This book is neither a History of English Literature nor a Guide to Literary Theory; it is what the title clearly implies -- an Introduction to the Study of English Literature. What we have tried to do is to combine diverse elements--literary theory. Linguistic and literary history, cultural history and the history of ideas--that are relevant to the study and enjoyment of English Literature. But although the main emphasis in the book is on the study of English literature in terms of Western critical categories, there are also references to literature and the criteria enunciated in Indian treaties on poetics. The total aim of the book is simply to help the student to view English literature in its varied extrinsic forms and appropriate backgrounds, and also to see it in its true inwardness and universality.