The English Reader: What Every Literate Person Needs to Know

by Diane Ravitch (Editor), Michael Ravitch (Editor)

In this sequel to the best-selling The American Reader , mother-and-son team Diane and Michael Ravitch have gathered together the best and most memorable poems, essays, songs, and orations in English history, capturing in one compact volume writings that have shaped not only England, but democratic culture around the globe.
Here are words that changed the world, words that inspired revolutions as well as lovers, dreamers, and singers, words that every educated person once knew--and should know today. Framed by two inspiring speeches--Queen Elizabeth before the invasion of the Spanish Armada and Winston Churchill during the dark days of World War II--the book features work by William Wordsworth and W.H. Auden, Thomas Hobbes and John Stuart Mill, Mary Wollstonecraft and Virginia Woolf, Lewis Carroll and Edward Lear, and many other extraordinary writers. Readers will find ardent love poems such as Marlowe's "The Passionate Shepherd To His Love" and Shakespeare's "Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day?" We also find more philosophical works such as Yeat's "The Second Coming" and Matthew Arnold's "Dover Beach." There are excerpts from Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin, Walter Pater and John Ruskin, Edmund Burke and Thomas Carlyle, and other influential thinkers. In addition, the book includes song lyrics
ranging from "Greensleeves" to "Rule, Britannia," and works that, though not considered classics, were immensely popular in their day and capture the spirit of an era, such as W.E. Henley's "Invictus" ("I am the master of my / I am the captain of my soul"). The editors also provide brief, fascinating biographies of each writer.
An exquisite gift, The English Reader offers the best of the best--the soaring language and seminal ideas that fired the imagination of the English-speaking world.

Genres: Literature, Education, Nonfiction

512 pages, Hardcover

First published December 18, 2006

About the author

Diane Ravitch is a Research Professor of Education at New York University, a historian of education, and a research professor at New York University's Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development. She is the Founder and President of the Network for Public Education.
She was U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education from 1991-93.
She was married to Richard Ravitch from 1960 until they divorced in 1986.
She married Mary Butz in 2012.
Aside from her many books on education history and policy, Ravitch writes for The New York Review of Books and maintains an influential blog on education.

Reviews

[Nathan Albright · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have long been fascinated, even if I find much to disagree with, concerning the practice of some writers to demand that others read a certain set of materials [1].  Fortunately, in the case of this book's materials at least, the materials included for English literature are in general materials that most cultured and literary people will read by their own free will even if they never take a formal course in English literature.  That was at least the case for me and I assume that my own self-education in fine literature is not something that is completely unusual.  That is not to say that being familiar already with a vast majority of the works included here means that I agree with the authors' perspectives as it is explained in the introductory materials to the book.  Far from it.  Indeed, this book is a rare one where its selected contents are easy enough to praise but where the introductory commentary seeks to define the literate person as one who is rebellious against God's ways or any kind of larger social obligations and someone who decides what is right and wrong for themselves without any overarching moral code to be held responsible to.

This book contains almost 500 pages of literature, mostly poetry but also including some prose and poetic portions of some drama, over the course of English history organized in a chronological fashion.  The book begins with an introduction and then contains a brave speech by Elizabeth I.  After that comes several sonnets as well as monologues from Shakespeare.  Interspersed around various famous and familiar folk songs are writings from Spenser, Marlowe, Raleigh, Bacon, Donne, Jonson, Hobbes, the KJV, Robert Herrick, Herbert, Browne, Barbara Allen, Milton, and many others.  By and large the editor does a good job at selecting works, including figures like Bunyan, Locke, Newton, Swift, Pope, Wesley, and William Pitt even.  Even when the book deals with 20th century authors the author's touch is generally sound when it comes to choosing among literature (no Wodehouse, though, sadly), with selections including Chesterton, Forster, Woolf, D.H. Lawrence, Eliot, Orwell, Auden, and ending with a couple of stirring World War II speeches from Winston Churchill in 1940, which mark the end of what the author considers to be English literature that every literate person needs to know.  Overall, despite some troubling introductions where the author gives odd praise to different aspects of a writer's persona and creativity, the selections are a good mix of poetry and prose and include some decent political nonfiction as well, an underrepresented literary genre among the classics.

