English literature

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English literatureis literature written in theEnglish languagefrom theEnglish-speaking world. The English language has developed over more than 1,400 years.^[1]The earliest forms of English, a set ofAnglo-Frisian dialectsbrought toGreat BritainbyAnglo-Saxoninvadersin the fifth century, are calledOld English.Beowulfis the most famous work in Old English. Despite being set inScandinavia, it has achieved national epic status in England. However, following theNorman conquestof England in 1066, the written form of theAnglo-Saxon languagebecame less common. Under the influence of the new aristocracy, French became the standard language of courts, parliament, and polite society.^[2]The English spoken after the Normans came is known asMiddle English. This form of English lasted until the 1470s, when theChancery Standard(late Middle English), aLondon-based form of English, became widespread.Geoffrey Chaucer(1343–1400), author ofThe Canterbury Tales, was a significant figure developing the legitimacy ofvernacularMiddle English at a time when the dominant literary languages in England were still French and Latin. Theinvention of the printing pressbyJohannes Gutenbergin 1439 also helped to standardise the language, as did theKing James Bible(1611),^[3]and theGreat Vowel Shift.^[4]

Poet and playwrightWilliam Shakespeare(1564–1616) is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and one of the world's greatest dramatists.^[5][6][7]His plays have been translated into every primaryliving languageand are performed more often than those of any other playwright.^[8]In the nineteenth century, SirWalter Scott's historicalromancesinspired a generation of European painters, composers, and writers.^[9]

The English language spread throughout the world with the development of theBritish Empirebetween the late 16th and early 18th centuries. At its height, it was thelargest empire in history.^[10]By 1913, the British Empire held sway over 412 million people,23% of the world population at the time,^[11]During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, these colonies and theUSstarted to produce their significant literary traditions in English. Cumulatively, from 1907 to the present, numerous writers fromGreat Britain,both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, the US, and former British colonies have received theNobel Prize for works in Englishmore than in any language.

Old English literature, or Anglo-Saxon literature, encompasses the surviving literature written inOld EnglishinAnglo-Saxon England, in the period after the settlement of theSaxonsand other Germanic tribes in England (Jutesand theAngles) c. 450, after the withdrawal of theRomans, and "ending soon after the Norman Conquest" in 1066.^[12]These works include genres such asepic poetry,hagiography,sermons,Bibletranslations, legal works,chroniclesand riddles.^[13]In all there are about 400 survivingmanuscriptsfrom the period.^[13]

Widsith, which appears in theExeter Bookof the late 10th century, gives a list of kings of tribes ordered according to their popularity and impact on history, withAttilaKing of theHunscoming first, followed byEormanricof theOstrogoths.^[14]: 187It may also be the oldest extant work that tells theBattle of the Goths and Huns, which is also told in such later Scandinavian works asHervarar's sagaandGesta Danorum.^[14]: 179Lotte Hedeagerargues that the work is far older, however, and that it likely dates back to the late 6th or early 7th century, citing the author's knowledge of historical details and accuracy as proof of its authenticity.^{[14]: 184–86}She does note, however, that some authors, such asJohn Niles, have argued the work was invented in the 10th century.^{[14]: 181–84}

TheAnglo-Saxon Chronicleis a collection ofannalsinOld English, from the 9th century, thatchroniclesthe history of theAnglo-Saxons.^[15]The poemBattle of Maldonalso deals with history. This is a work of uncertain date, celebrating theBattle of Maldonof 991, at which the Anglo-Saxons failed to prevent aVikinginvasion.^[16]

Oral traditionwas very strong in earlyEnglish cultureand most literary works were written to be performed.^[17][18]Epic poemswere very popular, and some, includingBeowulf, have survived to the present day.Beowulfis the most famous work in Old English, and has achievednational epicstatus in England, despite being set in Scandinavia. The only surviving manuscript is theNowell Codex, the precise date of which is debated, but most estimates place it close to the year 1000.Beowulfis the conventional title,^[19]and its composition is dated between the 8th^[20][21]and the early 11th century.^[22]

Nearly all Anglo-Saxon authors are anonymous: twelve are known by name from medieval sources, but only four of those are known by their vernacular works with any certainty:Cædmon,Bede,Alfred the Great, andCynewulf. Cædmon is the earliest English poet whose name is known,^{[23][pages needed]}and his only known surviving workCædmon's Hymnprobably dates from the late 7th century. The poem is one of the earliest attested examples of Old English and is, with therunicRuthwell CrossandFranks Casketinscriptions, one of three candidates for the earliest attested example of Old English poetry. It is also one of the earliest recorded examples of sustained poetry in aGermanic language. The poem,The Dream of the Rood, was inscribed upon theRuthwell Cross.^{[23][pages needed]}

TwoOld Englishpoems from the late 10th century areThe WandererandThe Seafarer.^[24]Both have a religious theme, andRichard MarsdendescribesThe Seafareras "an exhortatory and didactic poem, in which the miseries of winter seafaring are used as a metaphor for the challenge faced by the committed Christian [...]".^[25]

Classical antiquity was not forgotten in Anglo-Saxon England, and several Old English poems are adaptations oflate classicalphilosophical texts. The longest isKing Alfred's (849–899) 9th-century translation ofBoethius'Consolation of Philosophy.^[26]

After theNorman conquestof England in 1066, the written form of theAnglo-Saxon languagebecame less common. Under the influence of the new aristocracy, French became the standard language of courts, parliament, and polite society. As the invaders integrated, their language and literature mingled with that of the natives, and theNormandialects of the ruling classes becameAnglo-Norman. From then until the 12th century, Anglo-Saxon underwent a gradual transition intoMiddle English. Political power was no longer in English hands, so that the West Saxon literary language had no more influence than any other dialect and Middle English literature was written in many dialects that corresponded to the region, history, culture, and background of individual writers.^[2]

In this period religious literature continued to enjoy popularity andHagiographieswere written, adapted and translated: for example,The Life of Saint Audrey,Eadmer's (c. 1060 – c. 1126).^[27]During the writing ofOrmulum(c. 1150–c. 1180),^[28]the blending of both Old English and Anglo-Norman elements in English are highlighted for the first time, marking the beginning of the Middle English period.^[29]Afterwards,LayamoninBrutadapted theNorman-FrenchofWaceto produce the first English-language work to present the legends ofKing Arthurand theKnights of the Round Table.^[30]It was also the first historiography written in English since theAnglo-Saxon Chronicle.

Middle English Bible translations, notablyWycliffe's Bible, helped to establish English as a literary language.Wycliffe's Bibleis the name now given to a group ofBible translationsinto Middle English that were made under the direction of, or at the instigation of,John Wycliffe. They appeared between about 1382 and 1395.^[31]These Bible translations were the chief inspiration and cause of theLollardmovement, a pre-Reformationmovement that rejected many of the teachings of the RomanCatholic Church.

Another literary genre, that ofRomances, appears in English from the 13th century, withKing HornandHavelock the Dane, based on Anglo-Norman originals such as theRomance of Horn(c. 1170),^[32]but it was in the 14th century that major writers in English first appeared. These wereWilliam Langland,Geoffrey Chaucerand the so-calledPearl Poet, whose most famous work isSir Gawain and the Green Knight.^[33]

Langland'sPiers Plowman(written c. 1360–87) orVisio Willelmi de Petro Plowman(William's Vision of Piers Plowman) is a Middle Englishallegoricalnarrative poem, written in unrhymedalliterative verse.^[34]

Sir Gawain and the Green Knightis a late 14th-century Middle English alliterativeromance. It is one of the better-known Arthurian stories of an established type known as the "beheading game". Developing from Welsh, Irish and English tradition,Sir Gawainhighlights the importance of honour and chivalry. Preserved in the same manuscript with Sir Gawayne were three other poems, now generally accepted as the work of the same author, including an intricate elegiac poem,Pearl.^[35]The English dialect of these poems from theMidlandsis markedly different from that of theLondon-based Chaucer and, though influenced by French in the scenes at court inSir Gawain, there are in the poems also many dialect words, often of Scandinavian origin, that belonged to northwest England.^[35]

Middle English lasted until the 1470s, when theChancery Standard, a London-based form of English, became widespread and the printing press started to standardise the language. Chaucer is best known today forThe Canterbury Tales. This is a collection of stories written in Middle English (mostly inversealthough some are inprose), that are presented as part of a story-telling contest by a group of pilgrims as they travel together fromSouthwarkto the shrine of StThomas BecketatCanterbury Cathedral. Chaucer is a significant figure in the development of the legitimacy of thevernacular, Middle English, at a time when the dominant literary languages in England were still French and Latin.

