Daiches' first published work was "The Place of Meaning in Poetry", published in 1935. He was a prolific writer, producing works on English literature, Scottish literature, literary history and criticism as well as the broader role of literature in society and culture. His "The Novel and the Modern World" (1939) was well received, and his expertise on the modern period led to his co-editing "The Norton Anthology of English Literature" (1962). He also wrote the two-volume "A Critical History of English Literature" and edited the "Penguin Companion to Literature – Britain and the Commonwealth" (1971). He wrote biographical and critical works on Virginia Woolf, Robert Louis Stevenson, Robert Burns, D. H. Lawrence, John Milton, and Sir Walter Scott. He also wrote two autobiographical volumes, books on Scotch whisky, the King James Bible, and the cities of Edinburgh and Glasgow, a biography of Bonnie Prince Charlie, and a volume of poetry.