View source for English literature

{{Short description|Literature written in the English language}}
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{{Distinguish|British literature}}
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{{Literature}}

'''English literature''' is literature written in the [[English language]] from the [[English-speaking world]]. The English language has developed over more than 1,400 years.<ref>{{cite web|title=How the English Language has evolved through history|url=http://www.childrensuniversity.manchester.ac.uk/interactives/languages/words/timeline/|website=childrensuniversity.manchester.ac.uk/|publisher=Manchester University|access-date=15 December 2016|archive-date=10 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171010183031/http://www.childrensuniversity.manchester.ac.uk/interactives/languages/words/timeline/|url-status=live}}</ref> The earliest forms of English, a set of [[Anglo-Frisian languages|Anglo-Frisian dialects]] brought to [[Great Britain]] by [[Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain|Anglo-Saxon settlers]] in the fifth century, are called [[Old English]]. ''[[Beowulf]]'' is the most famous work in Old English. Despite being set in [[Scandinavia]], it has achieved national epic status in England. However, following the [[Norman Conquest]] of England in 1066, the written form of the [[Old English|Anglo-Saxon language]] became less common. Under the influence of the new aristocracy, French became the standard language of courts, parliament, and polite society.<ref name="Baugh 2002. pp. 79">Baugh, Albert and Cable, Thomas. 2002. ''The History of the English Language''. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall. pp. 79–81.</ref> The English spoken after the Normans came is known as [[Middle English]]. This form of English lasted until the 1470s, when the [[Chancery Standard]] (late Middle English), a [[London]]-based form of English, became widespread. [[Geoffrey Chaucer]], author of ''[[The Canterbury Tales]]'', was a significant figure developing the legitimacy of [[vernacular]] Middle English at a time when the dominant literary languages in England were still French and Latin. The [[movable type|invention of the printing press]] by [[Johannes Gutenberg]] in 1439 also helped to standardise the language, as did the ''[[King James Bible]]'' (1611),<ref>"And now at last, ... it being brought unto such a conclusion, as that we have great hope that the Church of ''England'' (sic) shall reape good fruit thereby ..." [https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Bible_(King_James_Version,_1611)/Epistle_Dedicatorie Bible (King James Version, 1611)/Epistle Dedicatorie] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200131195513/https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Bible_(King_James_Version,_1611)/Epistle_Dedicatorie |date=31 January 2020 }}</ref> and the [[Great Vowel Shift]].<ref>{{cite news|title=''How English evolved into a global language''|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-12017753|date=20 December 2010|access-date=9 August 2015|publisher=BBC News|archive-date=25 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150925173407/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-12017753|url-status=live}}</ref> 
 
Poet and playwright [[William Shakespeare]] is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and one of the world's greatest dramatists.{{sfn|Greenblatt|2005|p=11}}{{sfn|Bevington|2002|pp=1–3}}{{sfn|Wells|1997|p=399}} His plays have been translated into every primary [[modern language|living language]] and are performed more often than those of any other playwright.{{sfn|Craig|2003|p=3}} In the nineteenth century, Sir [[Walter Scott|Walter Scott]]'s historical romances inspired a generation of European painters, composers, and writers.<ref name="English Literature p. 890">''The Oxford Companion to English Literature'', p. 890.</ref>

The English language spread throughout the world with the development of the [[British Empire]] between the late 16th and early 18th centuries. At its height, it was the [[List of largest empires|largest empire in history]].{{sfn|Ferguson|2004b}} By 1913, the British Empire held sway over 412 million people, {{Percentage|412,000,000|1,791,020,000}} of the world population at the time,<ref>[[#refMaddison2001|Maddison 2001]], p.&nbsp;97: "The total population of the Empire was 412 million [in 1913]"; [[#refMaddison2001|Maddison 2001]], pp.&nbsp;241: "[World population in 1913 (in thousands):] 1&nbsp;791&nbsp;020".</ref> During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, these colonies and the [[American literature|US]] started to produce their significant literary traditions in English. Cumulatively, from 1907 to the present, numerous writers from [[Great Britain]], [[Irish literature|both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland]], the US, and former British colonies have received the [[Nobel Prize in Literature]] for works in English: more than in any other language.

=={{Anchor|Old English literature}} Old English literature (c. 450–1066)==
{{Main|Old English literature}}
[[File:Beowulf Cotton MS Vitellius A XV f. 132r.jpg|thumb|left|The first page of ''[[Beowulf]]'']]
[[Old English literature]], or Anglo-Saxon literature, encompasses the surviving literature written in [[Old English]] in [[Anglo-Saxon England]], in the period after the settlement of the [[Saxon people|Saxons]] and other Germanic tribes in England ([[Jutes]] and the [[Angles (tribe)|Angles]]) c. 450, after the withdrawal of the [[Ancient Romans|Romans]], and "ending soon after the Norman Conquest" in 1066.{{Sfn | Drabble | 1996 | p = 323}}  These works include genres such as [[epic poem|epic poetry]], [[hagiography]], [[sermon]]s, [[Bible]] translations, legal works, [[chronicle]]s and riddles.<ref name =doma>[[Angus Cameron (academic)|Angus Cameron]] (1983). "Anglo-Saxon literature" in ''[[Dictionary of the Middle Ages]]'', vol. 1, pp. 274–88.</ref> In all there are about 400 surviving [[manuscript]]s from the period.<ref name = doma />

''[[Widsith]]'', which appears in the [[Exeter Book]] of the late 10th century, gives a list of kings of tribes ordered according to their popularity and impact on history, with [[Attila]] King of the [[Huns]] coming first, followed by [[Ermanaric|Eormanric]] of the [[Ostrogoths]].<ref name=hedeager>{{Cite book|title=Iron Age myth and materiality : an archaeology of Scandinavia, AD 400–1000|last=Lotte.|first=Hedeager|date=2011|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0-415-60602-8|location=Abindon, Oxfordshire; New York|oclc=666403125|chapter=Knowledge Production Reconsidered|pages=177–90}}</ref>{{rp|187}} It may also be the oldest extant work that tells the [[Hlöðskviða|Battle of the Goths and Huns]], which is also told in such later Scandinavian works as [[Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks|''Hervarar's saga'']] and ''[[Gesta Danorum]]''.<ref name=hedeager />{{rp|179}} [[Lotte Hedeager]] argues 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.<ref name=hedeager/>{{rp|184–86}} She does note, however, that some authors, such as [[John D. Niles|John Niles]], have argued the work was invented in the 10th century.<ref name=hedeager/>{{rp|181–84}}

The ''[[Anglo-Saxon Chronicle]]'' is a collection of [[annals]] in [[Old English]], from the 9th century, that [[chronicle]]s the history of the [[Anglo-Saxons]].<ref>Stanley Brian Greenfield, ''A New Critical History of Old English Literature'' (New York: New York University Press, Abels, Richard (2005). ''Alfred the Great: War, Kingship and Culture in Anglo-Saxon England''. Longman. p. 15. {{ISBN|0-582-04047-7}}.</ref> The poem ''[[The Battle of Maldon (poem)|Battle of Maldon]]'' also deals with history. This is a work of uncertain date, celebrating the [[Battle of Maldon]] of 991, at which the Anglo-Saxons failed to prevent a [[Viking]] invasion.{{Sfn | Drabble | 1996 | p = 369}}

[[Orature|Oral tradition]] was very strong in early [[Anglo-Saxon England|English culture]] and most literary works were written to be performed.<ref>{{Citation | first = Francis P jr | last = Magoun | title = The Oral-Formulaic Character of Anglo-Saxon Narrative Poetry | journal = Speculum | volume = 28 | issue = 3 | pages = 446–67 | doi=10.2307/2847021| jstor = 2847021 | year = 1953 | s2cid = 162903356 }}.</ref><ref>{{Citation | last = Fry | first = Donald K jr | year = 1968 | title = The Beowulf Poet: A Collection of Critical Essays | place = Englewood Cliffs | publisher = Prentice-Hall | pages = 83–113}}.</ref> [[Epic poetry|Epic poems]] were very popular, and some, including ''[[Beowulf]]'', have survived to the present day. ''Beowulf'' is the most famous work in Old English, and has achieved [[national epic]] status in England, despite being set in Scandinavia. The only surviving manuscript is the [[Nowell Codex]], the precise date of which is debated, but most estimates place it close to the year 1000. Beowulf is the conventional title,{{Sfn | Robinson | 2001 | ps =: 'Like most Old English poems, Beowulf has no title in the unique manuscript in which it survives (British Library, Cotton Vitellius A.xv, which was copied round the year 1000 AD), but modern scholars agree in naming it after the hero whose life is its subject.'}} and its composition is dated between the 8th{{Sfn | Tolkien | 1958 | p = 127}}<ref name = "Hieatt">{{Cite book | last = Hieatt | first = A Kent | title = Beowulf and Other Old English Poems | location = New York | publisher = Bantam Books | pages = xi–xiii | year = 1983}}</ref> and the early 11th century.{{Sfn | Kiernan | 1996 | pp = xix–xx, 3–4, 23–34, 60, 62, 90, 162, 171, 258, 257, 277–78, footnote 69}}

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]], and [[Cynewulf]]. Cædmon is the earliest English poet whose name is known,{{Sfn | Fulk | Cain | 2003}}{{Pages needed |date=January 2015}}  and his only known surviving work ''[[Cædmon's Hymn]]'' probably dates from the late 7th century. The poem is one of the earliest attested examples of Old English and is, with the [[runic]] [[Ruthwell Cross]] and [[Franks Casket]] inscriptions, 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 a [[Germanic languages|Germanic language]]. The poem, ''[[The Dream of the Rood]]'', was inscribed upon the [[Ruthwell Cross]].{{Sfn | Fulk | Cain | 2003}}{{Pages needed |date=January 2015}}

Two [[Old English]] poems from the late 10th century are ''[[The Wanderer (Old English poem)|The Wanderer]]'' and ''[[The Seafarer (poem)|The Seafarer]]''.{{Sfn | Drabble | 1996 | p = 1052}} Both have a religious theme, and Marsden describes ''The Seafarer'' as "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".<ref>Marsden, Richard (2004). The Cambridge Old English Reader. Cambridge: Cambridge UP. p. 221. {{ISBN|978-0-521-45612-8}}.</ref>

Classical antiquity was not forgotten in Anglo-Saxon England, and several Old English poems are adaptations of [[Late Antiquity|late classical]] philosophical texts. The longest is [[King Alfred]]'s 9th-century translation of [[Boethius]]' ''[[Consolation of Philosophy]]''.<ref>Walter John Sedgefield (ed.), ''King Alfred's Old English Version of Boethius: De consolatione philosophiae'', 1968 (1899)</ref> In addition, the famous ''[[Ecclesiastical History of the English People]]'' ([[Latin language|Latin]]: ''Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum''), written by [[Bede]] in Latin in about AD 731 was translated into Old English sometime between the end of the ninth century and about 930. 

== Middle English literature (1066–1500) ==
{{Main |Middle English literature}}

After the [[Norman Conquest]] of England in 1066, the written form of the [[Anglo-Saxon language]] became 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 the [[Norman language|Norman]] dialects of the ruling classes became [[Anglo-Norman language|Anglo-Norman]]. From then until the 12th century, Anglo-Saxon underwent a gradual transition into [[Middle 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.<ref name="Baugh 2002. pp. 79"/>

In this period religious literature continued to enjoy popularity and [[hagiography|Hagiographies]] were written, adapted and translated: for example, ''[[The Life of Saint Audrey]]'', by [[Eadmer]].<ref>{{Cite ODNB | first = JC | last = Rubenstein | contribution = Eadmer of Canterbury (c. 1060 – c. 1126) | title = Oxford Dictionary of National Biography | year = 2004 | doi = 10.1093/ref:odnb/8383 | url = http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/8383 | access-date = 8 February 2011}}.</ref> During the writing of ''[[Ormulum]]'' ({{Circa|1150}}  – {{Circa|1180}}),<ref name="Parkes1983">{{cite book |last=Parkes |first=M. B. |title=Five hundred years of words and sounds: A festschrift for Eric Dobson |publisher=D. S. Brewer |year=1983 |isbn=0-85991-140-3 |editor1-last=Stanley |editor1-first=E. G. |location=Cambridge |pages=115–27 |chapter=On the presumed date and possible origin of the manuscript of the ''Orrmulum'' |ref=Parkes1983 |editor2-last=Gray |editor2-first=Douglas}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Johannesson2">{{Cite book |last1=Johannesson |first1=Nils-Lennart |url=https://reunido.uniovi.es/index.php/SELIM/article/download/20530/16515 |title=Ormulum |last2=Cooper |first2=Andrew |date=2023 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-289043-6 |series=Early English text society |location=Oxford}}</ref> Afterwards, [[Layamon]] in ''[[Layamon's Brut|Brut]]'' adapted the [[Norman-French]] of [[Wace]] to produce the first English-language work to present the legends of [[King Arthur]] and the [[Knights of the Round Table]].{{Sfn|Drabble|1996|p=44}} It was also the first historiography written in English since the [[Anglo-Saxon Chronicle]].

