A bit of English Literature
"English literature" refers to texts written in modern English or its antecedents, or literature composed in English by writers who are not from England.
Pre-modern or Medieval
Medieval literature is a broad subject, constituting basically 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 Renaissance in the 15th century). The literature of this time was dominated by religious writings, including poetry as well as theology and hagiography, but also produced some secular and scientific works. It varied from the utterly sacred to the exuberantly profane.
Early modern (Renaissance)
"English Renaissance" is the term commonly used to describe a cultural and artistic movement in England from the early 16th century to the middle of the 17th century. It's associated with the pan-European Renaissance that (as many cultural historians believe) originated in northern Italy in the fourteenth century. That era in English cultural history is sometimes referred as "the age of Shakespeare" or "the Elizabethan era", taking the name of the English Renaissance's most famous author and the most important monarch, respectively; however it's 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 showed a great flourishing of literature, especially in the field of drama. William Shakespeare stands out in that time as the poet and playwright as yet unsurpassed. Other important figures in Elizabethan theatre include Thomas Dekker, Christopher Marlowe, Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher. At this time the "City Comedy" genre develops.
Jacobean literature
After Shakespeare's death, the poet and dramatist Ben Jonson was the leading literary figure. Others who followed Jonson's work include Fletcher and Beaumont and the other "Sons of Ben". Another popular style of theatre during Jacobean period 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 classes. The mobility of society following the social disruption of the past generation provided material for comedy texts. Aphra Behn, a novelist and playwright, became the first professional woman writer. John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, a religious allegory, remains one of the most widely-read works from that time.
Augustan literature
The beginning of the 18th century is known as the Augustan Age of English literature. The poetry of that time was quite formal, as shown by the works of Alexander Pope. The English novel didn't become a popular form until the 18th century. However, many works claim a place as the first novel in English. Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe (1719) is a popular candidate for this honour. By the middle of the 18th century, the novel form was well-established by authors such as Henry Fielding, Samuel Richardson and Laurence Stern, who perfected the "Epistolary Novel". Richardson's work was moralistic, whilst Fielding and Stern took a more comic approach.
Romanticism
The reaction of the urbanism and Industrial Revolution prompted poets to explore nature, for example: the "Lake Poets", including William Wordsworth. Romantic Poets brought a new emotionalism and introspection to English literature. The major "Second generation" Romantic Poets were Lord Byron, John Keats and Percy Bysse Shelley.
Victorian literature
In the Victorian era (1837-1901) the novel became the leading form of literature in English. Most writers were then more commited to meet the tastes of a large middle class reading public than to please the aristocratic one. The best known works of that time include the emotional works of the Brontė 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 in the 1830s, confirming the trend for serial publication.
Modern literature
Important novelists between the two World Wars include D.H. Lawrence and Virginia Woolf, a member of the "Bloomsbury group". Besides the Bloomsbury group, the Sitwells also gathered a literary and artistic association but less influential. Writers of popular literature include P. G. Wodehouse and Agatha Christie.
Post-Modern literature
Julian Barnes and John Fowles are examples of English Postmodern literature. Important writers of the beginning of the 21st century include Martin Amis, Will Self, Ian McEwan, Andrew Motion and Salman Rushdie.
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