Beckson's three-pronged introductions, embracing Antiquity, Humanism and Rationalism are all succinct, suave and judicial. Aimed at a college market and level which is steadily being invaded by the accelerated high school population, this is valuable for what it gets so handily between two covers -- Longinus on the Sublime and Sidney's Apology, along with the easier to find Aristotle on Tragedy, Dryden-on Dramatic Poesy, Johnson's Shakespeare essay and Wordsworth's ""manifesto."" Reliable, rewarding and readable.