At this time, literature in England was being written in various languages, including Latin, Norman-French, and English: the multilingual nature of the audience for literature in the 14th century is illustrated by the example ofJohn Gower(c. 1330–1408). A contemporary ofWilliam Langlandand a personal friend of Chaucer, Gower is remembered primarily for three major works: theMirroir de l'Omme,Vox Clamantis, andConfessio Amantis, three long poems written inAnglo-Norman, Latin and Middle English respectively, which are united by common moral and political themes.^[36]

Significant religious works were also created in the 14th century, including those ofJulian of Norwich(c. 1342 – c. 1416) andRichard Rolle. Julian'sRevelations of Divine Love(about 1393) is believed to be the first published book written by a woman in the English language.^[37]

A major work from the 15th century isLe Morte d'Arthurby SirThomas Malory, which was printed byCaxtonin 1485.^[38]This is a compilation of some French and English Arthurian romances, and was among the earliest books printed in England. It was popular and influential in the later revival of interest in the Arthurian legends.^[39]

In theMiddle Ages, drama in the vernacular languages of Europe may have emerged from enactments of theliturgy.Mystery playswere presented in the porches of cathedrals or by strolling players onfeast days.Miracleand mystery plays, along withmorality plays(or "interludes"), later evolved into more elaborate forms of drama, such as was seen on the Elizabethan stages. Another form of medieval theatre was themummers' plays, a form of early street theatre associated with theMorris dance, concentrating on themes such asSaint Georgeand theDragonandRobin Hood. These werefolk talesre-telling old stories, and theactorstravelled from town to town performing these for their audiences in return for money and hospitality.^[40]

Mystery plays and miracle plays are among the earliest formally developedplaysinmedievalEurope. Medieval mystery plays focused on the representation ofBiblestories inchurchesastableauxwith accompanyingantiphonalsong. They developed from the 10th to the 16th century, reaching the height of their popularity in the 15th century before being rendered obsolete by the rise of professional theatre.^[41]

There are four complete or nearly complete extant English biblical collections of plays from the late medieval period. The most complete is theYork cycleof 48 pageants. They were performed in the city ofYork, from the middle of the 14th century until 1569.^[42]Besides the Middle English drama, there are three surviving plays inCornishknown as theOrdinalia.^[43][44]

Having grown out of the religiously basedmystery playsof the Middle Ages, themorality playis agenreof medieval andearly Tudortheatrical entertainment, which represented a shift towards a more secular base for European theatre.^[45]Morality plays are a type ofallegoryin which theprotagonistis met bypersonificationsof variousmoralattributes who try to prompt him to choose a godly life over one of evil. The plays were most popular in Europe during the 15th and 16th centuries.^[46]

The Somonyng of Everyman(The Summoning of Everyman) (c. 1509–1519), usually referred to simply asEveryman, is a late 15th-century English morality play. LikeJohn Bunyan's allegoryPilgrim's Progress(1678),Everymanexamines the question ofChristian salvationthrough the use of allegorical characters.^[47]

TheEnglish Renaissanceas a part of theNorthern Renaissancewas aculturalandartistic movementin England dating from the late 15th to the 17th century.^[48]It is associated with the pan-EuropeanRenaissancethat is usually regarded as beginning in Italy in the late 14th century. Like most of northern Europe, England saw little of these developments until more than a century later – Renaissance style and ideas were slow in penetrating England. Many scholars see the beginnings of the English Renaissance during the reign ofHenry VIII^[49]and theElizabethan erain the second half of the 16th century is usually regarded as the height of the English Renaissance.^[48][50]

The influence of the Italian Renaissance can also be found in the poetry ofThomas Wyatt(1503–1542), one of the earliest English Renaissance poets. He was responsible for many innovations in English poetry, and alongsideHenry Howard, Earl of Surrey(1516/1517–1547) introduced thesonnetfrom Italy into England in the early 16th century.^[51][52][53]AfterWilliam Caxtonintroduced the printing press in England in 1476,vernacular literatureflourished.^[38]TheReformationinspired the production ofvernacularliturgywhich led to theBook of Common Prayer(1549), a lasting influence on literary language.

Edmund Spenser(c. 1552–1599) was one of the most important poets of the Elizabethan period, author ofThe Faerie Queene(1590 and 1596), an epic poem and fantasticalallegorycelebrating theTudor dynastyandElizabeth I. Another major figure,Sir Philip Sidney(1554–1586), was an English poet, whose works includeAstrophel and Stella,The Defence of Poetry, andThe Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia. Poems intended to be set to music as songs, such as those byThomas Campion(1567–1620), became popular as printed literature was disseminated more widely in households.John Donne(1572–1631) was another important figure in Elizabethan poetry (see Jacobean poetry below).

Among the earliest Elizabethan plays areGorboduc(1561) bySackvilleandNorton, andThomas Kyd's (1558–1594)The Spanish Tragedy(1592).Gorboducis notable especially as the firstverse dramainEnglishto employblank verse, and for the way it developed elements, from the earliermorality playsandSenecan tragedy, in the direction which would be followed by later playwrights.^[54]The Spanish Tragedy^[55]is anElizabethantragedywritten byThomas Kydbetween 1582 and 1592, which was popular and influential in its time, and established a newgenrein English literature theatre, therevenge play.^[56]

William Shakespeare(1564–1616) stands out in this period as apoetandplaywrightas yet unsurpassed. Shakespeare wrote plays in a variety of genres, includinghistories(such asRichard IIIandHenry IV),tragedies(such asHamlet,Othello, andMacbeth)comedies(such asMidsummer Night's Dream,As You Like It, andTwelfth Night) and the lateromances, or tragicomedies. Shakespeare's career continues in the Jacobean period.

Other important figures inElizabethan theatreincludeChristopher Marlowe, andBen Jonson,Thomas Dekker,John FletcherandFrancis Beaumont.

In the early 17th centuryShakespearewrote the so-called "problem plays", as well as a number of his best knowntragedies, includingMacbethandKing Lear.^[57]In his final period, Shakespeare turned toromanceortragicomedyand completed three more major plays, includingThe Tempest. Less bleak than the tragedies, these four plays are graver in tone than the comedies of the 1590s, but they end with reconciliation and the forgiveness of potentially tragic errors.^[58]

After Shakespeare's death, the poet and dramatistBen Jonson(1572–1637) was the leading literary figure of theJacobean era. Jonson's aesthetics hark back to the Middle Ages and his characters embody thetheory of humours, which was based on contemporary medical theory.^[59]Jonson's comedies includeVolpone(1605 or 1606) andBartholomew Fair(1614). Others who followed Jonson's style includeBeaumont and Fletcher, who wrote the popular comedy,The Knight of the Burning Pestle(probably 1607–1608), a satire of the rising middle class.^[60]

Another popular style of theatre during Jacobean times was therevenge play, which was popularized in the Elizabethan era byThomas Kyd(1558–1594), and then further developed later byJohn Webster(c. 1580 – c. 1632),The White Devil(1612) andThe Duchess of Malfi(1613). Other revenge tragedies includeThe Changelingwritten byThomas MiddletonandWilliam Rowley.^[61]

George Chapman(c. 1559 – c. 1634) is remembered chiefly for his famous translation in 1616 ofHomer'sIliadandOdysseyinto English verse.^[62]This was the first ever complete translations of either poem into the English language. The translation had a profound influence on English literature and inspiredJohn Keats's famous sonnet "On First Looking into Chapman's Homer" (1816).

Shakespeare popularized theEnglish sonnet, which made significant changes toPetrarch's model. A collection of 154 bysonnets, dealing with themes such as the passage of time, love, beauty and mortality, were first published in a 1609 quarto.

Besides Shakespeare and Ben Jonson, the major poets of the early 17th century included theMetaphysical poets:John Donne(1572–1631),George Herbert(1593–1633),Henry Vaughan,Andrew Marvell, andRichard Crashaw.^[63]Their style was characterized bywitand metaphysical conceits, that is far-fetched or unusual similes or metaphors.^[64]

The most important prose work of the early 17th century was theKing James Bible. This, one of the most massive translation projects in the history of English up to this time, was started in 1604 and completed in 1611. This represents the culmination of a tradition ofBible translation into Englishthat began with the work ofWilliam Tyndale, and it became the standardBibleof theChurch of England.^[65]

TheMetaphysical poetsJohn Donne(1572–1631) andGeorge Herbert(1593–1633) were still alive after 1625, and later in the 17th century a second generation of metaphysical poets were writing, includingRichard Crashaw(1613–1649),Andrew Marvell(1621–1678),Thomas Traherne(1636 or 1637–1674) andHenry Vaughan(1622–1695). The Cavalier poets were another important group of 17th-century poets, who came from the classes that supported King Charles I during the English Civil War (1642–1651). (King Charles reigned from 1625 and was executed in 1649). The best known of theCavalier poetsareRobert Herrick,Richard Lovelace,Thomas CarewandSir John Suckling. They "were not a formal group, but all were influenced by" Ben Jonson. Most of the Cavalier poets were courtiers, with notable exceptions. For example, Robert Herrick was not a courtier, but his style marks him as a Cavalier poet. Cavalier works make use of allegory and classical allusions, and are influenced by Roman authors Horace,CiceroandOvid.John Milton(1608–1674) "was the last great poet of the English Renaissance"^[66]and published a number of works before 1660, includingL'Allegro(1631),Il Penseroso(1634), the masqueComus(1638) andLycidas(1638). However, his major epic works, includingParadise Lost(1667) were published in the Restoration period.

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Restoration literature includes bothParadise Lostand theEarl of Rochester'sSodom,the sexual comedy ofThe Country Wifeand the moral wisdom ofPilgrim's Progress.It saw Locke'sTwo Treatises on Government,the founding of theRoyal Society, the experiments and the holy meditations ofRobert Boyle, thehysterical attacks on theatresfromJeremy Collier, the pioneering of literary criticism from Dryden, and the first newspapers. The official break in literary culture caused by censorship and radically moralist standards under Cromwell's Puritan regime created a gap in literary tradition, allowing a seemingly fresh start for all forms of literature after the Restoration. During the Interregnum, the royalist forces attached to the court ofCharles Iwent into exile with the twenty-year-oldCharles II. The nobility who travelled with Charles II were therefore lodged for over a decade in the midst of the continent's literary scene.