[[File:Piers Ploughman. Middle English Poetry (f.169).jpg|thumb|Piers Ploughman from a 14th-century manuscript]]
[[Middle English Bible translations]], notably [[Wycliffe's Bible]], helped to establish English as a literary language. Wycliffe's Bible is the name now given to a group of [[Bible translations]] into Middle English that were made under the direction of, or at the instigation of, [[John Wycliffe]]. They appeared between about 1382 and 1395.<ref>{{Citation | title = Catholic Encyclopedia | url = http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15367a.htm | contribution = Versions of the Bible | publisher = New advent | access-date = 26 March 2013 | archive-date = 18 May 2013 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130518040306/http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15367a.htm | url-status = live }}</ref> These Bible translations were the chief inspiration and cause of the [[Lollard]] movement, a pre-[[Reformation]] movement that rejected many of the teachings of the Roman [[Catholic Church]].

Another literary genre, that of [[Romance (heroic literature)|Romances]], appears in English from the 13th century, with ''[[King Horn]]'' and ''[[Havelock the Dane]]'', based on Anglo-Norman originals such as the ''[[Romance of Horn]]'' (c. 1170),{{Sfn | Drabble | 1996 |page = 852}} but it was in the 14th century that major writers in English first appeared. These were [[William Langland]], [[Geoffrey Chaucer]] and the so-called [[Pearl Poet]], whose most famous work is ''[[Sir Gawain and the Green Knight]]''.<ref>{{Citation | last = Long | first = William J. | title = English Literature, Its History and Its Significance for the Life of the English Speaking World | publisher = Public domain | url = https://archive.org/stream/englishliteratur00longrich#page/56/mode/2up | year = 1909 | page = 57}}</ref>

Langland's ''[[Piers Plowman]]'' (written c. 1360–1387) or ''Visio Willelmi de Petro Plowman'' (''William's Vision of Piers Plowman'') is a Middle English [[allegorical]] narrative poem, written in unrhymed [[alliterative verse]].<ref>{{Citation | last = Long | first = William J. | title = English Literature, Its History and Its Significance for the Life of the English Speaking World | publisher = Public domain | url = https://archive.org/stream/englishliteratur00longrich#page/82/mode/2up | year = 1909 | page = 82}}</ref>

''[[Sir Gawain and the Green Knight]]'' is a late 14th-century Middle English alliterative [[chivalric romance|romance]]. 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 Gawain'' highlights 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 (poem)|Pearl]]''.<ref name = Gawayne>{{Citation | contribution = Sir Gawayne and the Grene Knight | title = Encyclopædia Britannica | edition = online academic | date = 24 March 2013 | contribution-url = https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/546495/Sir-Gawayne-and-the-Grene-Knight | access-date = 21 June 2022 | archive-date = 30 May 2015 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150530150820/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/546495/Sir-Gawayne-and-the-Grene-Knight | url-status = live }}.</ref> The English dialect of these poems from the [[Midlands (England)|Midlands]] is markedly different from that of the [[London]]-based Chaucer and, though influenced by French in the scenes at court in ''Sir Gawain'', there are in the poems also many dialect words, often of Scandinavian origin, that belonged to northwest England.<ref name = Gawayne />

[[File:Geoffrey Chaucer (17th century).jpg|upright|thumb|[[Geoffrey Chaucer]]]]
Middle English lasted until the 1470s, when the [[Chancery Standard]], a London-based form of English, became widespread and the printing press started to standardise the language. Chaucer is best known today for ''[[The Canterbury Tales]]''. This is a collection of stories written in Middle English (mostly in [[verse (poetry)|verse]] although some are in [[prose]]), that are presented as part of a story-telling contest by a group of pilgrims as they travel together from [[Southwark]] to the shrine of St [[Thomas Becket]] at [[Canterbury Cathedral]]. Chaucer is a significant figure in the development of the legitimacy of the [[vernacular]], 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 of [[John Gower]]. A contemporary of [[William Langland]] and a personal friend of Chaucer, Gower is remembered primarily for three major works: the ''Mirroir de l'Omme'', ''[[Vox Clamantis]]'', and ''[[Confessio Amantis]]'', three long poems written in [[Anglo-Norman language|Anglo-Norman]], Latin and Middle English respectively, which are united by common moral and political themes.<ref>{{cite DNB|wstitle=Gower, John}}</ref>

Significant religious works were also created in the 14th century, including those of [[Julian of Norwich]] and [[Richard Rolle]]. Julian's ''[[Revelations of Divine Love]]'' (about 1393) is believed to be the first published book written by a woman in the English language.<ref name="ec">{{cite book
 | first1=Edmund |last1=Colledge |author-link1=Edmund Colledge |first2=James |last2=Walsh
 | title = Julian of Norwich – Showings
 | publisher=Paulist Press
 | year = 1978
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=IPCwHOwX_BgC
 | isbn = 978-0-8091-2091-8
}}
</ref>

A major work from the 15th century is ''[[Le Morte d'Arthur]]'' by Sir [[Thomas Malory]], which was printed by [[William Caxton|Caxton]] in 1485.<ref name="autogenerated182">''The Oxford Companion to English Literature'' (1996), p. 182.</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web |title=Malory's Morte d'Arthur: Exhibition Guide |url=https://d.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/text/mcshane-malorys-morte-d-arthur-exhibition-guide |website=University of Rochester {{!}} Robbins Library Digital Projects |access-date=21 August 2021 |archive-date=21 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210821232911/https://d.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/text/mcshane-malorys-morte-d-arthur-exhibition-guide |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Medieval theatre===
{{Main|Medieval theatre}}
In the [[Middle Ages]], drama in the vernacular languages of Europe may have emerged from enactments of the [[liturgy]]. [[Mystery play]]s were presented in the porches of cathedrals or by strolling players on [[Calendar of saints|feast days]]. [[Miracle play|Miracle]] and mystery plays, along with [[morality play]]s (or "interludes"), later evolved into more elaborate forms of drama, such as was seen on the Elizabethan stages. Another form of medieval theatre was the [[Mummers Play|mummers' plays]], a form of early street theatre associated with the [[Morris dance]], concentrating on themes such as [[Saint George]] and the [[European dragon|Dragon]] and [[Robin Hood]]. These were [[Folklore|folk tales]] re-telling old stories, and the actors travelled from town to town performing these for their audiences in return for money and hospitality.<ref>{{cite book |title=Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory |first=J.A. |last=Cuddon |location=London |publisher=Penguin Books |year=1999 |page=523}}</ref>

Mystery plays and miracle plays are among the earliest formally developed [[Play (theatre)|plays]] in [[medieval Europe]]. Medieval mystery plays focused on the representation of [[Bible]] stories in [[Church (building)|churches]] as [[tableau vivant|tableaux]] with accompanying [[antiphon]]al song. 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.<ref>{{cite book|last=Gassner|first=John|author2=Quinn, Edward|title=The Reader's Encyclopedia of World Drama|publisher=Methuen|location=London|year=1969|pages=203–04|chapter=England: middle ages|oclc=249158675}}</ref>
[[File:ChesterMysteryPlay 300dpi.jpg|thumb|upright|left|19th-century engraving of a performance from the Chester [[mystery play]] cycle]]
There are four complete or nearly complete extant English biblical collections of plays from the late medieval period. The most complete is the ''[[York Mystery Plays|York cycle]]'' of 48 pageants. They were performed in the city of [[York]], from the middle of the 14th century until 1569.<ref>''A Glossary of Literary Terms'', M.H. Abrams. (Fort Worth, Texas: Harcourt Brace, 1999, pp. 165–66.</ref> Besides the Middle English drama, there are three surviving plays in [[Cornish language|Cornish]] known as the [[Ordinalia]].<ref>{{cite book |url=http://www.gutenberg.org/files/26192/26192-h/26192-h.htm |title=A Handbook of the Cornish Language |first=Henry |last=Jenner |via=[[Project Gutenberg]] |access-date=7 April 2013 |archive-date=26 August 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130826132130/http://www.gutenberg.org/files/26192/26192-h/26192-h.htm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.magakernow.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=38590 |title=A brief history of the Cornish language |website=Maga Cornish Language Partnership |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081225172227/http://www.magakernow.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=38590 |archive-date=25 December 2008 }}</ref>

Having grown out of the religiously based [[mystery play]]s of the Middle Ages, the [[morality play]] is a [[genre]] of medieval and [[Tudor period|early Tudor]] theatrical entertainment, which represented a shift towards a more secular base for European theatre.<ref>Richardson and Johnston (1991, 97–98).</ref> Morality plays are a type of [[allegory]] in which the [[protagonist]] is met by [[personification]]s of various [[morality|moral]] attributes 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.<ref>''Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory'', p. 523.</ref>

''The Somonyng of Everyman'' (''The Summoning of Everyman'') (c. 1509–1519), usually referred to simply as ''[[Everyman (15th-century play)|Everyman]]'', is a late 15th-century English morality play. Like [[John Bunyan]]'s allegory ''[[Pilgrim's Progress]]'' (1678), ''Everyman'' examines the question of [[Christian salvation]] through the use of allegorical characters.<ref>''The Norton Anthology of English Literature'', Vol. 1 (2000), p. 445 and ''The Oxford Companion to English Literature'' (1996), p. 775.</ref>

=={{Anchor|English Renaissance: 1500-1660}} English Renaissance (1500–1660)==

{{Main|Early Modern English|Early Modern Britain|Elizabethan literature|English Renaissance theatre}}

The [[English Renaissance]] as a part of the [[Northern Renaissance]] was a [[cultural movement|cultural]] and [[art movement|artistic movement]] in England dating from the late 15th to the 17th century.{{sfn|Ward|Waller|1907–1916|p=|loc=Vol. 3: Renascence and Reformation}} It is associated with the pan-European [[Renaissance]] that 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 of [[Henry VIII]]<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.poetryfoundation.org/collections/154826/an-introduction-to-the-english-renaissance |title="English Renaissance", Poetry Foundation online |access-date=9 January 2021 |archive-date=11 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210111151435/https://www.poetryfoundation.org/collections/154826/an-introduction-to-the-english-renaissance |url-status=live }}</ref> and the [[Elizabethan era]] in the second half of the 16th century is usually regarded as the height of the English Renaissance.{{sfn|Ward|Waller|1907–1916|p=|loc=Vol. 3: Renascence and Reformation}}<ref>''A Companion to English Renaissance Literature and Culture'', ed. Michael Hattaway (2000)</ref>

The influence of the Italian Renaissance can also be found in the poetry of [[Thomas Wyatt (poet)|Thomas Wyatt]], one of the earliest English Renaissance poets. He was responsible for many innovations in English poetry, and alongside [[Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey]] introduced the [[sonnet]] from Italy into England in the early 16th century.{{sfn |Tillyard| 1929}}{{sfn | Burrow |2004}}{{sfn|Ward | Waller | Trent | Erskine | 1907–21 | loc = '''3'''}}  After [[William Caxton]] introduced the printing press in England in 1476, [[vernacular literature]] flourished.<ref name="autogenerated182"/> The [[English Reformation|Reformation]] inspired the production of vernacular [[liturgy]] which led to the ''[[Book of Common Prayer]]'' (1549), a lasting influence on literary language.

