A Brief History of English Literature
based on: Invitation to Literature, Cornelsen 1980 (pp. 261 - 267)

The Old and Middle English Periods
Most important writers: Geoffrey Chaucer (ca. 1340-1400)

Most important works: Beowulf (author unknown, 8th century), Canterbury Tales (Geoffrey Chaucer, late 1300s)

General information: In Old English literature, the most common type of writing were poems, which date back as early as 500 AD During the time when the lower class spoke Middle English, an English dialect mixed with French and Latin elements, romances arose, popular stories of the adventures of great heroes and their battles, like the one of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table.

The Elizabethan Age
Most important writers: William Shakespeare ( 1415-1491), Christopher Marlowe (1564 - 1593), Ben Jonson (1573 - 1637), Edmund Spenser (1552 - 1599)

Most important works: Romeo and Juliet (William Shakespeare, ca. 1595), Doctor Faustus (Christopher Marlowe, 1588), Epicoene or the silent woman (Ben Jonson, 1609)

General information: By the late 1500s, the English language was much like the one we know today. During the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1588-1603), literacy was on the rise in England, largely due to the invention of the printing press in 1476 by William Caxton,, which made books easily available. Poetry and drama both developed during this time, the first works of prose fiction were written, and the then living writer William Shakespeare is still considered one of the greatest authors ever to have written in English.

The Seventeenth Century
Most important writers: John Milton (1608-1674), John Dryden (1631-1700), John Donne (1572-1631)

Most important works: The Sermons (John Donne, year?), Paradise Lost (John Milton, 1667),

General information: The early 17th century was dominated by the so-called metaphysical poets, who used elaborate imagery, paradox and reason in dealing with sense, sensibility and eternity. The King James Version was a new English version of the Bible, influenced by all subsequent prose in English. During the Puritan's rule over England (1649 -1660), John Milton dominated the scene with his epic poems. When the monarchy was restored in 1660 (period of Restoration), theatres were reopened and stage comedy arose.

The Eighteenth Century:
Most important writers: Jonathan Swift (1667 - 1745), Alexander Pope (1688 - 1744), Samuel Johnson (1709 - 1784)

Most important works: Gulliver's Travels (Jonathan Swift, 1726), Rape of the Lock (Alexander Pope, 1714), Robinson Crusoe (Daniel Defoe, 1719), Tom Jones (Henry Fielding, 1749)

General information: During the Augustan Age, or Neoclassical Period, the first half of the 18th century was dominated by the satire, both in prose and in poetry. Also, novels were developing, Robinson Crusoe being just one of them. The years between 1750 to 1784 are referred to as the Age of Johnson, after Samuel Johnson, who specialised in literary criticism, developing a new form of dealing with literature.

The Romantic Period:
Most important writers: William Blake (1757 - 1827), William Wordsworth (1770 - 1850), Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772 - 1834), Lord Byron (1788- 1821), Charles Lamb (1775 - 1834), Sir Walter Scott (1771 - 1832), Jane Austen (1775 - 1817), Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (1797 - 1851)

Most important works: Frankenstein; or the Modern Prometheus (Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, 1818),

General information: The Romantics stressed the importance of the imagination and the individual's feelings, as well as the significance of nature, the simple life and the existence of the supernatural in their poems and novels. At the same time, the Gothic novel became popular, Frankenstein being the most famous example.

The Victorian Age:
Most important writers: Charles Dickens (1812 - 1870), William Makepeace Thackeray (1811 - 1863), Emily Bronte (1818 - 1848), Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 - 1894), H. G. Wells (1866 - 1946), Oscar Wilde (1854 - 1900), George Bernard Shaw (1856 - 1950)

Most important works: Oliver Twist, Bleak House (Charles Dickens, 1839 / 1853), Vanity Fair (William Makepeace Thackeray, 1848), Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte, 1847), The strange case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (Robert Louis Stevenson, 1886), The Importance of Being Earnest (Oscar Wilde, 1895)

General information: During the reign of Queen Victoria (1837 - 1901), changes like the Industrial Revolution as well as Darwin's theory of evolution both influenced Victorian literature, which reflected the tensions existing in British society. Criticism and sarcasm were the elements most writers used in dealing with the circumstances; they viewed their time with realistic eyes, while others tried to re-introduce the Romantic themes, for example Stevenson.

The Twentieth Century:
Most important writers: James Joyce (1882 - 1924), Virginia Woolf (1882 - 1941), Aldous Huxley (1894 - 1963), Alan Sillitoe (1928 - ), George Orwell (1903 - 1950), Margaret Drabble (1939 - )

Most important works: Brave New World (Aldous Huxley, 1932), Look Back in Anger (John Osborne, 1956), 1984 (George Orwell (1949)

General information: In the period from the turn of the 20th century past World War II, writers experimented with the stream-of-consciousness technique to reveal their inner thoughts, dealt with the moral issues of war, published anti-utopian ideas. Many concentrated on the relationship between individual and society. In poetry, the "Movement" put emphasis on the ordinary and avoided sentimentality. Generally, experiments with form and technique were rare, the exploration of character is mostly being dealt with through traditional means. Only in English drama have writers turned against traditional dramatic conventions.