John Milton, one of the greatest English poets, wrote at this time of religious flux and political upheaval. Milton is best known for his epic poemParadise Lost(1667). Milton's poetry and prose reflect deep personal convictions, a passion for freedom and self-determination, and the urgent issues and political turbulence of his day. His celebratedAreopagitica, written in condemnation of pre-publication censorship, is among history's most influential and impassioned defenses offree speechandfreedom of the press.^[67]The largest and most important poetic form of the era was satire. In general, publication of satire was done anonymously, as there were great dangers in being associated with a satire.

John Dryden(1631–1700) was an influential English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who dominated the literary life of Restoration England to such a point that the period came to be known in literary circles as the "Age of Dryden". He established the heroic couplet as a standard form of English poetry. Dryden's greatest achievements were in satiric verse in works like the mock-heroicMacFlecknoe(1682).^[68]Alexander Pope(1688–1744) was heavily influenced by Dryden, and often borrowed from him; other writers in the 18th century were equally influenced by both Dryden and Pope.

Prose in the Restoration period is dominated byChristianreligious writing, but the Restoration also saw the beginnings of two genres that would dominate later periods, fiction and journalism. Religious writing often strayed into political and economic writing, just as political and economic writing implied or directly addressed religion. The Restoration was also the time whenJohn Lockewrote many of his philosophical works. His twoTreatises on Government,which later inspired the thinkers in theAmerican Revolution. The Restoration moderated most of the more strident sectarian writing, but radicalism persisted after the Restoration. Puritan authors such asJohn Miltonwere forced to retire from public life or adapt, and those authors who had preached against monarchy and who had participated directly in theregicideofCharles Iwere partially suppressed. Consequently, violent writings were forced underground, and many of those who had served in the Interregnum attenuated their positions in the Restoration.John Bunyanstands out beyond other religious authors of the period. Bunyan'sThe Pilgrim's Progressis anallegoryof personal salvation and a guide to the Christian life.

During the Restoration period, the most common manner of getting news would have been abroadsheetpublication. A single, large sheet of paper might have a written, usually partisan, account of an event.

It is impossible to satisfactorily date the beginning of the novel in English. However, long fiction and fictional biographies began to distinguish themselves from other forms in England during the Restoration period. An existing tradition ofRomancefiction in France and Spain was popular in England. One of the most significant figures in the rise of the novel in the Restoration period isAphra Behn, author ofOroonoko(1688), who was not only the first professional female novelist, but she may be among the first professional novelists of either sex in England.

As soon as the previous Puritan regime's ban on public stage representations was lifted,dramarecreated itself quickly and abundantly.^[69]The most famous plays of the early Restoration period are the unsentimental or "hard" comedies ofJohn Dryden,William Wycherley, andGeorge Etherege, which reflect the atmosphere at Court, and celebrate an aristocraticmacholifestyle of unremitting sexual intrigue and conquest. After a sharp drop in both quality and quantity in the 1680s, the mid-1690s saw a brief second flowering of the drama, especially comedy. Comedies likeWilliam Congreve'sThe Way of the World(1700), andJohn Vanbrugh'sThe Relapse(1696) andThe Provoked Wife(1697) were "softer" and more middle-class in ethos, very different from the aristocraticextravaganzatwenty years earlier, and aimed at a wider audience.

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During the 18th century literature reflected the worldview of theAge of Enlightenment(or Age of Reason): a rational and scientific approach to religious, social, political, and economic issues that promoted a secular view of the world and a general sense of progress and perfectibility. Led by the philosophers who were inspired by the discoveries of the previous century by people likeIsaac Newtonand the writings ofDescartes,John LockeandFrancis Bacon. They sought to discover and to act upon universally valid principles governing humanity, nature, and society. They variously attacked spiritual and scientific authority, dogmatism, intolerance, censorship, and economic and social restraints. They considered the state the proper and rational instrument of progress. The extreme rationalism and skepticism of the age led naturally to deism and also played a part in bringing the later reaction ofromanticism. TheEncyclopédieof Denis Diderot epitomized the spirit of the age.

The term Augustan literature derives from authors of the 1720s and 1730s themselves, who responded to a term thatGeorge I of Great Britainpreferred for himself. While George I meant the title to reflect his might, they instead saw in it a reflection ofAncient Rome's transition from rough and ready literature to highly political and highly polished literature. It is an age of exuberance and scandal, of enormous energy and inventiveness and outrage, that reflected an era when English, Welsh, Scottish, and Irish people found themselves in the midst of an expanding economy, lowering barriers to education, and the beginnings of theIndustrial Revolution.

It was during this time that the poetJames Thomson(1700–1748) produced his melancholyThe Seasons(1728–30) andEdward Young(1681–1765) wrote his poemNight Thoughts(1742), though the most outstanding poet of the age isAlexander Pope(1688–1744). It is also the era that saw a serious competition over the proper model for thepastoral. In criticism, poets struggled with a doctrine ofdecorum,of matching proper words with proper sense and of achieving a diction that matched the gravity of a subject. At the same time, themock-heroicwas at its zenith and Pope'sRape of the Lock(1712–17) andThe Dunciad(1728–43) are still considered to be the greatest mock-heroic poems ever written.^[70]Pope also translated theIliad(1715–20) and theOdyssey(1725–26). Since his death, Pope has been in a constant state of re-evaluation.^[71]

Drama in the early part of the period featured the last plays ofJohn VanbrughandWilliam Congreve, both of whom carried on the Restoration comedy with some alterations. However, the majority of stagings were of lowerfarcesand much more serious and domestic tragedies.George LilloandRichard Steeleboth produced highly moral forms of tragedy, where the characters and the concerns of the characters were wholly middle class or working class. This reflected a marked change in the audience for plays, as royal patronage was no longer the important part of theatrical success. Additionally,Colley CibberandJohn Richbegan to battle each other for greater and greater spectacles to present on stage. The figure ofHarlequinwas introduced, andpantomimetheatre began to be staged. This "low" comedy was quite popular, and the plays became tertiary to the staging.Operaalso began to be popular in London, and there was significant literary resistance to this Italian incursion. In 1728 John Gay returned to the playhouse withThe Beggar's Opera. TheLicensing Act 1737brought an abrupt halt to much of the period's drama, as the theatres were once again brought under state control.

In prose, the earlier part of the period was overshadowed by the development of the English essay.Joseph AddisonandRichard Steele'sThe Spectatorestablished the form of the British periodical essay. However, this was also the time when the Englishnovelwas first emerging.Daniel Defoeturned fromjournalismand writing criminal lives for the press to writing fictional criminal lives withRoxanaandMoll Flanders.He also wroteRobinson Crusoe(1719).

If Addison and Steele were dominant in one type of prose, thenJonathan Swiftauthor of the satireGulliver's Travelswas in another. InA Modest Proposaland theDrapier Letters, Swift reluctantly defended the Irish people from the predations ofcolonialism. This provoked riots and arrests, but Swift, who had no love of IrishRoman Catholics, was outraged by the abuses he saw.

An effect of theLicensing Actof 1737 was to cause more than one aspiring playwright to switch over to writing novels.Henry Fielding(1707–1754) began to write prose satire and novels after his plays could not pass the censors. In the interim,Samuel Richardson(1689–1761) had producedPamela, or Virtue Rewarded(1740), and Henry Fielding attacked, what he saw, as the absurdity of this novel in,Joseph Andrews(1742) andShamela(1741). Subsequently, Fielding satirised Richardson'sClarissa(1748) withTom Jones(1749).Tobias Smollett(1721–1771) elevated thepicaresque novelwith works such asRoderick Random(1748) andPeregrine Pickle(1751).