==={{Anchor|Elizabethan period (1558-1603)|Elizabethan era}} Elizabethan period (1558–1603)===
{{See also|Elizabethan literature|English Renaissance theatre|Elizabethan theatre}}

====Poetry====
[[Edmund Spenser]] was one of the most important poets of the Elizabethan period, author of ''[[The Faerie Queene]]'' (1590 and 1596), an epic poem and fantastical [[allegory]] celebrating the [[Tudor dynasty]] and [[Elizabeth I]]. Another major figure, [[Philip Sidney|Sir Philip Sidney]], was an English poet, whose works include ''[[Astrophel and Stella]]'', ''[[The Defence of Poetry]]'', and ''[[The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia]]''. Poems intended to be set to music as songs, such as those by [[Thomas Campion]], became popular as printed literature was disseminated more widely in households. [[John Donne]] was another important figure in Elizabethan poetry (see Jacobean poetry below).

====Drama====
Among the earliest Elizabethan plays are ''[[Gorboduc (play)|Gorboduc]]'' (1561) by [[Thomas Sackville, 1st Earl of Dorset|Sackville]] and [[Thomas Norton|Norton]], and [[Thomas Kyd]]'s ''[[The Spanish Tragedy]]'' (1592). ''Gorboduc'' is notable especially as the first [[verse drama]] in [[English language|English]] to employ [[blank verse]], and for the way it developed elements, from the earlier [[morality play]]s and [[Senecan tragedy]], in the direction which would be followed by later playwrights.<ref>"''Gorboduc'' and ''Titus Andronicus''"; James D. Carroll, ''Notes and Queries'', 2004, pp. 51, 267–69.</ref> ''[[The Spanish Tragedy]]''<ref>{{Cite book | url=https://archive.org/details/spanishtragedya00kydgoog | title=The Spanish tragedy, a play| publisher=London: J.M. Dent and co.| year=1898}}</ref> is an Elizabethan [[tragedy]] written by [[Thomas Kyd]] between 1582 and 1592, which was popular and influential in its time, and established a new [[genre]] in English literature theatre, the [[revenge play]].<ref>''The Oxford Companion to English Literature'', ed. Margaret Drabble. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996), pp. 832, 935.</ref>

[[File:William Shakespeare by John Taylor, edited.jpg|upright|thumb|William Shakespeare]]
[[William Shakespeare]] stands out in this period as a [[poet]] and [[playwright]] as yet unsurpassed. Shakespeare wrote plays in a variety of genres, including [[Shakespearean history|histories]] (such as ''Richard III'' and ''Henry IV''), [[Shakespearean tragedy|tragedies]] (such as ''Hamlet'', ''Othello'', and ''Macbeth'') [[Shakespearean comedy|comedies]] (such as ''Midsummer Night's Dream'', ''As You Like It'', and ''Twelfth Night'') and the late [[William Shakespeare's late romances|romances]], or tragicomedies. Shakespeare's career continues in the Jacobean period.

Other important figures in [[Elizabethan theatre]] include [[Christopher Marlowe]], and [[Ben Jonson]], [[Thomas Dekker (poet)|Thomas Dekker]], [[John Fletcher (playwright)|John Fletcher]] and [[Francis Beaumont]].

===Jacobean period (1603–1625)===
==== Drama ====
In the early 17th century [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]] wrote the so-called "[[Shakespearean problem play|problem plays]]", as well as a number of his best known [[Shakespearean tragedy|tragedies]], including ''[[Macbeth]]'' and ''[[King Lear]]''.<ref>{{Harvnb|Bradley|1991|loc=85}}; {{Harvnb|Muir|2005|loc=12–16}}.</ref> In his final period, Shakespeare turned to [[Shakespeare's late romances|romance]] or [[tragicomedy]] and completed three more major plays, including ''[[The 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.<ref>{{Harvnb|Dowden|1881|loc=57}}.</ref>

After Shakespeare's death, the poet and dramatist [[Ben Jonson]] was the leading literary figure of the [[Jacobean era]]. Jonson's aesthetics hark back to the Middle Ages and his characters embody the [[Humours|theory of humours]], which was based on contemporary medical theory.<ref>"Ben Jonson." ''Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online Academic Edition''. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2012. Web. 20 September 2012. https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/127459/Ben Jonson.</ref> Jonson's comedies include ''[[Volpone]]'' (1605 or 1606) and ''[[Bartholomew Fair (play)|Bartholomew Fair]]'' (1614). Others who followed Jonson's style include [[Beaumont and Fletcher]], who wrote the popular comedy, ''[[The Knight of the Burning Pestle]]'' (probably 1607–1608), a satire of the rising middle class.<ref>''The Oxford Companion to English Literature'' (1996). p. 546.</ref>

Another popular style of theatre during Jacobean times was the [[revenge play]], which was popularized in the Elizabethan era by [[Thomas Kyd]], and then further developed later by [[John Webster]], ''[[The White Devil]]'' (1612) and ''[[The Duchess of Malfi]]'' (1613). Other revenge tragedies include ''[[The Changeling (play)|The Changeling]]'' written by [[Thomas Middleton]] and [[William Rowley]].<ref>"Revenge Tragedy" in ''A Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory'', ed. JA Cuddon (London: Penguin Books, 1999), pp. 744–46.</ref>

==== Poetry ====
[[George Chapman]] is remembered chiefly for his famous translation in 1616 of [[Homer]]'s ''[[Iliad]]'' and ''[[Odyssey]]'' into English verse.<ref>''Chapman's Homer: The Iliad''. Ed. Allardyce Nicoll. Bollingen Series 41. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1998; ''Chapman's Homer: The Odyssey''. Ed. Allardyce Nicoll. Bollingen Series 41.  Princeton: Princeton UP, 2000.</ref> This was the first ever complete translations of either poem into the English language. The translation had a profound influence on English literature and inspired [[John Keats]]'s famous sonnet "On First Looking into Chapman's Homer" (1816).

Shakespeare popularized the [[English sonnet]], which made significant changes to [[Petrarch]]'s model. A collection of 154 by [[Shakespeare's sonnets|sonnets]], 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 the [[Metaphysical poets]]: [[John Donne]], [[George Herbert]], [[Henry Vaughan]], [[Andrew Marvell]] and [[Richard Crashaw]].<ref name="ODNB">{{Citation | first = Colin | last = Burrow | contribution = Metaphysical poets (act. c. 1600 – c. 1690) | title = Oxford Dictionary of National Biography | publisher = Oxford University Press | contribution-url = http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/theme/95605 | access-date = 7 May 2012 | archive-date = 24 September 2015 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150924163616/http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/theme/95605 | url-status = live }}.</ref> Their style was characterized by [[wit]] and metaphysical conceits, that is, far-fetched or unusual similes or metaphors.<ref>Gardner, Helen ''The Metaphysical Poets''  Penguin Books, 1957 {{ISBN|0-14-042038-X}}</ref>

==== Prose ====
The most important prose work of the early 17th century was the [[King James Version|King 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 of [[Bible translations into English|Bible translation into English]] that began with the work of [[William Tyndale]], and it became the standard [[Bible]] of the [[Church of England]].{{Sfn | Drabble | 1996 | pp = 100–01}}

==={{Anchor|Late Renaissance: 1625-60|Caroline and Cromwellian literature}} Late Renaissance (1625–1660)===

====Poetry====
The [[Metaphysical poets]] [[John Donne]] and [[George Herbert]] were still alive after 1625, and later in the 17th century a second generation of metaphysical poets were writing, including [[Richard Crashaw]], [[Andrew Marvell]], [[Thomas Traherne]] and [[Henry Vaughan]]. 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 the [[Cavalier poet]]s are [[Robert Herrick (poet)|Robert Herrick]], [[Richard Lovelace (poet)|Richard Lovelace]], [[Thomas Carew]] and [[John Suckling (poet)|Sir 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, [[Cicero]] and [[Ovid]]. [[John Milton]] "was the last great poet of the English Renaissance"<ref>John Milton." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2013. Web. 8 April 2013. <https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/383113/John-Milton {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150508181454/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/383113/John-Milton |date=8 May 2015 }}>.</ref> and published a number of works before 1660, including ''[[L'Allegro]]'' (1631), ''[[Il Penseroso]]'' (1634), the masque ''[[Comus (John Milton)|Comus]]'' (1638) and ''[[Lycidas]]'' (1638). However, his major epic works, including ''[[Paradise Lost]]'' (1667) were published in the Restoration period.

=={{Anchor|Restoration Age: 1660-1700}} Restoration Age (1660–1700)==
{{Main|Restoration literature|Restoration Comedy}}

{{more citations needed section|date=March 2016}}
Restoration literature includes both ''[[Paradise Lost]]'' and the [[John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester|Earl of Rochester]]'s ''[[Sodom, or the Quintessence of Debauchery|Sodom]],'' the sexual comedy of ''[[The Country Wife]]'' and the moral wisdom of ''[[Pilgrim's Progress]].'' It saw Locke's ''[[Two Treatises on Government]],'' the founding of the [[Royal Society]], the experiments and the holy meditations of [[Robert Boyle]], the [[Short View of the Immorality and Profaneness of the English Stage|hysterical attacks on theatres]] from [[Jeremy 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 of [[Charles I of England|Charles I]] went into exile with the twenty-year-old [[Charles II of England|Charles II]]. The nobility who travelled with Charles II were therefore lodged for over a decade in the midst of the continent's literary scene.

===Poetry===
[[File:John Milton - Project Gutenberg eText 13619.jpg|upright|left|thumb|[[John Milton]], religious [[epic poem]] ''[[Paradise Lost]]'' published in 1667.]]

[[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 poem ''[[Paradise 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 celebrated ''[[Areopagitica]]'', written in condemnation of pre-publication censorship, is among history's most influential and impassioned defenses of [[free speech]] and [[Freedom of the press#United Kingdom|freedom of the press]].<ref>{{cite book| last = Sanders| first = Karen| title = Ethics & Journalism| publisher = Sage| year = 2003| page = 66| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=bnpliIUyO60C| isbn = 978-0-7619-6967-9| access-date = 22 March 2023| archive-date = 26 March 2023| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230326164800/https://books.google.com/books?id=bnpliIUyO60C| url-status = live}}</ref>
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]] 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-heroic ''[[MacFlecknoe]]'' (1682).<ref>John Dryden, ''Major Works'', ed. by Keith Walker, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987), p. 37.</ref> [[Alexander Pope]] 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===
Prose in the Restoration period is dominated by [[Christianity|Christian]] religious 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 when [[John Locke]] wrote many of his philosophical works. His two ''Treatises on Government,'' which later inspired the thinkers in the [[American Revolution]]. The Restoration moderated most of the more strident sectarian writing, but radicalism persisted after the Restoration. Puritan authors such as [[John Milton]] were forced to retire from public life or adapt, and those authors who had preached against monarchy and who had participated directly in the [[regicide]] of [[Charles I of England|Charles I]] were 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 Bunyan]] stands out beyond other religious authors of the period. Bunyan's ''[[The Pilgrim's Progress]]'' is an [[allegory]] of personal salvation and a guide to the Christian life.
[[File:Pilgrim's Progress first edition 1678.jpg|thumb|upright|[[John Bunyan]]'s ''[[The Pilgrim's Progress]]'' (1678)]]

During the Restoration period, the most common manner of getting news would have been a [[broadsheet]] publication. 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 of ''Romance'' fiction in France and Spain was popular in England. One of the most significant figures in the rise of the novel in the Restoration period is [[Aphra Behn]], author of ''[[Oroonoko]]'' (1688), who was not only the first professional female novelist, but she may be among the first professional novelists of either sex in England.

===Drama===
As soon as the previous Puritan regime's ban on public stage representations was lifted, [[drama]] recreated itself quickly and abundantly.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Hatch|first1=Mary Jo|title=The Three Faces of Leadership: Manager, Artist, Priest|date=2009|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|page=47}}</ref> The most famous plays of the early Restoration period are the unsentimental or "hard" comedies of [[John Dryden]], [[William Wycherley]], and [[George Etherege]], which reflect the atmosphere at Court, and celebrate an aristocratic [[machismo|macho]] lifestyle 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 like [[William Congreve (playwright)|William Congreve]]'s ''[[The Way of the World]]'' (1700), and [[John Vanbrugh]]'s ''[[The Relapse]]'' (1696) and ''[[The Provoked Wife]]'' (1697) were "softer" and more middle-class in ethos, very different from the aristocratic [[extravaganza]] twenty years earlier, and aimed at a wider audience.