In reading this book the reader will likely be struck by some of the characteristic problems that involve the issue of creativity.  When we praise creativity, as this book does loudly, it is hard to avoid the tension between praising what mankind does in imitatio dei while simultaneously showing a high degree of resistance to there being an overarching divine order in which we have a part.  The divine order that we rebel against by seeking to decide what is right and wrong for ourselves is the same divine order that gives us dignity and honor as beings created in His image.  This book does not address or realize that tension and so it praises creativity while simultaneously failing to realize that the gift of communication and passion and reason that the author celebrates is something that comes from God.  We enjoy the gifts that come from God even when we resent Him and rebel against Him.  The rain falls upon the just and the unjust, and the same is true with regards to literary ability, if this book's diverse and frequently contradictory excerpts has anything to say about the subject.

[1] See, for example:

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2019...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016...

[John Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This now well highlighted book is one where I will review from time to time. I learned far more from this book than most I have read over the years. It doesn’t live up to its subtitle but has an easy flow with a healthy taste of the various writers. While I have never appreciated poetry, this book again required me to test my literary palate once again with mixed results.

It was compelling to read that England was a “rather insignificant nation, politically and culturally” until the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, ending with her death in 1603. Yet, by 1900, a quarter of the world’s population was under the control of the British Empire, their language extended even further, and it was a major generator of science, language, technology, and politics from around the world. One billion people now speak English. It is in that spirit that the writings in this book are essential.

As someone who knows little about the monarchy, other than what I learned from The Crown, it was informative to be reminded of the rich history of the original Queen Elizabeth. The book points out that the future queen’s mother was beheaded when she was three months old and her father went on with having four more wives; Elizabeth was viewed as an illegitimate child but she still strived. She learned seven languages and grew to become the queen – and one of consequences. Queen Elizabeth married the King of Spain, a Catholic, and tried – unsuccessfully – tried to make England Catholic again.

Mostly this book has short bios of famous English writers – and people who wrote in addition to their ‘day jobs,’ such as Prime Minister Churchill. There are many famous ones like William Shakespeare, John Milton, John Locke, Edmund Burke, Charles Darwin, Rudyard Kipling. The book also included many who were not so well known, especially women who fought against the norms of society to have their writing published or some who I should have known for their accomplishments, but I had never read about before including Mary Wollstonecraft who wrote the words to Auld Lang Syne, John Newton who wrote the touching words of Amazing Grace, or the story about King James Bible.
This book brought to life the importance of people I knew nothing or little about, including:
• John Milton (1608-1674), a great English poet, who started by writing hard hitting pamphlets on behalf of the Puritans, people who promoted a more democratic church government. He caused considerable complications for the government and a massive public outcry, including the burning of his books. His life was spared only because of powerful friends.
• Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797) was before her times as a feminist writer and promoter for independence for women. In 1787, she started her career as a writer – a woman writer. She endorsed ideas about equality. She was centuries ahead of her time but left a trail that others could find encouragement long after she passed at a young age.
• Emmeline Pankhurst (1858-1928) had many of the same views of Wollstonecraft, although a century later and even more militant. The mother of five, Pankhurst founded the Women’s Social and Political Union pushing for suffrage and taking to direct action. When arrested for interrupting Cabinet meetings, she led hunger strikes in prison. The governments’ force feeding further the women’s cause. Her work paid off. On the year of her death, British women won the right to vote. She once said, “We are here, not because we are lawbreakers; we are here in our efforts to become lawmakers.” She once said that England was “the most conservative country on earth.”
• Roger Casement (1864-1916) was active for other social change – the freedom of the people of the Congo and later the freedom of Ireland. His work in the Congo resulted in the Belgium government to approach that African country differently. Later, although he had been in the Foreign Service of Brittan, he became identified with the Irish freedom cause. He pushed for Home Rule and later Irish Independence. He was indicted by the militant Irish who were arming to fight the British even though the Eastern Rising was slaughtered by Brittan authorities. Like others during his times, he was discredited when it came to light he was a homosexual and later executed.
• John Newton (1725-1807) wrote the famous hymn, Amazing Grace. He was the captain of a slave ship. He later became a minister.
• Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861) was born into a wealthy sugar plantation family but was plagued with chronic illness and became addicted to opium. She still wrote the famous poem How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. She published a successful book of poetry in 1844. But when she secretly married a man six years older than her, without telling her controlling father, he never spoke with her again. She went on with her life, publishing a book in her own name, usual for the times, and advocating against the slave trade and for women’s rights.
• John Ruskin (1819-1900) who argued that the times they were approaching on industrialization was more of the Middle Ages than the years they passed.
• Lewis Dodgson (1832-1898) wrote treatises on logic under his name but used a different name for the historic success Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass.
There were a number of poems that struck home to me, including a sad poem about the tough life of garment workers called The Song of the Shirt, a poem about inner conflicted called The Night is Darkening Round me, and two different poems about aging: Fall, Leaves, Fall and a sad but powerful poem, Growing Old. There was also a short poem by Christina Rossetti that was dry but powerful called When I am dad, my dearest worth reading.

