English Literature in the Sixteenth Century, Excluding Drama by C.S. Lewis
Published 1954 · 696 pages · 180,000 words · about 15 hours at an average pace · Essays & Criticism
How hard is English Literature in the Sixteenth Century, Excluding Drama to read?
English Literature in the Sixteenth Century, Excluding Drama scores 55 out of 100 for difficulty on ReadingRate, making it quite demanding. The score is a weighted composite of nine measures: four of how hard the prose is to parse, five of how hard the meaning is to extract.
- Vocabulary: 65 out of 100
- Scholarly but written with deliberate clarity and wit; occasional Latin quotation.
- Sentence structure: 60 out of 100
- Abstraction: 62 out of 100
- Literary historical generalizations grounded in extensive textual illustration.
- Information density: 80 out of 100
- Encyclopedic range; nearly every page introduces new authors and texts.
- Narrative indirection: 15 out of 100
- Direct evaluative argument; Lewis states his opinions plainly.
- Symbolic density: 12 out of 100
- Analytical throughout with occasional metaphorical characterization.
- Ironic distance: 22 out of 100
- Lewis's wit and willingness to give negative judgments create an ironic distance from academic neutrality.
- Resolution withholding: 100 out of 100
- Each section reaches a definite literary-historical verdict.
- Structural complexity: 45 out of 100
- Chronological survey with complex internal organization by genre and mode.
How English Literature in the Sixteenth Century, Excluding Drama is regarded
English Literature in the Sixteenth Century, Excluding Drama holds a literary regard score of 80 out of 100, weighing its place in the canon, its critical reception, its influence on other writers, and the standing of its author. Regard is measured separately from difficulty: a demanding book is not necessarily an admired one.