==18th century==

==={{Anchor|Augustan literature (1700-1750)}} Augustan literature (1700–1745)===
{{Main|18th-century literature|Augustan literature}}

{{more citations needed section|date=March 2016}}
During the 18th century literature reflected the worldview of the [[Age 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 like [[Isaac Newton]] and the writings of [[Descartes]], [[John Locke]] and [[Francis 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 of [[romanticism]]. The ''[[Encyclopédie]]'' of 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 that [[George I of Great Britain]] preferred for himself. While George I meant the title to reflect his might, they instead saw in it a reflection of [[Ancient 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 the [[Industrial Revolution]].

====Poetry====
It was during this time that the poet [[James Thomson (poet, born 1700)|James Thomson]] produced his melancholy ''[[The Seasons (Thomson poem)|The Seasons]]'' (1728–1730) and [[Edward Young]] wrote his poem ''[[Night Thoughts]]'' (1742), though the most outstanding poet of the age is [[Alexander Pope]] (1688–1744). It is also the era that saw a serious competition over the proper model for the [[pastoral poetry|pastoral]]. In criticism, poets struggled with a doctrine of ''decorum,'' of matching proper words with proper sense and of achieving a diction that matched the gravity of a subject. At the same time, the [[mock-heroic]] was at its zenith and Pope's ''[[Rape of the Lock]]'' (1712–1717) and ''[[The Dunciad]]'' (1728–1743) are still considered to be the greatest mock-heroic poems ever written.<ref>J. A. Cuddon, ''A Dictionary of Literary Terms''. (London: Penguin, 1999), p. 514.</ref> Pope also translated the ''[[Iliad]]'' (1715–1720) and the ''[[Odyssey]]'' (1725–1726). Since his death, Pope has been in a constant state of re-evaluation.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.poets.org/apope/ |title=Alexander Pope |work=Poets.org |access-date=2013-01-06 |date=2007-01-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140128102619/http://www.poets.org/apope/ |archive-date=28 January 2014 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

====Drama====
Drama in the early part of the period featured the last plays of [[John Vanbrugh]] and [[William Congreve (playwright)|William Congreve]], both of whom carried on the Restoration comedy with some alterations. However, the majority of stagings were of lower [[farce]]s and much more serious and domestic tragedies. [[George Lillo]] and [[Richard Steele]] both 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 Cibber]] and [[John Rich (producer)|John Rich]] began to battle each other for greater and greater spectacles to present on stage. The figure of [[Harlequin]] was introduced, and [[pantomime]] theatre began to be staged. This "low" comedy was quite popular, and the plays became tertiary to the staging. [[Opera]] also began to be popular in London, and there was significant literary resistance to this Italian incursion. In 1728 John Gay returned to the playhouse with ''[[The Beggar's Opera]]''.  The [[Licensing Act 1737]] brought an abrupt halt to much of the period's drama, as the theatres were once again brought under state control.

====Prose, including the novel====
In prose, the earlier part of the period was overshadowed by the development of the English essay. [[Joseph Addison]] and [[Richard Steele]]'s ''[[The Spectator (1711)|The Spectator]]'' established the form of the British periodical essay. However, this was also the time when the English [[novel]] was first emerging. [[Daniel Defoe]] turned from [[journalism]] and writing criminal lives for the press to writing fictional criminal lives with ''[[Roxana: The Fortunate Mistress|Roxana]]'' and ''[[Moll Flanders]].'' He also wrote  ''[[Robinson Crusoe]]'' (1719).

[[File:Jonathan Swift by Charles Jervas detail.jpg|thumb|upright|left|[[Jonathan Swift]]]]
If Addison and Steele were dominant in one type of prose, then [[Jonathan Swift]] author of the satire ''[[Gulliver's Travels]]'' was in another. In ''[[A Modest Proposal]]'' and the ''Drapier Letters'', Swift reluctantly defended the Irish people from the predations of [[colonialism]]. This provoked riots and arrests, but Swift, who had no love of Irish [[Catholic Church|Roman Catholics]], was outraged by the abuses he saw.

An effect of the [[Licensing Act 1737]] was to cause more than one aspiring playwright to switch over to writing novels. [[Henry Fielding]] began to write prose satire and novels after his plays could not pass the censors. In the interim, [[Samuel Richardson]] had produced ''[[Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded]]'' (1740), and Henry Fielding attacked, what he saw, as the absurdity of this novel in, ''[[Joseph Andrews]]'' (1742) and ''[[Shamela]]'' (1741). Subsequently, Fielding satirised Richardson's ''[[Clarissa; or, The History of a Young Lady|Clarissa]]'' (1748) with ''[[The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling|Tom Jones]]'' (1749). [[Tobias Smollett]] (1721–1771) elevated the [[picaresque novel]] with works such as ''[[Roderick Random]]'' (1748) and ''[[Peregrine Pickle]]'' (1751).

==={{Anchor|Age of sensibility: 1750-1798}} Age of Sensibility (1745–1798)<!--'Age of Sensibility' and 'Age of sensibility' redirect here-->===
[[File:Dr-Johnson.jpg|thumbnail|upright|[[Samuel Johnson]]]]
{{Main|Sentimental novel}}
This period is known as the '''Age of Sensibility'''<!--boldface per WP:R#PLA-->, but it is also sometimes described as the "Age of Johnson".<ref>''A Handbook to English Literature'' (7th edition), ed. Harmon & Holman. (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall), 1996), p. 575.</ref> [[Samuel Johnson]], 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 and [[lexicographer]]. Johnson has been described as "arguably the most distinguished man of letters in English history".<ref>{{cite ODNB|last=Rogers|first=Pat|contribution=Johnson, Samuel (1709–1784)|title=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography|year=2006|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/14918 |edition=online|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/14918|access-date=25 August 2008}}</ref> After nine years of work, Johnson's ''[[A Dictionary of the English Language]]'' was published in 1755, and it had a far-reaching effect on [[Modern English]] and has been described as "one of the greatest single achievements of scholarship."<ref name="Bate240">{{Harvnb|Bate|1977|p=240}}</ref>

The second half of the 18th century saw the emergence of three major Irish authors: [[Oliver Goldsmith]], [[Richard Brinsley Sheridan]] and [[Laurence Sterne]]. Goldsmith is the author of ''[[The Vicar of Wakefield]]'' (1766), a pastoral poem ''[[The Deserted Village]]'' (1770) and two plays, ''The Good-Natur'd Man'' (1768) and ''[[She Stoops to Conquer]]'' (1773). Sheridan's first play, ''[[The Rivals]]'' (1775), was performed at [[Covent Garden]] and was an instant success. He went on to become the most significant London playwright of the late 18th century with a play like ''[[The School for Scandal]]''. Both Goldsmith and Sheridan reacted against the sentimental comedy of the 18th-century theatre, writing plays closer to the style of [[Restoration comedy]].<ref>''The Bloomsbury Guide to English Literature'' (1990), pp. 564, 698, 906.</ref>

Sterne published his famous novel ''[[Tristram Shandy]]'' in parts between 1759 and 1767.<ref>''The Oxford Companion to English Literature'', p. 947.</ref> In 1778, [[Frances Burney]] wrote ''[[Evelina]]'', one of the first [[novel of manners|novels of manners]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Fanny Burney |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Fanny-Burney |access-date=21 August 2021}}</ref> Fanny Burney's novels "were enjoyed and admired by Jane Austen".<ref>''The Oxford Companion to English Literature'', ed Margaret Drabble. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996), p. 151.</ref>

====Precursors of Romanticism====
The Romantic movement in English literature of the early 19th century has its roots in 18th-century poetry, the [[Gothic novel]] and the novel of sensibility.<ref>J.A. Cuddon, ''A Dictionary of Literary Terms'', p. 588</ref><ref name="britannica.com">{{cite encyclopedia |title=Pre-Romanticism |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/event/Pre-Romanticism |access-date=21 August 2021}}</ref> This includes the [[graveyard 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 (philosophy)|'sublime']] and uncanny, and an interest in ancient English poetic forms and folk poetry.<ref>William Harmon and C. Hugh Holman, ''A Handbook to Literature''. (Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1986), pp. 452–53, 502.</ref> The poets include [[Thomas Gray]], ''[[Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard]]'' (1751) in<ref>''The Oxford Companion to English Literature'' (1996), p. 418.</ref> and [[Edward Young]], ''The Complaint, or [[Night Thoughts]] on Life, Death and Immortality'' (1742–1745).<ref>''The Oxford Companion to English Literature'', p. 1106.</ref> Other precursors are [[James Thomson (poet, born 1700)|James Thomson]] and [[James Macpherson]].<ref name="britannica.com"/> James Macpherson was the first Scottish poet to gain an international reputation, with his claim to have found poetry written by the ancient bard [[Ossian]].<ref>J. Buchan, ''Crowded with Genius'' (London: Harper Collins, 2003), {{ISBN|0-06-055888-1}}, p. 163.</ref>

The [[sentimental novel]] or "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 (literature)|sentimentalism]], and [[sensibility]]. 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 the [[Augustan literature|Augustan Age]].<ref>Richard Maxwell and Katie Trumpener, eds., ''The Cambridge Companion to Fiction in the Romantic Period'' (2008).</ref> Among the most famous sentimental novels in English are [[Samuel Richardson]]'s ''[[Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded]]'' (1740), [[Oliver Goldsmith]]'s ''[[Vicar of Wakefield]]'' (1766), [[Laurence Sterne]]'s ''[[Tristram Shandy]]'' (1759–67), and [[Henry Mackenzie]]'s ''[[The Man of Feeling]]'' (1771).<ref>J.A. Cuddon, ''A Dictionary of Literary Terms'' (1999), p. 809.</ref>

Significant foreign influences were the Germans [[Goethe]], [[Schiller]] and [[August Wilhelm Schlegel]] and French philosopher and writer [[Jean-Jacques Rousseau]].<ref name="J. A. Cuddon, pp. 588–9">J.A. Cuddon, pp. 588–89.</ref> [[Edmund Burke]]'s ''[[A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful]]'' (1757) is another important influence.<ref name="English Literature, pp. 957–8">''The Oxford Companion to English Literature'', pp. 957–58.</ref> The changing landscape, brought about by the [[Industrial Revolution]] and [[British Agricultural Revolution]], was another influence on the growth of the Romantic movement in Britain.

In the late 18th century, [[Horace Walpole]]'s 1764 novel ''[[The Castle of Otranto]]'' created the [[Gothic fiction]] genre, that combines elements of [[Horror fiction|horror]] and [[Romance (heroic literature)|romance]].<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-30313775 "The Castle of Otranto: The creepy tale that launched gothic fiction"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190703063419/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-30313775 |date=3 July 2019 }}. BBC. Retrieved 14 October 2017</ref> [[Ann Radcliffe]] introduced the brooding figure of the gothic [[villain]] which developed into the [[Byronic hero]]. Her ''[[The Mysteries of Udolpho]]'' (1795) is frequently cited as the archetypal Gothic novel.<ref>''Oxford Book of Gothic Tales''. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001</ref> A later generation of Gothic writing emerged with [[Mary Shelley]], remembered as the author of ''[[Frankenstein]]'' (1818).

====Rise of American Literature====
The successful [[American Revolution|War of Independence]] led by colonists in British North America from 1775 to 1783, resulted in the formation of the [[United 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 as [[Samuel Adams]], [[Josiah Quincy II|Josiah Quincy]], [[John Dickinson (delegate)|John Dickinson]], and [[Joseph Galloway]], the last being a loyalist to the crown. Two key figures were [[Benjamin Franklin]] and [[Thomas Paine]]. Franklin's ''[[Poor Richard's Almanack]]'' and ''[[The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin]]'' are esteemed works with their wit and influence toward the formation of a budding American identity. Paine's pamphlet ''[[Common Sense (Book)|Common Sense]]'' and ''[[The American Crisis]]'' writings are seen as playing a key role in influencing the political tone of the time.

During the [[American Revolutionary War|Revolutionary War]], poems and songs such as "[[Nathan Hale]]" were popular. Major satirists included [[John Trumbull (poet)|John Trumbull]] and [[Francis Hopkinson]]. [[Philip Morin Freneau]] also wrote poems about the War.