This period is known as theAge of Sensibility, but it is also sometimes described as the "Age of Johnson".^[72]Samuel Johnson(1709–1784), often referred to as Dr Johnson, was an English author who made lasting contributions to English literature as a poet, essayist, moralist, literary critic, biographer, editor andlexicographer. Johnson has been described as "arguably the most distinguished man of letters in English history".^[73]After nine years of work, Johnson'sA Dictionary of the English Languagewas published in 1755, and it had a far-reaching effect onModern Englishand has been described as "one of the greatest single achievements of scholarship."^[74]

The second half of the 18th century saw the emergence of three major Irish authors:Oliver Goldsmith(1728–1774),Richard Brinsley Sheridan(1751–1816) andLaurence Sterne(1713–1768). Goldsmith is the author ofThe Vicar of Wakefield(1766), a pastoral poemThe Deserted Village(1770) and two plays,The Good-Natur'd Man(1768) andShe Stoops to Conquer(1773). Sheridan's first play,The Rivals(1775), was performed atCovent Gardenand was an instant success. He went on to become the most significant London playwright of the late 18th century with a play likeThe School for Scandal. Both Goldsmith and Sheridan reacted against the sentimental comedy of the 18th-century theatre, writing plays closer to the style ofRestoration comedy.^[75]

Sterne published his famous novelTristram Shandyin parts between 1759 and 1767.^[76]In 1778,Frances Burney(1752–1840) wroteEvelina, one of the firstnovels of manners.^[77]Fanny Burney's novels "were enjoyed and admired by Jane Austen".^[78]

The Romantic movement in English literature of the early 19th century has its roots in 18th-century poetry, theGothic noveland the novel of sensibility.^[79][80]This includes thegraveyard poets, from the 1740s and later, whose works are characterised by gloomy meditations on mortality. To this was added, by later practitioners, a feeling for the'sublime'and uncanny, and an interest in ancient English poetic forms and folk poetry.^[81]The poets includeThomas Gray(1716–1771),Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard(1751) in^[82]andEdward Young(1683–1765),The Complaint, orNight Thoughtson Life, Death and Immortality(1742–45).^[83]Other precursors areJames Thomson(1700–1748) andJames Macpherson(1736–1796).^[80]James Macpherson was the first Scottish poet to gain an international reputation, with his claim to have found poetry written by the ancient bardOssian.^[84]

Thesentimental novelor "novel of sensibility" is a genre which developed during the second half of the 18th century. It celebrates the emotional and intellectual concepts of sentiment,sentimentalism, andsensibility. Sentimentalism, which is to be distinguished from sensibility, was a fashion in both poetry and prose fiction which began in the 18th century in reaction to the rationalism of theAugustan Age.^[85]Among the most famous sentimental novels in English areSamuel Richardson'sPamela, or Virtue Rewarded(1740),Oliver Goldsmith'sVicar of Wakefield(1766),Laurence Sterne'sTristram Shandy(1759–67), andHenry Mackenzie'sThe Man of Feeling(1771).^[86]

Significant foreign influences were the GermansGoethe,SchillerandAugust Wilhelm Schlegeland French philosopher and writerJean-Jacques Rousseau(1712–1778).^[87]Edmund Burke'sA Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful(1757) is another important influence.^[88]The changing landscape, brought about by theindustrialandagriculturalrevolutions, was another influence on the growth of the Romantic movement in Britain.

In the late 18th century,Horace Walpole's 1764 novelThe Castle of Otrantocreated theGothic fictiongenre, that combines elements ofhorrorandromance.^[89]Ann Radcliffeintroduced the brooding figure of the gothicvillainwhich developed into theByronic hero. HerThe Mysteries of Udolpho(1795) is frequently cited as the archetypal Gothic novel.^[90]A later generation of Gothic writing emerged withMary Shelley(1797–1851), remembered as the author ofFrankenstein(1818).

The successfulWar of Independenceled by colonists in British North America from 1775 to 1783, resulted in the formation of theUnited States. This consequently led to the divergence of English letters in what became the United States from the mainstream of English literature, resulting in the development of a new American literature that sought to distinguish itself as part of the formation of a new American social and cultural identity. This was the first English-language literature to develop outside of the British Isles. The late colonial period already saw the publication of important prose tracts reflecting the political debates that culminated in the American revolution, written by important luminaries such asSamuel Adams,Josiah Quincy,John Dickinson, andJoseph Galloway, the last being a loyalist to the crown. Two key figures wereBenjamin FranklinandThomas Paine. Franklin'sPoor Richard's AlmanackandThe Autobiography of Benjamin Franklinare esteemed works with their wit and influence toward the formation of a budding American identity. Paine's pamphletCommon SenseandThe American Crisiswritings are seen as playing a key role in influencing the political tone of the time.

During theRevolutionary War, poems and songs such as "Nathan Hale" were popular. Major satirists includedJohn TrumbullandFrancis Hopkinson.Philip Morin Freneaualso wrote poems about the War.

In the post-war period,Thomas Jeffersonestablished his place in American literature through his authorship of theDeclaration of Independence, his influence on theU.S. Constitution, his autobiography, hisNotes on the State of Virginia, and his many letters.The Federalistessays byAlexander Hamilton,James Madison, andJohn Jaypresented a significant historical discussion of American government organization and republican values.Fisher Ames,James Otis, andPatrick Henryare also valued for their political writings and orations.

Early American literature struggled to find a unique voice in existing literary genre, and this tendency was reflected in novels. European styles were frequently imitated, but critics usually considered the imitations inferior. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the first American novels were published. These fictions were too lengthy to be printed for public reading. Publishers took a chance on these works in hopes they would become steady sellers and need to be reprinted. This scheme was ultimately successful because male and female literacy rates were increasing at the time. Among the first American novels areThomas Attwood Digges'sAdventures of Alonso, published in London in 1775 andWilliam Hill Brown'sThe Power of Sympathypublished in 1789. Brown's novel depicts a tragic love story between siblings who fell in love without knowing they were related. Also of note were important women writers such asSusanna Rowsonwho wroteCharlotte: A Tale of Truth(later re-issued asCharlotte Temple).Charlotte Templeis a seduction tale influenced by the novels of English writerSamuel Richardson, written in the third person, which warns against listening to the voice of love and counsels resistance. She also wrote nine novels, six theatrical works, two collections of poetry, six textbooks, and countless songs.^[91]Reaching more than a million and a half readers over a century and a half,Charlotte Templewas the biggest seller of the 19th century before Stowe'sUncle Tom's Cabin. Another important writer wasHannah Webster Foster, who wrote the popularThe Coquette: Or, the History of Eliza Wharton, published in 1797.^[92]The story about a woman who is seduced and later abandoned,The Coquettehas been praised for its demonstration of the era's contradictory ideas of womanhood.^[93]even as it has been criticized for delegitimizing protest against women's subordination.^[94]Other important early American writers includeCharles Brockden Brown,William Gilmore Simms,Lydia Maria Child, andJohn Neal.

Romanticismwas an artistic, literary, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe toward the end of the 18th century.^[95]Romanticism arrived later in other parts of the English-speaking world.

The Romantic period was one of major social change in England and Wales, because of the depopulation of the countryside and the rapid development of overcrowded industrial cities, that took place in the period roughly between 1750 and 1850. The movement of so many people in England was the result of two forces: theAgricultural Revolution, that involved theEnclosureof the land, drove workers off the land, and theIndustrial Revolutionwhich provided them employment.^[96]Romanticism may be seen in part as a reaction to the Industrial Revolution,^[97]though it was also a revolt against aristocratic social and political norms of theAge of Enlightenment, as well a reaction against the scientificrationalizationof nature.^[98]TheFrench Revolutionwas an especially important influence on the political thinking of many of the Romantic poets.^[99]

The landscape is often prominent in the poetry of this period, so much so that the Romantics, especially perhaps Wordsworth, are often described as 'nature poets'. However, the longer Romantic 'nature poems' have a wider concern because they are usually meditations on "an emotional problem or personal crisis".^[100]

Robert Burns(1759–1796) was a pioneer of the Romantic movement, and after his death he became a cultural icon in Scotland. The poet, painter, and printmakerWilliam Blake(1757–1827) was another of the early Romantic poets. Though Blake was generally unrecognised during his lifetime, he is now considered a seminal figure in the history of both the poetry and visual arts of theRomantic Age. Among his most important works areSongs of Innocence(1789) andSongs of Experience(1794) "and profound and difficult 'prophecies' ", such as "Jerusalem: the Emanation of the Giant Albion" (1804–c.1820).^[101]

After Blake, among the earliest Romantics were theLake Poets, includingWilliam Wordsworth(1770–1850),Samuel Taylor Coleridge(1772–1834),Robert Southey(1774–1843) and journalistThomas de Quincey(1785–1859). However, at the timeWalter Scott(1771–1832) was the most famous poet.^[102]

In 1784, withElegiac Sonnets,Charlotte Smith(1749–1806) reintroduced the sonnet to English literature.^{[citation needed]}

The earlyRomantic Poetsbrought a new emotionalism and introspection, and their emergence is marked by the first romantic manifesto in English literature, the "Preface" toLyrical Ballads(1798). The poems inLyrical Balladswere mostly by Wordsworth, though Coleridge contributed "Rime of the Ancient Mariner".^[103]Among Wordsworth's most important poems are "Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey", "Resolution and Independence", "Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood" and the autobiographical epicThe Prelude.^[104]

Robert Southey(1774–1843) was another of the so-called "Lake Poets", andPoet Laureatefor 30 years, although his fame has been long eclipsed byWilliam WordsworthandSamuel Taylor Coleridge.Thomas De Quincey(1785–1859) is best known for hisConfessions of an English Opium-Eater(1821).^[105]EssayistWilliam Hazlitt(1778–1830), friend of both Coleridge and Wordsworth, is best known today for his literary criticism, especiallyCharacters of Shakespeare's Plays(1817–1818).^[106]

The second generation of Romantic poets includesLord Byron(1788–1824),Percy Bysshe Shelley(1792–1822),Felicia Hemans(1793–1835) andJohn Keats(1795–1821). Byron, however, was still influenced by 18th-century satirists and was, perhaps the least 'romantic' of the three, preferring "the brilliant wit ofPopeto what he called the 'wrong poetical system' of his Romantic contemporaries".^[107]Byron achieved enormous fame and influence throughout Europe andGoethecalled Byron "undoubtedly the greatest genius of our century".^[108]

