This is a conventional history of English Literature. The overall aim in this work is to survey English Literature from the medieval times to the present. Categories, genres and timelines most frequently used in such studies have been retained with boxed items focusing on particular ‘moments’ in this history.

I have retained the original spellings of works so that the flavour remains unchanged. The term ‘prose’ is used in order to describe extended non-verse writings before further classification into fiction and non-fiction. The individual ages are organized around authors not in order of a strict chronology (though by and large it is adhered to) but in terms of significance, contribution and influence (and conscious of the fact that, in the age of Theory, these are very debatable, even disreputable categories or criteria to invoke). In most cases, the women writers have been grouped together. This is not intended to ghettoize them, but rather to draw attention to the large numbers of women writers in every age.

The Timeline at the beginning of each section is to be used as a contextual aid, to locate texts and writers in their age. The ‘Further Reading’ list at the end of every section is a set of basic texts for the student to read for that particular age, and consists of works I deem indispensable for detailed exploration.

However, every section indicates, very schematically, points of departure should students want to explore further.