In the post-war period, [[Thomas Jefferson]] established his place in American literature through his authorship of the [[United States Declaration of Independence|Declaration of Independence]], his influence on the [[United States Constitution|U.S. Constitution]], his autobiography, his ''[[Notes on the State of Virginia]]'', and his many letters. [[The Federalist]] essays by [[Alexander Hamilton]], [[James Madison]], and [[John Jay]] presented a significant historical discussion of American government organization and republican values. [[Fisher Ames]], [[James Otis, Jr.|James Otis]], and [[Patrick Henry]] are 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 are [[Thomas Attwood Digges]]'s ''Adventures of Alonso'', published in London in 1775 and [[William Hill Brown]]'s ''[[The Power of Sympathy]]'' published 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 as [[Susanna Rowson]] who wrote ''Charlotte: A Tale of Truth'' (later re-issued as ''[[Charlotte Temple]]''). ''Charlotte Temple'' is a seduction tale influenced by the novels of English writer [[Samuel 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.<ref name="Parker, Patricia L. 1976">Parker, Patricia L. "Charlotte Temple by Susanna Rowson". ''The English Journal''. 65.1: (1976) 59-60. ''JSTOR''. Web. 1 March 2010.</ref> Reaching more than a million and a half readers over a century and a half, ''Charlotte Temple'' was the biggest seller of the 19th century before Stowe's ''[[Uncle Tom's Cabin]]''. Another important writer was [[Hannah Webster Foster]], who wrote the popular ''[[The Coquette|The Coquette: Or, the History of Eliza Wharton]]'', published in 1797.<ref>Schweitzer, Ivy. "Review". ''Early American Literature''. 23.2: (1988) 221–225. ''JSTOR''. Web. 1 March 2010.</ref> The story about a woman who is seduced and later abandoned, ''The Coquette'' has been praised for its demonstration of the era's contradictory ideas of womanhood.<ref>Hamilton, Kristie. "An Assault on the Will: Republican Virtue and the City in Hannah Webster Foster's 'The Coquette{{'"}}. ''Early American Literature''. 24.2: (1989) 135–151. ''JSTOR''. Web. 1 March 2010</ref> even as it has been criticized for delegitimizing protest against women's subordination.<ref>{{cite journal | url=http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/TNEQ_a_00257?journalCode=tneq | doi=10.1162/TNEQ_a_00257 | title=Maintaining Stability: Fancy and Passion in the Coquette | year=2013 | last1=Joudrey | first1=Thomas J. | journal=The New England Quarterly | volume=86 | pages=60–88 | s2cid=57567236 | access-date=21 September 2017 | archive-date=5 February 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230205133318/https://direct.mit.edu/tneq/article-abstract/86/1/60/15750/Maintaining-Stability-Fancy-and-Passion-in-The?redirectedFrom=fulltext | url-status=live | url-access=subscription }}</ref> Other important early American writers include [[Charles Brockden Brown]], [[William Gilmore Simms]], [[Lydia Maria Child]], and [[John Neal]].

=={{Anchor|Romanticism (1798-1837)}} Romanticism (1798–1837)==
{{Main|Romanticism|Romantic literature in English|Romanticism in Scotland}}
[[Romanticism]] was an artistic, literary, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe toward the end of the 18th century.<ref>''The Norton Anthology of English Literature'', 7th edition, vol. 2, p. 5.</ref> Romanticism arrived later in other parts of the English-speaking world.
[[File:William Blake by Thomas Phillips.jpg|upright|thumb|left|[[William Blake]]]]

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: the [[British Agricultural Revolution|Agricultural Revolution]], that involved the [[Enclosure]] of the land, drove workers off the land, and the [[Industrial Revolution]] which provided them employment.<ref>''The Bloomsbury Guide to English Literature'', p. 21.</ref> Romanticism may be seen in part as a reaction to the Industrial Revolution,<ref>''Encyclopædia Britannica''. "Romanticism". Retrieved 30 January 2008, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Britannica.com. Retrieved 2010-08-24.</ref> though it was also a revolt against aristocratic social and political norms of the [[Age of Enlightenment]], as well a reaction against the scientific [[rationalization (sociology)|rationalization]] of nature.<ref>Christopher Casey, (30 October 2008). ""Grecian Grandeurs and the Rude Wasting of Old Time": Britain, the Elgin Marbles, and Post-Revolutionary Hellenism". ''Foundations''. Volume III, Number 1. Retrieved 2009-06-25.</ref> The [[French Revolution]] was an especially important influence on the political thinking of many of the Romantic poets.<ref>''The Norton Anthology of English Literature'', vol. 2 (2000), p. 2.</ref>

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".<ref>''The Norton Anthology of English Literature'', vol.2 (2000), p. 9</ref>

===Romantic poetry===
[[Robert Burns]] was a pioneer of the Romantic movement, and after his death he became a cultural icon in Scotland. The poet, painter, and printmaker [[William Blake]] 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 the [[Romanticism|Romantic Age]]. Among his most important works are ''[[Songs of Innocence]]'' (1789) and ''[[Songs of Experience]]'' (1794) "and profound and difficult 'prophecies' ", such as "Jerusalem: the Emanation of the Giant Albion" (1804–c.1820).<ref>"William Blake." ''Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online'' Academic Edition. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2012. Web. 2 October 2012. <https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/68793/William-Blake {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150503143746/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/68793/William-Blake |date=3 May 2015 }}>.</ref>

After Blake, among the earliest Romantics were the [[Lake Poets]], including [[William Wordsworth]], [[Samuel Taylor Coleridge]], [[Robert Southey]] and journalist [[Thomas de Quincey]]. However, at the time [[Walter Scott]] was the most famous poet.<ref>''The Bloomsbury Guide to English Literature'', p. 885.</ref>

In 1784, with ''Elegiac Sonnets'', [[Charlotte Smith (writer)|Charlotte Smith]] reintroduced the sonnet to English literature.{{citation needed|date=October 2019}}
 
The early [[romantic poetry|Romantic Poets]] brought a new emotionalism and introspection, and their emergence is marked by the first romantic manifesto in English literature, the "Preface" to ''[[Lyrical Ballads]]'' (1798). The poems in ''[[Lyrical Ballads]]'' were mostly by Wordsworth, though Coleridge contributed "[[Rime of the Ancient Mariner]]".<ref>"Samuel Taylor Coleridge." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online Academic Edition. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2013. Web. 13 May. 2013. <https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/125261/Samuel-Taylor-Coleridge {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150426161609/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/125261/Samuel-Taylor-Coleridge |date=26 April 2015 }}>.</ref> 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 epic  ''[[The Prelude]]''.<ref>''The Norton Anthology of English Literature'', vol. 2 (2000), p. 11.</ref>

[[Robert Southey]] was another of the so-called "[[Lake Poets]]", and [[Poet Laureate]] for 30 years, although his fame has been long eclipsed by [[William Wordsworth]] and [[Samuel Taylor Coleridge]]. [[Thomas De Quincey]] is best known for his ''[[Confessions of an English Opium-Eater]]'' (1821).<ref>Horace Ainsworth Eaton, ''Thomas De Quincey: A Biography'', New York: Oxford University Press, 1936; reprinted New York: Octagon Books, 1972; [[Grevel Lindop]], ''The Opium-Eater: A Life of Thomas De Quincey'', London: J.M. Dent & Sons, 1981.</ref> Essayist [[William Hazlitt]] (1778–1830), friend of both Coleridge and Wordsworth, is best known today for his literary criticism, especially ''Characters of Shakespeare's Plays'' (1817–1818).<ref>''The Bloomsbury Guide to English Literature'', p. 587.</ref>

====Second generation====
[[File:Lord Byron coloured drawing.png|right|upright|thumb|[[Lord Byron]]]]
The second generation of Romantic poets includes [[Lord Byron]], [[Percy Bysshe Shelley]], [[Felicia Hemans]] and [[John Keats]]. Byron, however, was still influenced by 18th-century satirists and was, perhaps the least 'romantic' of the three, preferring "the brilliant wit of [[Alexander Pope|Pope]] to what he called the 'wrong poetical system' of his Romantic contemporaries".<ref>''The Bloomsbury Guide to English Literature'', p. 379.</ref> Byron achieved enormous fame and influence throughout Europe and [[Goethe]] called Byron "undoubtedly the greatest genius of our century".<ref>Rupert Christiansen. ''Romantic Affinities: Portraits From an Age'', 1780–1830. (London: Bodley Head, 1988), p. 215</ref>

Shelley is perhaps best known for ''[[Ode to the West Wind]]'', ''[[To a Skylark]]'', and ''[[Adonais]]'', an elegy written on the death of Keats. His close circle of admirers included the most progressive thinkers of the day. A work like ''Queen Mab'' (1813) reveals Shelley "as the direct heir to the French and British revolutionary intellectuals of the 1790s".<ref>''The Oxford Companion to English Literature'' (1996), p. 905.</ref> Shelley became an idol of the next three or four generations of poets, including important [[Victorian era|Victorian]] and [[Pre-Raphaelite]] poets such as [[Robert Browning]], and [[Dante Gabriel Rossetti]], as well as later [[W. B. Yeats]].<ref>[http://www.poets.org/pshel/] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131205120405/http://www.poets.org/pshel/|date=5 December 2013}} viewed 12 May 2013.</ref>

Though John Keats shared Byron and Shelley's radical politics, "his best poetry is not political",<ref>''The Bloomsbury Guide to English Literature'', p. 248,</ref> but is especially noted for its sensuous music and imagery, along with a concern with material beauty and the transience of life.<ref>"John Keats." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online Academic Edition. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2013. Web. 12 May. 2013.<https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/314020/John-Keats {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150426155756/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/314020/John-Keats |date=26 April 2015 }}>; ''The Bloomsbury Guide to English Literature'', pp. 649–50.</ref> 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".<ref>''The Oxford Companion to English Literature'' (1996), p. 534.</ref>

Although sticking to its forms, [[Felicia Hemans]] began a process of undermining the Romantic tradition, a deconstruction that was continued by [[Letitia Elizabeth Landon]], as "an urban poet deeply attentive to themes of decay and decomposition".<ref name="ReferenceA">The Encyclopaedia of Romantic Literature, edited by Frederick Burwick, Nancy Goslee and Diane Hoeveler</ref> Landon's novel forms of metrical romance and [[dramatic monologue]] were much copied and contributed to her long-lasting influence on Victorian poetry.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

====Other poets====
Another important poet in this period was [[John Clare]], 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.<ref>Geoffrey Summerfield, in introduction to ''John Clare: Selected Poems'', Penguin Books 1990, pp. 13–22. {{ISBN|0-14-043724-X}}</ref> His poetry has undergone a major re-evaluation and he is often now considered to be among the most important 19th-century poets.<ref>Sales, Roger (2002) ''John Clare: A Literary Life''; Palgrave Macmillan {{ISBN|0-333-65270-3}}</ref>

[[George Crabbe]] was an English poet who, during the Romantic period, wrote "closely observed, realistic portraits of rural life ... in the [[heroic couplet]]s of the [[Augustan literature#Poetry|Augustan age]]".<ref>''The Oxford Companion to English Literature'' (1996), p. 239.</ref> 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."<ref>Frank Whitehead. ''George Crabbe: A Reappraisal''. (Susquehanna University Press, 1995) {{ISBN|0-945636-70-9}}.</ref>

===Romantic novel===
One of the most popular novelists of the era was Sir [[Walter Scott]], whose [[historical romance]]s inspired a generation of painters, composers, and writers throughout Europe.  Scott's novel-writing career was launched in 1814 with ''[[Waverley (novel)|Waverley]]'', often called the first [[historical novel]].<ref name="English Literature p. 890"/>

[[File:Last of the Mohicans, Merrill bear.jpg|upright|thumb|{{center| ''The Last of the Mohicans''<br />Illustration from 1896 edition,<br /> by J.T. Merrill}}]]

The works of [[Jane Austen]] critique the [[sentimental novel|novels of sensibility]] of the second half of the 18th century and are part of the transition to 19th-century realism.<ref>Litz, pp. 3–14; Grundy, "Jane Austen and Literary Traditions", ''The Cambridge Companion to Jane Austen'', pp. 192–93; Waldron, "Critical Responses, Early", ''Jane Austen in Context'', pp. 83, 89–90; Duffy, "Criticism, 1814–1870", ''The Jane Austen Companion'', pp. 93–94.</ref> Her plots in novels such as ''[[Pride and Prejudice]]'' (1813) and ''[[Emma (novel)|Emma]]'' (1815), though fundamentally comic, highlight the dependence of women on marriage to secure social standing and economic security.<ref>A. Walton Litz, ''Jane Austen: A Study of Her Development''. New York: Oxford University Press, 1965. p. 142; Oliver MacDonagh, ''Jane Austen: Real and Imagined Worlds''. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1991. pp. 66–75; Collins, 160–61.</ref>

