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English Literature
The term English literature refers to literature written in the modern English language or its antecedents, or literature composed in English by writers who are not from England.
Pre-modern (Medieval)
Medieval literature is a broad subject, encompassing essentially all written works available in Europe during the Middle Ages (roughly from the fall of the Western Roman Empire ca. 500 AD to the beginning of the Florentine Renaissance in the late 15th century). The literature of this time was dominated by religious writings, including religious poetry as well as theology and hagiography, but also produced important secular and scientific works. It varied from the utterly sacred to the exuberantly profane, touching all points in-between.
Early modern (Renaissance)
"English Renaissance" is a term often used to describe a cultural and artistic movement in England from the early 16th century to the mid-17th century. It is associated with the pan-European Renaissance that many cultural historians believe originated in northern Italy in the fourteenth century. This era in English cultural history is sometimes referred to as "the age of Shakespeare" or "the Elizabethan era," taking the name of the English Renaissance's most famous author and most important monarch, respectively; however it is worth remembering that these names are rather misleading: Shakespeare was not an especially famous writer in his own time, and the English Renaissance covers a period both before and after Elizabeth's reign.
Elizabethan literature
The Elizabethan era saw a great flourishing of literature, especially in the field of drama. William Shakespeare stands out in this period as a poet and playwright as yet unsurpassed. Other important figures in Elizabethan theatre include Christopher Marlowe, Thomas Dekker, John Fletcher and Francis Beaumont. It is at this time that the city comedy genre develops.
Jacobean literature
After Shakespeare's death, the poet and dramatist Ben Jonson was the leading literary figure of the Jacobean era. Others who followed Jonson's style include Beaumont and Fletcher and the other "Sons of Ben." Another popular style of theatre during Jacobean times was the revenge play, popularized by John Webster and Thomas Kyd.
Restoration literature
The re-opening of the theatres provided stages for Restoration comedy with its satirical views of the new nobility and rising bourgeoisie. The mobility of society following the social upheavals of the previous generation provided material for comedy of manners. Aphra Behn, a novelist and playwright, was the first professional woman writer. John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, a religious allegory, remains one of the most widely-read works from this period.
Augustan literature
The early 18th century is known as the Augustan Age of English literature. The poetry of the time was highly formal, as exemplified by the works of Alexander Pope. The English novel did not become a popular form until the 18th century; many works, however, claim a place as the first novel in English. Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe (1719) is one popular candidate for this honour. By the middle of the eighteenth century, the novel form was well-established by such authors as Henry Fielding, Laurence Stern, and Samuel Richardson, who perfected the epistolary novel. Richardson's work was moralistic, while Fielding and Stern took a more comic approach.
Romanticism
The reaction to urbanism and industrialisation prompted poets to explore nature, for example: the Lake Poets, including William Wordsworth. These Romantic Poets brought a new emotionalism and introspection to English literature. The major "Second generation" Romantic Poets were Lord Byron, Percy Bysse Shelley and John Keats.
Victorian literature
It was in the Victorian era (1837-1901) that the novel became the leading form of literature in English. Most writers were now more concerned to meet the tastes of a large middle class reading public than to please aristocratic patrons. The best known works of the era include the emotionally powerful works of the Bront� sisters; the satire Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackery; the realist novels of George Eliot; and Anthony Trollope's insightful portrayals of the lives of the landowning and professional classes. Charles Dickens emerged on the literary scene in the 1830s, confirming the trend for serial publication.
Modern literature
Important novelists between the two World Wars included D.H. Lawrence and Virginia Woolf, a member of the Bloomsbury group. Besides the Bloomsbury group, the Sitwells also gathered a literary and artistic clique, if less influential. Writers of popular literature include P. G. Wodehouse and Agatha Christie.
Post-Modern literature
John Fowles and Julian Barnes are examples of Postmodern literature in English. Important writers of the beginning of the 21st century include Martin Amis, Ian McEwan, Will Self, Andrew Motion and Salman Rushdie.