One of the joys of literature in English is its spectacular abundance.
Even within the geographical confines of England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland, where the majority of texts brought together in this collection originated, one can find more than enough distinguished and exciting works to fill the pages of this anthology many times over.
The abundance is all the greater if one takes, as the editors of these volumes do, a broad understanding of the term literature.
In the course of several centuries, the meaning of the term has shifted from the whole body of writing produced in a particular language to a subset of that writing consisting of works that claim special attention because of their unusual formal beauty or expressive power.
Certain literary works, arousing enduring admiration, have achieved sufficient prominence to serve as widespread models for other writers and thus to constitute something approximating a canon.
But just as in English-speaking countries there have
never been academies empowered to regulate the use of language, so too there have never been firmly settled guidelines for canonizing particular texts.