===Romanticism in America===
{{Main|American literature|Romantic literature in English}}
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.<ref name="George L 1997 p 613">George L. McMichael and Frederick C. Crews, eds. ''Anthology of American Literature: Colonial through romantic'' (6th ed. 1997) p 613</ref>

Romantic [[Gothic literature]] made an early appearance with [[Washington Irving]]'s ''[[The Legend of Sleepy Hollow]]'' (1820) and ''[[Rip 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 novelist [[James Fenimore Cooper]] began publishing his [[historical romance]]s of 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.<ref>Harner, Gary Wayne (1990). "Edgar Allan Poe in France: Baudelaire's Labor of Love". In Fisher, Benjamin Franklin IV. ''Poe and His Times: The Artist and His Milieu''. Baltimore: The Edgar Allan Poe Society. {{ISBN|978-0-9616449-2-5}}.</ref><ref>Ann Woodlief, [http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/eng372/intro.htm "American Romanticism (or the American Renaissance): Introduction"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121022053447/http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/eng372/intro.htm |date=22 October 2012 }}</ref>

=={{Anchor|Victorian literature (1837-1901)}} Victorian literature (1837–1901)==
{{Main|Victorian literature}}
=== Sage writing ===
{{Main|Sage writing}}
[[File:Thomas Carlyle 1867.jpg|thumb|Thomas Carlyle by [[Julia Margaret Cameron]], 1867]]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."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Holloway |first=John |title=The Victorian Sage: Studies in Argument |publisher=Macmillan & Co Ltd. |year=1913 |location=London |pages=1}}</ref> John Holloway identified [[Benjamin Disraeli]], [[George Eliot]], [[John Henry Newman]], and [[Thomas Hardy]] as writers of this type. Foremost among them was [[Thomas Carlyle]], a Scottish essayist, historian and philosopher who became "the undoubted head of English letters" in the 19th century.<ref>Emerson, Ralph Waldo (1881). [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.32106009632289&view=1up&seq=106&skin=2021 "The Literary Work of Thomas Carlyle"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220308023349/https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.32106009632289&view=1up&seq=106&skin=2021 |date=8 March 2022 }}. ''Scribner's Monthly''. No. 22. p. 92. <q>Mr. Carlyle... has yet for many years been accepted by competent critics of all shades of opinion as the undoubted head of English letters.</q></ref><ref>Stephen, Leslie, ed. (1887). ''[[wikisource:Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 09.djvu/130|Dictionary of National Biography]]''. Vol. 9. London: Smith, Elder & Co. p. 124. <q>Carlyle during these years had become the acknowledged head of English literature.</q></ref> Known as the Sage of [[Chelsea, London|Chelsea]], the highly prolific author [[Condition of England question|criticized the Industrial Revolution]],<ref>Carlyle, Thomas (1843). ''Past and Present''. The Works of Thomas Carlyle in Thirty Volumes. Vol. 10. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons (published 1903).</ref> preached [[Great man theory|Hero-worship]],<ref>Carlyle, Thomas (1841). ''On Heroes, Hero-Worship and the Heroic in History''. The Works of Thomas Carlyle in Thirty Volumes. Vol. 5. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons (published 1903).</ref> and [[The dismal science|rebuked political economy]]<ref>Carlyle, Thomas (1904). ''Critical and Miscellaneous Essays: Volume IV''. The Works of Thomas Carlyle in Thirty Volumes. Vol. 29. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons.</ref> in a series of works written in [[Carlylese]], the name given to his unique style.<ref>"Carlylese." ''Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary'', Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Carlylese .</ref> 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 of [[Sati (practice)|Suttees]] on his funeral pile, it would be only like cutting down an oak after its acorns have sown a forest."<ref>George Eliot, "Thomas Carlyle," ''George Eliot Archive'', accessed 12 March 2022, https://georgeeliotarchive.org/items/show/96.</ref>

[[John Ruskin]] was an Anglo-Scottish art critic and philosopher who wrote in a similar vein, regarding Carlyle as his master.<ref>Ruskin, John (1905). Cook, E. T.; Wedderburn, Alexander (eds.). ''[https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/media/lancaster-university/content-assets/documents/ruskin/17Untothislast.pdf Unto This Last. Munera Pulveris. Time and Tide. With Other Writings on Political Economy 1860–1873] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211129045417/https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/media/lancaster-university/content-assets/documents/ruskin/17Untothislast.pdf |date=29 November 2021 }}.'' The Works of John Ruskin. Vol. XVII. London: George Allen, 156, Charing Cross Road. New York: Longmans, Green, and Co. p. xxxix.</ref> The early part of his career was devoted to aesthetics, championing [[J. M. W. Turner|Turner]] and the [[Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood]].<ref>Ruskin, John (1903–1905). Cook, E. T.; Wedderburn, Alexander (eds.). ''[https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/media/lancaster-university/content-assets/documents/ruskin/3-7ModernPainters.pdf Modern Painters] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220315155924/https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/media/lancaster-university/content-assets/documents/ruskin/3-7ModernPainters.pdf |date=15 March 2022 }}''. The Works of John Ruskin. Vols. III–VII. London: George Allen, 156, Charing Cross Road. New York: Longmans, Green, and Co.</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite book |title=John Ruskin and Nineteenth-Century Education |publisher=Anthem |year=2018 |isbn=9781783088058 |editor-last=Purton |editor-first=Valerie |series=Anthem Nineteenth-Century Series}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Henderson |first=William |title=John Ruskin's Political Economy |publisher=Routledge |year=2014 |isbn=9780415757683}}</ref> [[Matthew Arnold]] was an English poet and critic who is also regarded as a sage writer, famous for his criticism of [[philistinism]].

===Victorian novel===
{{Main|English novel|Novel}}

It was in the [[Victorian era]] (1837–1901) that the novel became the leading [[literary genre]] in English.<ref>''The Bloomsbury Guide to English Literature'' (1990), p. 93.</ref> Women played an important part in this rising popularity both as authors and as readers,<ref>''Bloomsbury Guide to English Literature'', p. 95.</ref> and monthly serialising of fiction also encouraged this surge in popularity, further upheavals which followed the [[Reform Act 1832]].<ref>''Bloomsbury Guide'', p. 101.</ref> This was in many ways a reaction to rapid [[industrialization]], 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.<ref>James, Louis (2006)</ref> Significant early examples of this genre include ''[[Sybil, or The Two Nations]]'' (1845) by [[Benjamin Disraeli]], and [[Charles Kingsley]]'s ''[[Alton Locke]]'' (1849).[[File:Charles Dickens 3.jpg|right|thumb|[[Charles Dickens]]]]

[[Charles Dickens]] 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 the [[workhouse]] in ''[[Oliver Twist]]'', and the failures of the legal system in ''[[Bleak House]]''.<ref>''The Norton Anthology of English Literature'', (7th edition) vol. 2, p. 1335.</ref> An early rival to Dickens was [[William Makepeace Thackeray]], who during the Victorian period ranked second only to him, but he is now known almost exclusively for ''[[Vanity Fair (novel)|Vanity Fair]]'' (1847). The [[Brontë]] sisters, Emily, Charlotte and Anne, were other significant novelists in the 1840s and 1850s.<ref>Lucasta Miller, ''The Bronte Myth''. (New York: Anchor, 2005), pp. 12–13</ref> ''[[Jane Eyre]]'' (1847), [[Charlotte Brontë]]'s most famous work, was the first of the sisters' novels to achieve success. [[Emily Brontë]]'s novel was ''[[Wuthering Heights]]'' and, according to [[Juliet Gardiner]], "the vivid sexual passion and power of its language and imagery impressed, bewildered and appalled reviewers,"<ref>Juliet Gardiner, ''The History today who's who in British history'' (2000), p. 109</ref> and led the Victorian public and many early reviewers to think that it had been written by a man.<ref>Carter, McRae, ''The Routledge History of Literature in English: Britain and Ireland'' (2001), p. 240</ref> ''[[The Tenant of Wildfell Hall]]'' (1848) by [[Anne Brontë]] is now considered to be one of the first [[Feminism|feminist]] novels.<ref name="intro">{{cite book|last=Davies|first=Stevie|title=The Tenant of Wildfell Hall|chapter=Introduction and Notes|year=1996|publisher=Penguin Books|isbn=978-0-14-043474-3|url=https://archive.org/details/tenantofwildfell00bron}}</ref>

[[Elizabeth Gaskell]] was also a successful writer and her ''[[North and South (1855 novel)|North and South]]'' contrasts the lifestyle in the industrial north of England with the wealthier south.<ref>Abrams, M.H., et al. (Eds.) "Elizabeth Gaskell, 1810–1865". ''The Norton Anthology of English Literature, The Major Authors: The Romantic Period through the Twentieth Century'', 7th ed., Vol. B. New York & London: W.W. Norton & Company, 2001.</ref> [[Anthony Trollope]] 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.<ref>''The Oxford Companion to English Literature'' (1996), p. 1013.</ref> [[George Eliot]], pen name of Mary Ann Evans, was a major novelist of the mid-Victorian period. Her works, especially ''[[Middlemarch]]'' (1871–1872), are important examples of [[literary realism]], and are admired for their combination of high [[Victorian literature|Victorian literary]] detail, with an intellectual breadth that removes them from the narrow geographic confines they often depict.<ref>''The Bloomsbury Guide to English Literature'' (1990), p. 490.</ref>

[[George Meredith]] is best remembered for his novels ''[[The Ordeal of Richard Feverel]]''  (1859), and ''The Egoist'' (1879). "His reputation stood very high well into" the 20th century but then seriously declined.<ref name="English Literature 1996 pp.650-1">''The Oxford Companion to English Literature'' (1996), pp. 650–51.</ref> An interest in rural matters and the changing social and economic situation of the countryside is seen in the novels of [[Thomas Hardy]] (1840–1928), including ''[[The Mayor of Casterbridge]]'' (1886), and ''[[Tess of the d'Urbervilles]]'' (1891). Hardy is a Victorian realist, in the tradition of [[George Eliot]],<ref>Dennis Taylor, "Hardy and Wordsworth". Victorian Poetry, vol.24, no.4, Winter, 1986.</ref> and like Charles Dickens he was also highly critical of much in Victorian society. Another significant late-19th-century novelist is [[George Gissing]] (1857–1903), who published 23 novels between 1880 and 1903. His best known novel is ''[[New Grub Street]]'' (1891).

Although pre-dated by [[John Ruskin]]'s ''[[The King of the Golden River]]'' in 1841, the history of the modern [[fantasy literature|fantasy]] genre is generally said to begin with [[George MacDonald]], the influential author of ''[[The Princess and the Goblin]]'' and ''[[Phantastes]]'' (1858).<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/profiles/N8DKT5rH8rhHmygmpwqSl7/george-macdonald |title=George MacDonald, BBC |access-date=12 March 2022 |archive-date=12 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220312201910/https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/profiles/N8DKT5rH8rhHmygmpwqSl7/george-macdonald |url-status=live }}</ref> [[William Morris]] wrote a series of [[Chivalric romance|romances]] in the 1880s and 1890s which are regarded as the first works of [[high fantasy]].<ref name="dg">{{cite book | last=Dozois | first=Gardner | author-link=Gardner Dozois | title=[[Modern Classics of Fantasy]] | chapter=Preface | location=New York | publisher=St. Martin's Press | year=1997 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/modernclassicsof00dozo/page/ xvi–xvii] | isbn=031215173X }}</ref><!-- https://books.google.com/books?id=3r6FBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT15 -->
[[File:Kiplingcropped.jpg|left|upright|thumb|[[Rudyard Kipling]]]]

[[Wilkie Collins]]' [[epistolary novel]] ''[[The Moonstone]]'' (1868), is generally considered the first [[Detective fiction|detective novel]] in the English language.<ref>David, Deirdre [https://books.google.com/books?id=VXQXzUbCSygC&pg=PA179 ''The Cambridge Companion to the Victorian Novel''] p. 179. Cambridge University Press, 2001.</ref> [[Robert Louis Stevenson]] was an important Scottish writer at the end of the nineteenth century, author of ''[[Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde]]'' (1886), and the [[historical novel]] ''[[Kidnapped (novel)|Kidnapped]]'' (1886). [[Rudyard Kipling]] was a highly versatile writer of novels, short stories and poems who gained popularity at the end of the nineteenth century for his stories and poems about life in British India, published in collections such as ''[[Plain Tales from the Hills]]'', ''[[The Phantom 'Rickshaw and Other Tales]]'', ''[[Soldiers Three]]'', and ''[[Barrack-Room Ballads]]''. [[H. G. Wells]]'s writing career began in the 1890s with [[science fiction]] novels like ''[[The Time Machine]]'' (1895), and ''[[The War of the Worlds]]'' (1898) which describes an invasion of late Victorian England by [[Martian]]s, and Wells is seen, along with Frenchman [[Jules Verne]], as a major figure in the development of the science fiction genre. He also wrote realistic fiction about the lower middle class in novels like ''[[Kipps]]'' (1905).