Shelley is perhaps best known forOde to the West Wind,To a Skylark, andAdonais, an elegy written on the death of Keats. His close circle of admirers included the most progressive thinkers of the day. A work likeQueen Mab(1813) reveals Shelley "as the direct heir to the French and British revolutionary intellectuals of the 1790s".^[109]Shelley became an idol of the next three or four generations of poets, including importantVictorianandPre-Raphaelitepoets such asRobert Browning, andDante Gabriel Rossetti, as well as laterW. B. Yeats.^[110]

Though John Keats shared Byron and Shelley's radical politics, "his best poetry is not political",^[111]but is especially noted for its sensuous music and imagery, along with a concern with material beauty and the transience of life.^[112]Among his most famous works are "Ode to a Nightingale", "Ode on a Grecian Urn", and "To Autumn". Keats has always been regarded as a major Romantic, "and his stature as a poet has grown steadily through all changes of fashion".^[113]

Although sticking to its forms,Felicia Hemansbegan a process of undermining the Romantic tradition, a deconstruction that was continued byLetitia Elizabeth Landon, as "an urban poet deeply attentive to themes of decay and decomposition".^[114]Landon's novel forms of metrical romance anddramatic monologuewere much copied and contributed to her long-lasting influence on Victorian poetry.^[114]

Another important poet in this period wasJohn Clare(1793–1864), the son of a farm labourer, who came to be known for his celebratory representations of the English countryside and his lamentation for the changes taking place in rural England.^[115]His poetry has undergone a major re-evaluation and he is often now considered to be among the most important 19th-century poets.^[116]

George Crabbe(1754–1832) was an English poet who, during the Romantic period, wrote "closely observed, realistic portraits of rural life [...] in theheroic coupletsof theAugustan age".^[117]Modern critic Frank Whitehead has said that "Crabbe, in his verse tales in particular, is an important—indeed, a major—poet whose work has been and still is seriously undervalued."^[118]

One of the most popular novelists of the era was SirWalter Scott, whosehistorical romancesinspired a generation of painters, composers, and writers throughout Europe. Scott's novel-writing career was launched in 1814 withWaverley, often called the firsthistorical novel.^[9]

The works ofJane Austen(1775–1817) critique thenovels of sensibilityof the second half of the 18th century and are part of the transition to 19th-century realism.^[119]Her plots in novels such asPride and Prejudice(1813) andEmma(1815), though fundamentally comic, highlight the dependence of women on marriage to secure social standing and economic security.^[120]

The European Romantic movement reached America in the early 19th century. American Romanticism was just as multifaceted and individualistic as it was in Europe. Like the Europeans, the American Romantics demonstrated a high level of moral enthusiasm, commitment to individualism and the unfolding of the self, an emphasis on intuitive perception, and the assumption that the natural world was inherently good, while human society was corrupt.^[121]

RomanticGothic literaturemade an early appearance withWashington Irving'sThe Legend of Sleepy Hollow(1820) andRip Van Winkle(1819), There are picturesque "local color" elements in Washington Irving's essays and especially his travel books. From 1823 the prolific and popular novelistJames Fenimore Cooper(1789–1851) began publishing hishistorical romancesof frontier and Indian life. However,Edgar Allan Poe's tales of the macabre that first appeared in the early 1830s, and his poetry were more influential in France than at home.^[122][123]

During these years, sage writing developed as a new literary genre in which the author sought "to express notions about the world, man's situation in it, and how he should live."^[124]John Holloway identifiedBenjamin Disraeli(1804–1881),George Eliot(1819–1880),John Henry Newman(1801–1890), andThomas Hardy(1840–1928) as writers of this type. Foremost among them wasThomas Carlyle(1795–1881), a Scottish essayist, historian and philosopher who became "the undoubted head of English letters" in the 19th century.^[125][126]Known as the Sage ofChelsea, the highly prolific authorcriticized the Industrial Revolution,^[127]preachedHero-worship,^[128]andrebuked political economy^[129]in a series of works written inCarlylese, the name given to his unique style.^[130]His influence on Victorian literature was nearly universal; in 1855, Eliot wrote that "there is hardly a superior or active mind of this generation that has not been modified by Carlyle's writings;" with the effect that if his books "were all burnt as the grandest ofSutteeson his funeral pile, it would be only like cutting down an oak after its acorns have sown a forest."^[131]

John Ruskin(1819–1900) was an Anglo-Scottish art critic and philosopher who wrote in a similar vein, regarding Carlyle as his master.^[132]The early part of his career was devoted to aesthetics, championingTurnerand thePre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.^[133]He later turned to ethics, expounding his ideas on educational reform and political economy, which were to have great influence on practices in England and throughout the world.^[134][135]Matthew Arnold(1822–1888) was an English poet and critic who is also regarded as a sage writer, famous for his criticism ofphilistinism.

It was in theVictorian era(1837–1901) that the novel became the leadingliterary genrein English.^[136]Women played an important part in this rising popularity both as authors and as readers,^[137]and monthly serialising of fiction also encouraged this surge in popularity, further upheavals which followed theReform Act of 1832".^[138]This was in many ways a reaction to rapidindustrialization, and the social, political, and economic issues associated with it, and was a means of commenting on abuses of government and industry and the suffering of the poor, who were not profiting from England's economic prosperity.^[139]Significant early examples of this genre includeSybil, or The Two Nations(1845) byBenjamin Disraeli, andCharles Kingsley'sAlton Locke(1849).

Charles Dickens(1812–1870) emerged on the literary scene in the late 1830s and soon became probably the most famous novelist in the history of English literature. Dickens fiercely satirised various aspects of society, including theworkhouseinOliver Twist, and the failures of the legal system inBleak House.^[140]An early rival to Dickens wasWilliam Makepeace Thackeray(1811–1863), who during the Victorian period ranked second only to him, but he is now known almost exclusively forVanity Fair(1847). TheBrontësisters, Emily, Charlotte and Anne, were other significant novelists in the 1840s and 1850s.^[141]Jane Eyre(1847),Charlotte Brontë's most famous work, was the first of the sisters' novels to achieve success.Emily Brontë's (1818–1848) novel wasWuthering Heightsand, according toJuliet Gardiner, "the vivid sexual passion and power of its language and imagery impressed, bewildered and appalled reviewers,"^[142]and led the Victorian public and many early reviewers to think that it had been written by a man.^[143]The Tenant of Wildfell Hall(1848) byAnne Brontëis now considered to be one of the firstfeministnovels.^[144]

Elizabeth Gaskell(1810–1865) was also a successful writer and herNorth and Southcontrasts the lifestyle in the industrial north of England with the wealthier south.^[145]Anthony Trollope(1815–1882) was one of the most successful, prolific and respected English novelists of the Victorian era. Trollope's novels portray the lives of the landowning and professional classes of early Victorian England.^[146]George Eliot, pen name of Mary Ann Evans, was a major novelist of the mid-Victorian period. Her works, especiallyMiddlemarch(1871–72), are important examples ofliterary realism, and are admired for their combination of highVictorian literarydetail, with an intellectual breadth that removes them from the narrow geographic confines they often depict.^[147]

George Meredith(1828–1909) is best remembered for his novelsThe Ordeal of Richard Feverel(1859), andThe Egoist(1879). "His reputation stood very high well into" the 20th century but then seriously declined.^[148]An interest in rural matters and the changing social and economic situation of the countryside is seen in the novels ofThomas Hardy(1840–1928), includingThe Mayor of Casterbridge(1886), andTess of the d'Urbervilles(1891). Hardy is a Victorian realist, in the tradition ofGeorge Eliot,^[149]and like Charles Dickens he was also highly critical of much in Victorian society. Another significant late-19th-century novelist isGeorge Gissing(1857–1903), who published 23 novels between 1880 and 1903. His best known novel isNew Grub Street(1891).

Although pre-dated byJohn Ruskin'sThe King of the Golden Riverin 1841, the history of the modernfantasygenre is generally said to begin withGeorge MacDonald(1824–1905), the influential author ofThe Princess and the GoblinandPhantastes(1858).^[150]William Morris(1834–1896) wrote a series ofromancesin the 1880s and 1890s which are regarded as the first works ofhigh fantasy.^[151]

Wilkie Collins'epistolary novelThe Moonstone(1868), is generally considered the firstdetective novelin the English language.^[152]Robert Louis Stevenson(1850–1894) was an important Scottish writer at the end of the nineteenth century, author ofStrange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde(1886), and thehistorical novelKidnapped(1886).H. G. Wells's (1866–1946) writing career began in the 1890s withscience fictionnovels likeThe Time Machine(1895), andThe War of the Worlds(1898) which describes an invasion of late Victorian England byMartians, and Wells is seen, along with FrenchmanJules Verne(1828–1905), as a major figure in the development of the science fiction genre. He also wrote realistic fiction about the lower middle class in novels likeKipps(1905).

(See also the discussion of American literature under Romanticism above).

