Volume 1 of The Cambridge History of Literary Criticism focuses on criticism in the Classical period up to about A.D. 325. This first survey examines the beginnings of critical consciousness in Greece, including the functions of poetry and the role of poets in early Greek society, and continues with authoritative discussion of the critical writings of Aristophanes, Plato, Aristotle and Hellenistic scholars. It examines Roman figures including Horace, Cicero, Quintilian and Tacitus, and also considers Greek critics of the Augustan and imperial periods such as Longinus, and the neo-platonic, Christian and grammatical writers of later antiquity.

"Many of the questions raised by these essays are of intrinsic value for the historian of the early church...Anyone interested in issues of multi-culturalism and cultural identity will find in this book examples and models of necessary scholarly sophistication."

"An important volume...This volume provides the expected historical survey of classical literary criticism, but it is particularly noteworthy for its extended presentations of contemporary approaches to early Greek poetry (by Nagy), to Plato (by Ferrari), and to Aristotle (by Halliwell). It also breaks away from the parochialism of earlier discussions through references to recent works in general literary and critical theory."

Gregory Nagy, George A. Kennedy, G. R. F. Ferrari, Stephen Halliwell, Doreen C. Innes, Elaine Fantham, Donald A. Russell