====American novel (From Romanticism to realism)====
{{Main|American literature}}
(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 was [[Romanticism]], which gave rise to [[New England]] [[Transcendentalism]], and the publication of [[Ralph Waldo Emerson]]'s 1836 essay ''[[Nature (essay)|Nature]]'' is usually considered the watershed moment at which transcendentalism became a major cultural movement.<ref name="George L 1997 p 613"/><ref>"Romanticism, American," in ''The Oxford Dictionary of American Art and Artists'' ed by Ann Lee Morgan (Oxford University Press, 2007) [http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t238.e1140 online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200728132702/https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195373219.001.0001/acref-9780195373219 |date=28 July 2020 }}</ref> Thomas Carlyle had a strong influence on Emerson, transcendentalism,<ref>Gravett, Sharon L. (1995). "Carlyle's Demanding Companion: Henry David Thoreau". ''Carlyle Studies Annual''. '''15''': 21–31. [[JSTOR (identifier)|JSTOR]] < 44946086<.</ref> and American writers generally, particularly his novel ''[[Sartor Resartus]]'', of which the impact upon American literature has been described as "so vast, so pervasive, that it is difficult to overstate."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Carlyle |first=Thomas |title=Sartor Resartus: The Life and Opinions of Herr Teufelsdröckh in Three Books |publisher=University of California Press |year=2003 |editor-last=Tarr |editor-first=Rodger L. |pages=xxxiii}}</ref>
[[File:Nathaniel Hawthorne - NARA - 530280cr.jpg|upright|thumb|left|[[Nathaniel Hawthorne]].]]

The romantic American novel developed fully with [[Nathaniel Hawthorne]]'s ''[[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 friend [[Herman Melville]]. In ''[[Moby-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 and [[social realism]] were competing with Romanticism in the novel.

American realist fiction has its beginnings in the 1870s with the works of [[Mark Twain]], [[William Dean Howells]], and [[Henry James]].

Mark Twain (the pen name used by Samuel Langhorne Clemens) was the first major American writer to be born away from the East Coast—in the border state of [[Missouri]]. His regional masterpieces were the novels ''[[Adventures of Tom Sawyer]]'' (1876) and ''[[Adventures 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]] 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 include ''[[The Portrait of a Lady]]'' (1881),  ''[[The Bostonians]]'' (1886), ''[[The Princess Casamassima]]'' (1886).<ref>"Henry James." ''Encyclopedia of World Biography'', Gale, 1998. ''Biography in Context'', Accessed 4 October 2017.</ref>

====Genre fiction====
[[File:PortraitOfACD.JPG|upright|thumb|Sir [[Arthur Conan Doyle]] wrote 56 short stories and four novels featuring [[Sherlock Holmes]]]]

The premier [[ghost story]] writer of the 19th century was [[Sheridan Le Fanu]]. His works include the macabre mystery novel ''[[Uncle Silas]]'' (1865), and his Gothic novella ''[[Carmilla]]'' (1872) tells the story of a young woman's susceptibility to the attentions of a female vampire. [[Bram Stoker]]'s horror story ''[[Dracula]]'' (1897) belongs to a number of [[literary genre]]s, including [[vampire literature]], [[horror fiction]], [[gothic novel]] and [[invasion literature]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VomtVOkkPDwC&q=Dracula+bram+stoker+vlad+the+impaler&pg=PA182|title=Bram Stoker and Russophobia: Evidence of the British Fear of Russia in Dracula and The Lady of the Shroud|first=Jimmie E. Jr.|last=Cain|date=4 April 2006|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-0-7864-2407-8}}</ref>

[[Arthur Conan Doyle]]'s [[Sherlock Holmes]] is a brilliant London-based "consulting detective", famous for his intellectual prowess. Conan Doyle wrote four novels and 56 [[short stories]] featuring Holmes, which were published between 1887 and 1927. All but four Holmes stories are narrated by Holmes' friend, assistant, and biographer, [[Dr. Watson]]. The [[Lost World (genre)|Lost World]] literary genre was inspired by real stories of archaeological discoveries by imperial adventurers. [[H. Rider Haggard]] wrote one of the earliest examples, ''[[King Solomon's Mines]]'', in 1885. Contemporary European politics and diplomatic maneuverings informed [[Anthony Hope]]'s [[Ruritanian romance|Ruritanian adventure novel]] ''[[The Prisoner of Zenda]]'' (1894).

====Children's literature====
[[children's literature|Literature for children]] developed as a separate genre. Some works become internationally known, such as those of [[Lewis Carroll]], ''[[Alice's Adventures in Wonderland]]'' (1865) and its sequel ''[[Through the Looking-Glass]]''. [[Robert Louis Stevenson]]'s ''[[Treasure Island]]'' (1883), is the classic [[Piracy|pirate]] adventure. [[Rudyard Kipling]] wrote stories for children inspired by his childhood in India and other topics, including classics like ''[[The Jungle Book]]'', ''[[The Second Jungle Book]]'', ''[[Kim (novel)|Kim]]'' and ''[[Captains Courageous]]''. At the end of the Victorian era and leading into the Edwardian era, [[Beatrix Potter]] was 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 book ''[[The Tale of Peter Rabbit]]'' in 1902. Potter eventually went on to publish 23 children's books and became a wealthy woman.

===Victorian poetry===
{{See also|English poetry#Victorian poetry}}

[[File:Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson by George Frederic Watts.jpg|upright|left|thumb|[[Alfred, Lord Tennyson]], ca 1863]]
The leading poets during the Victorian period were [[Alfred, Lord Tennyson]], [[Robert Browning]], [[Elizabeth Barrett Browning]], and [[Matthew Arnold]]. The poetry of this period was heavily influenced by the [[Romantics]], but also went off in its own directions.<ref>''The Norton Anthology of English Literature'', 7th ed, vol. 2. (New York: Norton, 2000), p. 1060.</ref> Particularly notable was the development of the [[dramatic 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.<ref>Carol T. Christ, ''Victorian and Modern Poetics''. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1986); "Robert Browning", ''The Bloomsbury Guide to English Literature''. (New York: Prentice-Hall, 1990), p. 373.</ref>

Tennyson was [[Poet Laureate]] of the United Kingdom during much of [[Queen 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".<ref>'' The Oxford Companion to English Literature'', p. 981.</ref> [[Matthew Arnold]]'s reputation as a poet has "within the past few decades [...] plunged drastically."<ref>{{Citation | url = http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/arnold/ | title = The Literary Canon | first = George P | last = Landow | publisher = Victorian Web | access-date = 3 May 2013 | archive-date = 19 February 2015 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150219021911/http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/arnold/ | url-status = live }}.</ref>

[[Dante Gabriel Rossetti]] was a poet, illustrator, painter and translator. He founded the [[Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood]] in 1848 with [[William Holman Hunt]] and [[John Everett Millais]].{{sfn|Ward|Waller|Trent|Erskine|1907–21|p={{page needed|date=August 2021}}}} Rossetti's art was characterised by its sensuality and its medieval revivalism.<ref>''A handbook to Literature'', ed William Harmon & C. Hugh Holman (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1996), 407.</ref> [[Arthur Clough]] and [[George Meredith]] are two other important minor poets of this era.<ref name="English Literature 1996 pp.650-1"/><ref name="victorianweb.org">{{Citation | url = http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/clough/bio.html | title = Arthur Hugh Clough – A Brief Biography | first = Glenn | last = Everett | publisher = Victorian Web | access-date = 16 September 2012 | archive-date = 17 November 2012 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121117040446/http://victorianweb.org/authors/clough/bio.html | url-status = live }}.</ref>

Towards the end of the 19th century, English poets began to take an interest in French [[Symbolism (movement)|Symbolism]] and Victorian poetry entered a decadent ''[[Fin de siècle|fin-de-siècle]]'' phase.<ref>''The Norton Anthology of English Literature'', 7th edition, vol.2, ed. M.H. Abrams, p. 1741.</ref> Two groups of poets emerged in the 1890s, the ''[[The Yellow Book|Yellow Book]]'' poets who adhered to the tenets of [[Aestheticism]], including [[Algernon Charles Swinburne]], [[Oscar Wilde]] and [[Arthur Symons]] and the [[Rhymers' Club]] group, that included [[Ernest Dowson]], [[Lionel Johnson]] and Irishman [[William Butler Yeats]]. Yeats went on to become an important modernist in the 20th century.<ref>''The Norton Anthology of English Literature'', 7th edition, vol. 2, p. 1740.</ref> Also in 1896 [[A.E. Housman]] published at his own expense ''[[A Shropshire Lad]]''.<ref>''The Norton Anthology of English Literature'', 7th edition, vol. 2, p. 2041.</ref>

Writers of comic verse included the dramatist, librettist, poet and illustrator [[W.S. Gilbert]], who is best known for his fourteen [[comic opera]]s, produced in [[Gilbert and Sullivan|collaboration]] with the composer Sir [[Arthur Sullivan]], of which the most famous include ''[[H.M.S. Pinafore]]'', and ''[[The Pirates of Penzance]]''.<ref>Kenrick, John. [http://www.musicals101.com/gilbert3.htm ''G&S Story: Part III''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220601134145/http://www.musicals101.com/gilbert3.htm |date=1 June 2022 }}, accessed 13 October 2006; and Powell, Jim. [http://www.libertystory.net/LSARTSGILBERT.htm ''William S. Gilbert's Wicked Wit for Liberty''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170129140225/http://www.libertystory.net/LSARTSGILBERT.htm |date=29 January 2017 }} accessed 13 October 2006.</ref>

Novelist [[Thomas Hardy]] 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 ''Poems'' were published posthumously by Robert Bridges in 1918.<ref>{{Citation|publisher=U Toronto |url=http://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/poem/1051.html |title=Online text and basic information |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120212222859/http://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/poem/1051.html |archive-date=12 February 2012}}.</ref>

====American poetry====
{{Main|American poetry}}

America also produced major poets in the 19th century, such as [[Emily Dickinson]] and [[Walt Whitman]]. America's two greatest 19th-century poets could hardly have been more different in temperament and style. Whitman was a poetic innovator. His major work was ''[[Leaves 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]], on the other hand, lived the sheltered life of a genteel, unmarried woman in small-town [[Amherst, 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.

===Victorian drama===
[[File:Circa-1879-DOyly-Carte-HMS-Pinafore-from-Library-of-Congress2.jpg|upright=.6|thumb|[[Gilbert and Sullivan]]'s  ''[[H.M.S. Pinafore]]'' ]]
A change came in the [[Victorian era]] with a profusion on the London stage of [[farce]]s, [[Victorian burlesque|musical burlesques]], [[extravaganza]]s and [[comic opera]]s that competed with productions of [[Shakespeare]]'s plays and serious drama by dramatists like [[James Planché]] and [[Thomas William Robertson]]. In 1855, the [[German Reed Entertainments]] began a process of elevating the level of (formerly risqué) musical theatre in Britain that culminated in the famous series of comic operas by [[Gilbert and Sullivan]] and was followed by the 1890s with the first [[Edwardian 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 comedy ''[[Our Boys]]'', opening in 1875. Its record of 1,362 performances was bested in 1892 by ''[[Charley's Aunt]]''.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.stagebeauty.net/th-frames.html?http&&&www.stagebeauty.net/th-longr.html |title=Article on long-runs in the theatre before 1920 |access-date=16 September 2012 |archive-date=13 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200613222559/http://www.stagebeauty.net/th-frames.html?http&&&www.stagebeauty.net%2Fth-longr.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Several of [[Gilbert and Sullivan]]'s [[comic opera]]s broke the 500-performance barrier, beginning with ''[[H.M.S. Pinafore]]'' in 1878, and [[Alfred Cellier]] and [[B.C. Stephenson]]'s 1886 hit, ''[[Dorothy (opera)|Dorothy]]'', ran for 931 performances. After [[W.S. Gilbert]], [[Oscar Wilde]] became 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 the [[Edwardian]] dramatists such as Irish playwright [[George Bernard Shaw]], 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.