By the mid-19th century, the pre-eminence of literature from the British Isles began to be challenged by writers from the former American colonies. A major influence on American writers at this time wasRomanticism, which gave rise toNew EnglandTranscendentalism, and the publication ofRalph Waldo Emerson's 1836 essayNatureis usually considered the watershed moment at which transcendentalism became a major cultural movement.^[121][153]Thomas Carlyle had a strong influence on Emerson, transcendentalism,^[154]and American writers generally, particularly his novelSartor Resartus, of which the impact upon American literature has been described as "so vast, so pervasive, that it is difficult to overstate."^[155]

The romantic American novel developed fully withNathaniel Hawthorne's (1804–1864)The Scarlet Letter(1850), a stark drama of a woman cast out of her community for committing adultery. Hawthorne's fiction had a profound impact on his friendHerman Melville(1819–1891). InMoby-Dick(1851), an adventurous whaling voyage becomes the vehicle for examining such themes as obsession, the nature of evil, and human struggle against the elements. By the 1880s, however, psychological andsocial realismwere competing with Romanticism in the novel.

American realist fiction has its beginnings in the 1870s with the works ofMark Twain,William Dean Howells, andHenry James.

Mark Twain (the pen name used by Samuel Langhorne Clemens, 1835–1910) was the first major American writer to be born away from the East Coast—in the border state ofMissouri. His regional masterpieces were the novelsAdventures of Tom Sawyer(1876) andAdventures of Huckleberry Finn(1884). Twain's style changed the way Americans write their language. His characters speak like real people and sound distinctively American, using local dialects, newly invented words, and regional accents.

Henry James(1843–1916) was a major American novelist of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Although born in New York City, he spent most of his adult years in England. Many of his novels center on Americans who live in or travel to Europe. James confronted the Old World-New World dilemma by writing directly about it. His works includeThe Portrait of a Lady(1881),The Bostonians(1886),The Princess Casamassima(1886).^[156]

The premierghost storywriter of the 19th century wasSheridan Le Fanu. His works include the macabre mystery novelUncle Silas(1865), and his Gothic novellaCarmilla(1872) tells the story of a young woman's susceptibility to the attentions of a female vampire.Bram Stoker's horror storyDracula(1897) belongs to a number ofliterary genres, includingvampire literature,horror fiction,gothic novelandinvasion literature.^[157]

Arthur Conan Doyle'sSherlock Holmesis a brilliant London-based "consulting detective", famous for his intellectual prowess. Conan Doyle wrote four novels and 56short storiesfeaturing Holmes, which were published between 1887 and 1927. All but four Holmes stories are narrated by Holmes' friend, assistant, and biographer,Dr. Watson. TheLost Worldliterary genre was inspired by real stories of archaeological discoveries by imperial adventurers.H. Rider Haggardwrote one of the earliest examples,King Solomon's Mines, in 1885. Contemporary European politics and diplomatic maneuverings informedAnthony Hope'sRuritanian adventure novelThe Prisoner of Zenda(1894).

Literature for childrendeveloped as a separate genre. Some works become internationally known, such as those ofLewis Carroll,Alice's Adventures in Wonderland(1865) and its sequelThrough the Looking-Glass.Robert Louis Stevenson's (1850–1894)Treasure Island(1883), is the classicpirateadventure. At the end of the Victorian era and leading into the Edwardian era,Beatrix Potterwas an author and illustrator, best known for her children's books, which featured animal characters. In her thirties, Potter published the highly successful children's bookThe Tale of Peter Rabbitin 1902. Potter eventually went on to publish 23 children's books and became a wealthy woman.

The leading poets during the Victorian period wereAlfred, Lord Tennyson(1809–1892),Robert Browning(1812–1889),Elizabeth Barrett Browning(1806–61), andMatthew Arnold(1822–1888). The poetry of this period was heavily influenced by theRomantics, but also went off in its own directions.^[158]Particularly notable was the development of thedramatic monologue, a form used by many poets in this period, but perfected by Robert Browning. Literary criticism in the 20th century gradually drew attention to the links between Victorian poetry and modernism.^[159]

Tennyson wasPoet Laureateof the United Kingdom during much ofQueen Victoria's reign. He was described by T.S. Eliot, as "the greatest master of metrics as well as melancholia", and as having "the finest ear of any English poet since Milton".^[160]Matthew Arnold's reputation as a poet has "within the past few decades [...] plunged drastically."^[161]

Dante Gabriel Rossetti(1828–1882) was a poet, illustrator, painter and translator. He founded thePre-Raphaelite Brotherhoodin 1848 withWilliam Holman HuntandJohn Everett Millais.^{[[[Wikipedia:Citing_sources|page needed]]]}_162-0" class="reference">[[[Wikipedia:Citing_sources|page needed]]]-162">[162]Rossetti's art was characterised by its sensuality and its medieval revivalism.^[163]Arthur Clough(1819–1861) andGeorge Meredith(1828–1909) are two other important minor poets of this era.^[148][164]

Towards the end of the 19th century, English poets began to take an interest in FrenchSymbolismand Victorian poetry entered a decadentfin-de-sièclephase.^[165]Two groups of poets emerged in the 1890s, theYellow Bookpoets who adhered to the tenets ofAestheticism, includingAlgernon Charles Swinburne,Oscar WildeandArthur Symonsand theRhymers' Clubgroup, that includedErnest Dowson,Lionel Johnsonand IrishmanWilliam Butler Yeats. Yeats went on to become an important modernist in the 20th century.^[166]Also in 1896A.E. Housmanpublished at his own expenseA Shropshire Lad.^[167]

Writers of comic verse included the dramatist, librettist, poet and illustratorW.S. Gilbert(1836–1911), who is best known for his fourteencomic operas, produced incollaborationwith the composer SirArthur Sullivan, of which the most famous includeH.M.S. Pinafore, andThe Pirates of Penzance.^[168]

NovelistThomas Hardy(1840–1928) wrote poetry throughout his career, but he did not publish his first collection until 1898, so that he tends to be treated as a 20th-century poet. Now regarded as a major poet,Gerard Manley Hopkins's (1844–1889)Poemswere published posthumously by Robert Bridges in 1918.^[169]

America also produced major poets in the 19th century, such asEmily Dickinson(1830–1886) andWalt Whitman(1819–1892). America's two greatest 19th-century poets could hardly have been more different in temperament and style.Walt Whitman(1819–92) was a working man, a traveler, a self-appointed nurse during theAmerican Civil War(1861–65), and a poetic innovator. His major work wasLeaves of Grass, in which he uses a free-flowing verse and lines of irregular length to depict the all-inclusiveness of American democracy.Emily Dickinson(1830–1886), on the other hand, lived the sheltered life of a genteel, unmarried woman in small-townAmherst, Massachusetts. Within its formal structure, her poetry is ingenious, witty, exquisitely wrought, and psychologically penetrating. Her work was unconventional for its day, and little of it was published during her lifetime.

A change came in theVictorian erawith a profusion on the London stage offarces,musical burlesques,extravaganzasandcomic operasthat competed with productions ofShakespeare's plays and serious drama by dramatists likeJames PlanchéandThomas William Robertson. In 1855, theGerman Reed Entertainmentsbegan a process of elevating the level of (formerly risqué) musical theatre in Britain that culminated in the famous series of comic operas byGilbert and Sullivanand was followed by the 1890s with the firstEdwardian musical comedies. The length of runs in the theatre changed rapidly during the Victorian period. As transport improved, poverty in London diminished, and street lighting made for safer travel at night, the number of potential patrons for the growing number of theatres increased enormously. Plays could run longer and still draw in the audiences, leading to better profits and improved production values. The first play to achieve 500 consecutive performances was the London comedyOur Boys, opening in 1875. Its record of 1,362 performances was bested in 1892 byCharley's Aunt.^[170]

Several ofGilbert and Sullivan'scomic operasbroke the 500-performance barrier, beginning withH.M.S. Pinaforein 1878, andAlfred CellierandB.C. Stephenson's 1886 hit,Dorothy, ran for 931 performances. AfterW.S. Gilbert,Oscar Wildebecame the leading poet and dramatist of the late Victorian period. Wilde's plays, in particular, stand apart from the many now forgotten plays of Victorian times and have a much closer relationship to those of theEdwardiandramatists such as Irish playwrightGeorge Bernard Shaw(1856–1950), whose career began in the last decade of the 19th century, Wilde's 1895 comic masterpiece,The Importance of Being Earnest, holds an ironic mirror to the aristocracy and displays a mastery of wit and paradoxical wisdom.

English literary modernism developed in the early twentieth century out of a general sense of disillusionment withVictorian eraattitudes of certainty, conservatism, and belief in the idea of objective truth.^[171]The movement was influenced by the ideas ofCharles Darwin(1809–1882),Ernst Mach(1838–1916),Henri Bergson(1859–1941),Friedrich Nietzsche(1844–1900),James G. Frazer(1854–1941),Karl Marx(1818–1883) (Das Kapital, 1867), and the psychoanalytic theories ofSigmund Freud(1856–1939), among others.^[172]The continental art movements ofImpressionism, and laterCubism, were also important.^[173]Important literary precursors of modernism were:Fyodor Fyodor Dostoevsky(1821–1881),Walt Whitman(1819–1892),Charles Baudelaire(1821–1867),Arthur Rimbaud(1854–1891) andAugust Strindberg(1849–1912).^[174]

A major British lyric poet of the first decades of the twentieth century wasThomas Hardy(1840–1928). Though not a modernist, Hardy was an important transitional figure between the Victorian era and the twentieth century. A major novelist of the late nineteenth century, Hardy lived well into the third decade of the twentieth century, though he only published poetry in this period. Another significant transitional figure between Victorians and modernists, the late nineteenth-century novelist,Henry James(1843–1916), continued to publish major novels into the twentieth century, includingThe Golden Bowl(1904). Polish-born modernist novelistJoseph Conrad(1857–1924) published his first important works,Heart of Darkness, in 1899 andLord Jimin 1900. However, the VictorianGerard Manley Hopkins's (1844–1889) highly original poetry was not published until 1918, long after his death, while the career of another major modernist poet, IrishmanW. B. Yeats(1865–1939), began late in the Victorian era. Yeats was one of the foremost figures of twentieth-century English literature.