There were also many interesting points about people or events I knew about, including:
• William Shakespeare evidently was forced to marry an older woman when he got her pregnant. He didn’t seem pleased and spent most of his tie away from her – and his children. It was stimulating reading about Shakespeare after seeing an updated production of his at the Globe Theatre.
• One of the most fascinating stories was about The King James translation of the Bible. The authors covered that this version took more than a century to execute. When an English version was first published in 1526 by William Tyndale. It was so contentious that it cost him his life – in a painful way. Tyndale was burned at the stake. The Church of English wanted to keep the Bible interpretations in control of the clergy since religious meaning had political implications. King James, who had followed Queen Elizaeth, moved forward with his version to take control of the earlier version, the Geneva Bible, that pushed radical thoughts. It was finally published in 1611 with incredible success. Even more, it was embraced by various denominations and promoted around the world until today, it is the largest published book in English. The authors remind us that many phrases In this version of the Bible are included in every day life.
• Winston Churchill’s famous We shall fight on the beaches speech given to the House of Commons on June 4, 1940 is highlighted in the book and spoke about how” out of the jaws of death and shame,” by nearly 1,000 ships and 335,000 troops. He argues that “wars are not won by evacuations.” Reading the words again remind the readers why this leader was able to move a nation into action to defeat the Nazis in “their finest hour.”

Repeatedly, there were stories about mental illness, family problems, and confrontations between people and the norms of the day.

This book makes one think, read more, and understand the value of Brittan as a basis of society. It’s worth a read – more than once.

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't realize every literate person needed so much poetry, but it's good to have a smorgasbord of authors in one place. Pick a few that you like and read more of their work.

[Laura Burroughs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great items that people should have knowledge of in our culture.

[Jeslyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This terrific offering by Diane and Michael Ravitch introduces the reader to the canon of English literature through sonnets, snippets, and song, beginning with Queen Elizabeth I's "Speech on the Eve of Facing the Spanish Armada" and advancing chronologically through the ages, ending with excerpts from Winston Churchill's speeches during WWII. Many, many of the heavy hitters appear, though at 474 pages it isn't possible to encompass all of England's great writers.

Not surprisingly, many of the authors are new to me, and I came away with a new list of authors and works to read further, including John Bunyan, John Ruskin, Robert Louis Stevenson, G. K. Chesterton, George Orwell, Dylan Thomas, and Winston Churchill (I'd love to hear his speeches on CD...).

I've never been much of a poetry reader, but there is plenty of it in here, and I enjoyed most of it very much. I also struggled a bit with some of the authors, but that's to be expected with a group of authors spanning five centuries...

This wasn't a book to "tear through" in a week or so - I spent months on it, reading other titles in between. I also committed to reading it in order, rather than skipping around, and the evolution of England along social, industrial, economic, and literary lines was fascinating.

[Bonnie Faust · Rating 4 out of 5]

Took it out of the library two weeks ago...loved it so much that I ordered a copy from Half.com :) Then I ordered The American Reader!

Excellent introductions to each author to give some background information and carefully selected pieces that represented a variety of genres.

My only wish is that it gave some interpretation and criticism for the pieces as well, although I completely understand why they didn't. As a teacher I could easily use this as a textbook or framework for my curriculum. As a *reader* I think it's just important to read and appreciate without the "noise" of other people's opinions.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

If there's an inbetween liked it and really liked it, that's how I feel. Some of it was good. Some of it was deadly dry. Particularly the Prose. I wanted more notes or better intros to the works. Spoiled by Nortons and Longmans, I guess.

[Emily Briano · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good overview of pre-1950s British lit.

[Ting · Rating 4 out of 5]

Contains all the best of the best! I discovered new poets and writers as well as becoming reaquainted with my old favorites. This book inspired me and definately needs to be added to my bookshelf!