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The term English literature can mean:
- Literature from England written in the modern English language or its antecedents (such as Middle or Old English). (The rest of this article discusses this category.)
- Literature composed primarily in the English language by writers not from England; see articles on specific national and regional literatures, such as:
Genres
Genres of English literature parallel several of the genres of literature in general, and include:
History
There is a more extensive history in the British literature article
English literature emerged as a recognisable entity only in the medieval period, when the English language itself became distinct from the Norman and Anglo-Saxon dialects which preceded it. See also the article Old English poetry. The first great identifiable individual in English literature, the poet Geoffrey Chaucer, wrote the Canterbury Tales, a popular work of the period which readers still enjoy today.
Following the introduction of a printing press into the England by William Caxton in 1476, 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.
The English novel did not become a popular form until the 18th century. Some readers suggest (erroneously) that Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe (1719) claims a place as the first novel in English.
The following two centuries continued a huge outpouring of literary production, including novels, poetry, and drama, all of which forms remain strong in the present-day English literary culture.
For information on the English language prior to the 16th century, see Middle English and Old English.
Some suggested literary periods:
- Pre-modern (medieval)
- Early modern (renaissance)
- Elizabethan literature
- Jacobean literature
- Caroline literature
- Literature of the Commonwealth and Protectorate
- Restoration literature
- Augustan literature
- Age of Sensibility
- Romanticism
- Victorian literature
- Edwardian literature
- Georgian literature
- Modern literature
- Post-Modern literature
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