But whilemodernismwas to become an important literary movement in the early decades of the new century, there were also many fine writers who, like Thomas Hardy, were not modernists. During the early decades of the twentieth century, theGeorgian poetslike Rupert Brooke (1887–1915), andWalter de la Mare(1873–1956), maintained a conservative approach to poetry by combining romanticism, sentimentality and hedonism. Another Georgian poet,Edward Thomas(1878–1917)^[175]is one of theFirst World Warpoets along withWilfred Owen(1893–1918),Rupert Brooke(1887–1915),Isaac Rosenberg(1890–1917), andSiegfried Sassoon(1886–1967). Irish playwrightsGeorge Bernard Shaw(1856–1950),J.M. Synge(1871–1909) andSeán O'Caseywere influential in British drama. Shaw's career began in the last decade of the nineteenth century, while Synge's plays belong to the first decade of the twentieth century. Synge's most famous play,The Playboy of the Western World, "caused outrage and riots when it was first performed" in Dublin in 1907.^[176]George Bernard Shaw turned theEdwardiantheatre into an arena for debate about important political and social issues.^[177]

Novelists who are not considered modernists includeH. G. Wells(1866–1946),John Galsworthy(1867–1933), (Nobel Prizein Literature, 1932) whose works includeThe Forsyte Saga(1906–21), andE.M. Forster's (1879–1970), though Forster's work is "frequently regarded as containing both modernist and Victorian elements".^[178]Forster's most famous work,A Passage to India1924, reflected challenges to imperialism, while his earlier novels examined the restrictions and hypocrisy ofEdwardiansociety in England. The most popular British writer of the early years of the twentieth century was arguablyRudyard Kipling(1865–1936), a highly versatile writer of novels, short stories and poems.

In addition toW. B. Yeats, other important early modernist poets were the American-born poetT.S. Eliot(1888–1965) Eliot became a British citizen in 1927 but was born and educated in America. His most famous works are: "Prufrock" (1915),The Waste Land(1922) andFour Quartets(1935–42).

Amongst the novelists, afterJoseph Conrad, other important early modernists includeDorothy Richardson(1873–1957), whose novelPointed Roof(1915), is one of the earliest examples of thestream of consciousnesstechnique, andD.H. Lawrence(1885–1930), who publishedThe Rainbowin 1915—though it was immediately seized by the police—andWomen in Lovein 1920.^[179]Then in 1922 IrishmanJames Joyce's important modernist novelUlyssesappeared.Ulysseshas been called "a demonstration and summation of the entire movement".^[180]

Important British writers between theWorld Wars, include theScottish poetHugh MacDiarmid(1892–1978), who began publishing in the 1920s, and novelistVirginia Woolf(1882–1941), who was an influentialfeminist, and a major stylistic innovator associated with thestream-of-consciousnesstechnique in novels likeMrs Dalloway(1925) andTo the Lighthouse(1927).T.S. Eliothad begun this attempt to revive poetic drama withSweeney Agonistesin 1932, and this was followed by others including three further plays after the war.In Parenthesis, a modernistepic poembased on authorDavid Jones's (1895–1974) experience of World War I, was published in 1937.

An important development, beginning in the 1930s and 1940s was a tradition of working class novels actually written by working-class background writers. Among these were coal minerJack Jones,James Hanley, whose father was a stoker and who also went to sea as a young man, and coal minersLewis JonesfromSouth WalesandHarold HeslopfromCounty Durham.^[181]

Aldous Huxley(1894–1963) published his famousdystopiaBrave New Worldin 1932, the same year asJohn Cowper Powys'sA Glastonbury Romance.^[182]Samuel Beckett(1906–1989) published his first major work, the novelMurphyin 1938. This same yearGraham Greene's (1904–1991) first major novelBrighton Rockwas published. Then in 1939James Joyce's publishedFinnegans Wake, in which he creates a special language to express the consciousness of a dreaming character.^[183]It was also in 1939 that another Irish modernist poet,W. B. Yeats, died. British poetW.H. Auden(1907–1973) was another significant modernist in the 1930s.

See:Late modernismThough some have seen modernism ending by around 1939,^[184]with regard to English literature, "When (if) modernism petered out andpostmodernismbegan has been contested almost as hotly as when the transition from Victorianism to modernism occurred".^[185]In fact a number of modernists were still living and publishing in the 1950s and 1960, includingT.S. Eliot,Dorothy Richardson, andEzra Pound. Furthermore,Basil Bunting, born in 1901, published little untilBriggflattsin 1965 andSamuel Beckett, born in Ireland in 1906, continued to produce significant works until the 1980s, though some view him as apost-modernist.^[186]

Among British writers in the 1940s and 1950s were poetDylan Thomasand novelistGraham Greenewhose works span the 1930s to the 1980s, whileEvelyn Waugh,W.H. Audencontinued publishing into the 1960s.

Postmodern literatureis both a continuation of the experimentation championed by writers of the modernist period (relying heavily, for example, on fragmentation, paradox, questionable narrators, etc.) and a reaction against Enlightenment ideas implicit in Modernist literature. Postmodern literature, like postmodernism as a whole, is difficult to define and there is little agreement on the exact characteristics, scope, and importance of postmodern literature. Among postmodern writers are the AmericansHenry Miller,William S. Burroughs,Joseph Heller,Kurt Vonnegut,William Gaddis,Hunter S. Thompson,Truman CapoteandThomas Pynchon.

In 1947Malcolm LowrypublishedUnder the Volcano, whileGeorge Orwell's satire of totalitarianism,Nineteen Eighty-Four, was published in 1949. Other novelists writing in the 1950s and later were:Anthony Powellwhose twelve-volume cycle of novelsA Dance to the Music of Time, is a comic examination of movements and manners, power and passivity in English political, cultural and military life in the mid-20th century;Nobel PrizelaureateWilliam Golding'sallegoricalnovelLord of the Flies1954, explores how culture created by man fails, using as an example a group of British schoolboys marooned on a deserted island. PhilosopherIris Murdochwas a prolific writer of novels throughout the second half of the 20th century, that deal especially with sexual relationships, morality, and the power of the unconscious.

Scottish writerMuriel Sparkpushed the boundaries of realism in her novels.The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie(1961), at times takes the reader briefly into the distant future, to see the various fates that befall its characters.Anthony Burgessis especially remembered for hisdystopian novelA Clockwork Orange(1962), set in the not-too-distant future. During the 1960s and 1970s,Paul Scottwrote his monumental series on the last decade of British rule inIndia,The Raj Quartet(1966–1975). Scotland has in the late 20th century produced several important novelists, including the writer ofHow Late it Was, How Late,James Kelman, who like Samuel Beckett can create humour out of the most grim situations andAlasdair GraywhoseLanark: A Life in Four Books(1981) is adystopianfantasy set in a surreal version ofGlasgowcalled Unthank.^[187]

Two significant Irish novelists areJohn Banville(born 1945) andColm Tóibín(born 1955).Martin Amis(1949-2023),Pat Barker(born 1943),Ian McEwan(born 1948) andJulian Barnes(born 1946) are other prominent late twentieth-century British novelists.

An important cultural movement in the British theatre which developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s wasKitchen sink realism(or "kitchen sink drama"), a term coined to describe art, novels, film andtelevision plays. The termangry young menwas often applied to members of this artistic movement. It used a style ofsocial realismwhich depicts the domestic lives of the working class, to explore social issues and political issues. Thedrawing room playsof the post war period, typical of dramatists likeTerence RattiganandNoël Cowardwere challenged in the 1950s by theseAngry Young Men, in plays likeJohn Osborne'sLook Back in Anger(1956).

Again in the 1950s, theabsurdistplayWaiting for Godot(1955), by Irish writerSamuel Beckettprofoundly affected British drama. TheTheatre of the AbsurdinfluencedHarold Pinter(born 1930), (The Birthday Party, 1958), whose works are often characterised by menace or claustrophobia. Beckett also influencedTom Stoppard(born 1937) (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, 1966). Stoppard's works are however also notable for their high-spirited wit and the great range of intellectual issues which he tackles in different plays.

An important new element in the world of British drama, from the beginnings of radio in the 1920s, was the commissioning of plays, or the adaption of existing plays, byBBC radio. This was especially important in the 1950s and 1960s (and from the 1960s for television). Many major British playwrights in fact, either effectively began their careers with the BBC, or had works adapted for radio, includingCaryl ChurchillandTom Stoppardwhose "first professional production was in the fifteen-minuteJust Before Midnightprogramme on BBC Radio, which showcased new dramatists".^[188]John Mortimermade his radio debut as a dramatist in 1955, with his adaptation of his own novelLike Men Betrayedfor theBBCLight Programme. Other notable radio dramatists includedBrendan Behanand novelistAngela Carter.

