - Back cover.