Among the most famous works created for radio areDylan Thomas'sUnder Milk Wood(1954),Samuel Beckett'sAll That Fall(1957),Harold Pinter'sA Slight Ache(1959) andRobert Bolt'sA Man for All Seasons(1954).^[189]

Major poets like T.S. Eliot, W.H. Auden and Dylan Thomas were still publishing in this period. ThoughW.H. Auden's (1907–1973) career began in the 1930s and 1940s he published several volumes in the 1950s and 1960s. His stature in modern literature has been contested, but probably the most common critical view from the 1930s onward ranked him as one of the three major twentieth-century British poets, and heir to Yeats and Eliot.^[190]

New poets starting their careers in the 1950s and 1960s includePhilip Larkin(1922–1985) (The Whitsun Weddings, 1964),Ted Hughes(1930–1998) (The Hawk in the Rain, 1957),Sylvia Plath(1932–1962) (The Colossus, 1960) and Irishman (born Northern Ireland)Seamus Heaney(1939–2013) (Death of a Naturalist, 1966). Northern Ireland has also produced a number of other significant poets, includingDerek MahonandPaul Muldoon. In the 1960s and 1970sMartian poetryaimed to break the grip of 'the familiar', by describing ordinary things in unfamiliar ways, as though, for example, through the eyes of aMartian. Poets most closely associated with it areCraig RaineandChristopher Reid.

Another literary movement in this period was theBritish Poetry Revivalwas a wide-reaching collection of groupings and subgroupings that embracesperformance,soundandconcrete poetry.^[191]TheMersey Beat poetswereAdrian Henri,Brian PattenandRoger McGough. Their work was a self-conscious attempt at creating an English equivalent to theAmerican Beats. Other noteworthy later twentieth-century poets are WelshmanR.S. Thomas,Geoffrey Hill,Charles TomlinsonandCarol Ann Duffy.Geoffrey Hill(born 1932) is considered one of the most distinguished English poets of his generation,^[192]Charles Tomlinson(born 1927) is another important English poet of an older generation, though "since his first publication in 1951, has built a career that has seen more notice in the international scene than in his native England.^[193]

From 1950 on a significant number of major writers came from countries that had over the centuries been settled by the British, other than America which had been producing significant writers from at least theVictorian period. There had of course been a few important works in English prior to 1950 from the thenBritish Empire. TheSouth African writerOlive Schreiner's famous novelThe Story of an African Farmwas published in 1883 andNew ZealanderKatherine Mansfieldpublished her first collection of short stories,In a German Pension, in 1911. The first major novelist, writing in English, from theIndian sub-continent,R. K. Narayan, began publishing in England in the 1930s, thanks to the encouragement of English novelistGraham Greene.^[194]Caribbean writerJean Rhys's writing career began as early as 1928, though her most famous work,Wide Sargasso Sea, was not published until 1966. South Africa'sAlan Paton's famousCry, the Beloved Countrydates from 1948.Doris LessingfromSouthern Rhodesia, nowZimbabwe, was a dominant presence in the English literary scene, frequently publishing from 1950 on throughout the 20th century, and she won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2007.

Salman Rushdieis another post Second World War writers from the former British colonies whopermanently settled in Britain. Rushdie achieved fame withMidnight's Children1981. His most controversial novelThe Satanic Verses1989, was inspired in part by the life of Muhammad.V. S. Naipaul(born 1932), born inTrinidad, was another immigrant, who wrote among other thingsA Bend in the River(1979). Naipaul won theNobel Prize in Literature.^[195]

FromNigeriaa number of writers have achieved an international reputation for works in English, including novelistChinua Achebe, as well as playwrightWole Soyinka. Soyinka won theNobel Prizefor literature in 1986, as didSouth AfricannovelistNadine Gordimerin 1995. Other South African writers in English are novelistJ.M. Coetzee(Nobel Prize 2003) and playwrightAthol Fugard.Kenya's most internationally renowned author isNgũgĩ wa Thiong'owho has written novels, plays and short stories in English. PoetDerek Walcott, fromSt Luciain the Caribbean, was another Nobel Prize winner in 1992. AnAustralianPatrick White, a major novelist in this period, whose first work was published in 1939, won in (1973). Other noteworthy Australian writers at the end of this period are poetLes Murray(1938–2019), and novelistPeter Carey(born 1943), who is one of only four writers to have won theBooker Prizetwice.^[196]

Major Canadian novelists includeCarol Shields,Lawrence Hill,Margaret AtwoodandAlice Munro.Carol ShieldsnovelThe Stone Diarieswon the 1995Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, and another novel,Larry's Party, won theOrange Prizein 1998.Lawrence Hill'sBook of Negroeswon the 2008Commonwealth Writers' PrizeOverall Best Book Award, whileAlice Munrobecame the first Canadian to win theNobel Prize in Literaturein 2013.^[197]Munro also received theMan Booker International Prizein 2009. Amongst internationally known poets areLeonard CohenandAnne Carson. Carson in 1996 won theLannan Literary Awardfor poetry. The foundation's awards in 2006 for poetry, fiction and nonfiction each came with $US 150,000.

From 1940 into the 21st century, American playwrights, poets and novelists have continued to be internationally prominent.

Many works published in the twentieth century were examples ofgenre fiction. This designation includes thecrime novels,spy novel,historical romance,fantasy,graphic novel, andscience fiction.

Agatha Christie(1890–1976) was an important, and hugely successful, crime fiction writer who is best remembered for her 66detective novelsas well as her many short stories and successful plays for theWest End theatre. Along withDorothy L. Sayers(1893–1957),Ngaio Marsh(1895–1982), andMargery Allingham(1904–1966), Christie dominated the mystery novel in the 1920s and 1930s, often called "The Golden Age of Detective Fiction." Together, these four women writers were honored as "The Queens of Crime."^[198]Other recent noteworthy writers in this genre areRuth Rendell,P.D. Jamesand the Scot,Ian Rankin.

Erskine Childers'The Riddle of the Sands(1903), is an early example ofspy fiction.John Buchan(1875–1940), a Scottish diplomat, and later the Governor General of Canada, is sometimes considered the inventor of thethriller genre. His five novels featuring the heroic,Richard Hannay, are among the earliest in the genre. The first Hannay novel,The Thirty-Nine Steps, was made into a famous thriller movie byAlfred Hitchcock. Hannay was the prototype for the even more famous fictional character,James Bond 007, created byIan Fleming, and the protagonist in a long line of films. Another noted writer in thespy novelgenre wasJohn le Carré.

The novelistGeorgette Heyercreated thehistorical romancegenre.Emma Orczy's original play,The Scarlet Pimpernel(1905), a "hero with asecret identity", became a favourite of London audiences, playing more than 2,000 performances and becoming one of the most popular shows staged in England to that date.^[199]

Among significant writers in the fantasy genre wereJ. R. R. Tolkien, author ofThe HobbitandThe Lord of the Rings.C. S. Lewisauthor ofThe Chronicles of Narnia, andJ. K. Rowlingwho wrote the highly successfulHarry Potterseries.Lloyd Alexanderwinner of theNewbery Honoras well as theNewbery Medalfor hisThe Chronicles of Prydainpentalogyis another significant author offantasy novelsfor younger readers. Like fantasy in the later decades of the 20th century, the genre ofscience fictionbegan to be taken more seriously, and this was because of the work of writers such asArthur C. Clarke(2001: A Space Odyssey) andMichael Moorcock. Another prominent writer in this genre,Douglas Adams, is particularly associated with the comic science fiction work,The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Mainstream novelists suchDoris LessingandMargaret Atwoodalso wrote works in this genre.

Known for his macabre, darkly comic fantasy works for children,Roald Dahlbecame one of the best selling authors of the 20th century, and his best-loved children's novels includeCharlie and the Chocolate Factory,Matilda,James and the Giant Peach,The Witches,Fantastic Mr FoxandThe BFG.^[200]Noted writers in the field ofcomic booksareNeil Gaiman, andAlan Moore, while Gaiman also producesgraphic novels.

Literary criticism gathered momentum in the twentieth century. In this era prominent academic journals were established to address specific aspects of English literature. Most of these academic journals gained widespread credibility because of being published by university presses. The growth of universities thus contributed to a stronger connection between English literature and literary criticism in the twentieth century.

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (December 2023)

• 21st century British literature
• Contemporary English novelists

• The Cambridge History of English and American Literature: an Encyclopedia in Eighteen Volumes(Online Version of 1907–1921 print)– viaBartleby.com.
• The English Literary Canon
• British literature – Books tagged British literatureLibraryThing
• Discovering Literature: Shakespeareat the British Library
• Discovering Literature: Romantics and VictoriansArchived1 July 2016 at theWayback Machineat the British Library
• Discovering Literature: 20th centuryArchived1 July 2016 at theWayback Machineat the British Library
• Luminarium: Anthology of Middle English Literature (1350–1485)
• Luminarium: 16th Century Renaissance English Literature (1485–1603)
• Luminarium: Seventeenth Century English Literature (1603–1660)
• Luminarium: Eighteenth Century English Literature (1660–1785)
• Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive (ECPA)
• A Bibliography of Literary Theory, Criticism and PhilologyEd. José Ángel García Landa, (University of Zaragoza, Spain)