== 20th century ==
{{Main|Twentieth-century English literature|American literature|Scottish literature|Irish literature|Welsh literature in English}}

=== Modernism: Beginnings (c. 1901–1923)===
{{Main|Literary modernism|Modernist poetry|Modernist poetry in English}}
[[File:Joseph Conrad author.jpg|thumb|upright|Joseph Conrad, 1919 or after]]
English literary modernism developed in the early twentieth century out of a general sense of disillusionment with [[Victorian era]] attitudes of certainty, conservatism, and belief in the idea of objective truth.<ref>M.H. Abrams,''A Glossary of literary Terms'' (7th edition). (New York: Harcourt Brace), 1999), p. 167.</ref> The movement was influenced by the ideas of [[Charles Darwin]], [[Ernst Mach]], [[Henri Bergson]], [[Friedrich Nietzsche]], [[James G. Frazer]], [[Karl Marx]] ({{lang|de|[[Das Kapital]]}}, 1867), and the psychoanalytic theories of [[Sigmund Freud]], among others.<ref>M.H. Abrams, p. 167.</ref> The continental art movements of [[Impressionism]], and later [[Cubism]], were also important.<ref>M.H. Abrams, p. 168.</ref> Important literary precursors of modernism were: [[Fyodor Dostoevsky|Fyodor Fyodor Dostoevsky]], [[Walt Whitman]], [[Charles Baudelaire]], [[Rimbaud|Arthur Rimbaud]] and  [[August Strindberg]].<ref>Marshall Berman, ''All that is Solid Melts into Air''. (Harmsworth: Penguin, 1988), p. 23.</ref>

A major British lyric poet of the first decades of the twentieth century was [[Thomas Hardy]]. 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]], continued to publish major novels into the twentieth century, including ''[[The Golden Bowl]]'' (1904). Polish-born modernist novelist [[Joseph Conrad]] published his first important works, ''[[Heart of Darkness]]'', in 1899 and ''[[Lord Jim]]'' in 1900. However, the Victorian [[Gerard Manley Hopkins]]'s highly original poetry was not published until 1918, long after his death, while the career of another major modernist poet, Irishman [[W. B. Yeats]], began late in the Victorian era. Yeats was one of the foremost figures of twentieth-century English literature.

But while [[modernism]] was 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, the [[Georgian poets]] like Rupert Brooke, and [[Walter de la Mare]], maintained a conservative approach to poetry by combining romanticism, sentimentality and hedonism. Another Georgian poet, [[Edward Thomas (poet)|Edward Thomas]],{{Sfn | Drabble | 1996 | pp = 377, 988}} is one of the [[First World War]] poets along with [[Wilfred Owen]], [[Rupert Brooke]], [[Isaac Rosenberg]], and [[Siegfried Sassoon]]. Irish playwrights [[George Bernard Shaw]], [[J.M. Synge]] and [[Seán O'Casey]] were 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.<ref>''The Oxford Companion to English Literature.'' (1996), p. 781.</ref> George Bernard Shaw turned the [[Edwardian]] theatre into an arena for debate about important political and social issues.<ref>"English literature." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online Academic Edition. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2012. Web. 15 November 2012. <https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/188217/English-literature {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150502191451/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/188217/English-literature |date=2 May 2015 }}>.</ref>

Novelists who are not considered modernists include [[H. G. Wells]], [[John Galsworthy]] ([[Nobel Prize]] in Literature, 1932) whose works include ''[[The Forsyte Saga]]'' (1906–1921), and [[E.M. Forster]], though Forster's work is "frequently regarded as containing both modernist and Victorian elements".<ref>''The Bloomsbury Guide to English Literature'', ed. Marion Wynne Davies (New York: Prentice Hall, 1990), p. 118.</ref> Forster's most famous work, ''[[A Passage to India]]'' 1924, reflected challenges to imperialism, while his earlier novels examined the restrictions and hypocrisy of [[Edwardian]] society in England. Carrying over from the nineteenth century, [[Rudyard Kipling]] remained arguably the most popular British writer of the early years of the twentieth century. 

In addition to [[W. B. Yeats]], other important early modernist poets were the American-born poet [[T.S. Eliot]]. 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) and ''[[Four Quartets]]'' (1935–1942).

Amongst the novelists, after [[Joseph Conrad]], other important early modernists include [[Dorothy Richardson]], whose novel ''Pointed Roof'' (1915), is one of the earliest examples of the [[stream of consciousness (narrative mode)|stream of consciousness]] technique, and [[D.H. Lawrence]], who published ''[[The Rainbow]]'' in 1915—though it was immediately seized by the police—and ''[[Women in Love]]'' in 1920.<ref>''The Oxford Companion to English Literature'', ed. Margaret Drabble, p. 562.</ref> Then in 1922 Irishman [[James Joyce]]'s important modernist novel ''[[Ulysses (novel)|Ulysses]]'' appeared. ''Ulysses'' has been called "a demonstration and summation of the entire movement".<ref>Beebe, Maurice (Fall 1972). "Ulysses and the Age of Modernism". [[James Joyce Quarterly]] (University of Tulsa) 10 (1): p. 176.</ref>
[[File:Revolutionary Joyce Better Contrast.jpg|upright|right|thumb|[[James Joyce]], 1918]]

===Modernism continues (1923–1939)===

[[File:Virginia Woolf 1927.jpg|upright|left|thumb|[[Virginia Woolf]], 1927]]
Important British writers between the [[World Wars]], include the [[Scottish poetry|Scottish poet]] [[Hugh MacDiarmid]], who began publishing in the 1920s, and novelist [[Virginia Woolf]], who was an influential [[Feminism|feminist]], and a major stylistic innovator associated with the [[Stream of consciousness (narrative mode)|stream-of-consciousness]] technique in novels like ''[[Mrs Dalloway]]'' (1925) and ''[[To the Lighthouse]]'' (1927). [[T.S. Eliot]] had begun this attempt to revive poetic drama with ''[[Sweeney Agonistes]]'' in 1932, and this was followed by others including three further plays after the war. ''[[In Parenthesis]]'', a modernist [[epic poem]] based on author [[David Jones (poet)|David Jones]]'s 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 miner [[Jack Jones (novelist)|Jack Jones]], [[James Hanley (novelist)|James Hanley]], whose father was a stoker and who also went to sea as a young man, and coal miners [[Lewis Jones (writer)|Lewis Jones]] from [[South Wales]] and [[Harold Heslop]] from [[County Durham]].<ref>Chris Gostick, "Extra Material on James Hanley's ''Boy''", in the OneWorld Classics edition of ''Boy'' (2007), pp. 182–83.</ref>

[[Aldous Huxley]] published his famous [[dystopia]] ''[[Brave New World]]'' in 1932, the same year as [[John Cowper Powys]]'s ''[[A Glastonbury Romance]]''.{{Sfn | Drabble | 1996 | p = 660}} [[Samuel Beckett]] published his first major work, the novel ''Murphy'' in 1938. This same year [[Graham Greene]]'s first major novel ''[[Brighton Rock (novel)|Brighton Rock]]'' was published. Then in 1939 [[James Joyce]]'s published ''[[Finnegans Wake]]'', in which he creates a special language to express the consciousness of a dreaming character.{{Sfn | Davies | 1990 | p = 644}} It was also in 1939 that Yeats died. British poet [[W.H. Auden]] was another significant modernist in the 1930s.

=== Late modernism and post–modernism (1940–2000)===
{{main|Late modernism}}
Though some have seen modernism ending by around 1939,<ref>{{Citation | first = Kevin JH | last = Dettmar | contribution = Modernism | editor-first = David Scott | editor-last = Kastan | title = The Oxford Encyclopedia of British Literature | publisher = Oxford University Press | year = 2005 | url = http://www.oxfordreference.com/ | access-date = 21 October 2013 | archive-date = 2 June 2013 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130602205448/http://www.oxfordreference.com/ | url-status = live }}.</ref> with regard to English literature, "When (if) modernism petered out and [[postmodernism]] began has been contested almost as hotly as when the transition from Victorianism to modernism occurred".<ref>{{Citation | contribution = modernism | title = The Oxford Companion to English Literature | editor-first = Dinah | editor-last = Birch | series = Oxford Reference Online | publisher = Oxford University Press | url = http://www.oxfordreference.com/ | year = 2011 | access-date = 21 August 2012 | archive-date = 2 June 2013 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130602205448/http://www.oxfordreference.com/ | url-status = live }}.</ref> In fact a number of modernists were still living and publishing in the 1950s and 1960, including [[T.S. Eliot]], [[Dorothy Richardson]], and [[Ezra Pound]]. Furthermore, [[Basil Bunting]], born in 1901, published little until ''[[Briggflatts]]'' in 1965 and [[Samuel Beckett]], born in Ireland in 1906, continued to produce significant works until the 1980s, though some view him as a [[post-modernist]].<ref>''The Cambridge Companion to Irish Literature'', ed. John Wilson Foster. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006.</ref>

Among British writers in the 1940s and 1950s were poet [[Dylan Thomas]] and novelist [[Graham Greene]] whose works span the 1930s to the 1980s, while [[Evelyn Waugh]], [[W.H. Auden]] continued publishing into the 1960s. [[Anthony Powell]] began his 12 volume cycle ''[[A Dance to the Music of Time]]'' in 1951 and continued writing and publishing it until the final volume appeared in 1975. 

[[Postmodern literature]] is 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 Americans [[Henry Miller]], [[William S. Burroughs]], [[Joseph Heller]], [[Kurt Vonnegut]], [[William Gaddis]], [[Hunter S. Thompson]], [[Truman Capote]] and [[Thomas Pynchon]].

====Novel====
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In 1947 [[Malcolm Lowry]] published ''[[Under the Volcano]]'', while [[George Orwell]]'s satire of totalitarianism, ''[[Nineteen Eighty-Four]]'', was published in 1949. Other novelists writing in the 1950s and later were: [[Anthony Powell]] whose twelve-volume cycle of novels ''[[A 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 Prize in Literature|Nobel Prize]] laureate [[William Golding]]'s [[Allegory|allegorical]] novel ''[[Lord of the Flies]]'' 1954, explores how culture created by man fails, using as an example a group of British schoolboys marooned on a deserted island; [[Graham Greene]]'s novels ''[[The Heart of the Matter]]'' (1948) and ''[[The End of the Affair]]'' (1951), used Catholicism to explore moral dilemmas in human relationships, continuing themes found in his earlier novels.  Philosopher [[Iris Murdoch]] was 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 writer [[Muriel Spark]] pushed the boundaries of realism in her novels. [[The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (novel)|''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 Burgess]] is especially remembered for his [[utopian and dystopian fiction|dystopian novel]] ''[[A Clockwork Orange (novel)|A Clockwork Orange]]'' (1962), set in the not-too-distant future. During the 1960s and 1970s, [[Paul Scott (novelist)|Paul Scott]] wrote his monumental series on the last decade of British rule in [[India]], ''[[The Raj Quartet]]'' (1966–1975). Scotland has in the late 20th century produced several important novelists, including the writer of ''[[How Late it Was, How Late]]'', [[James Kelman]], who like Samuel Beckett can create humour out of the most grim situations and [[Alasdair Gray]] whose ''[[Lanark: A Life in Four Books]]'' (1981) is a [[dystopia]]n fantasy set in a surreal version of [[Glasgow]] called Unthank.<ref>Janice Galloway "Rereading Lanark by Alasdair Gray". ''The Guardian''. Saturday 12 October 2002</ref>

Two significant Irish novelists are [[John Banville]] and [[Colm Tóibín]]. [[Martin Amis]], [[Pat Barker]], [[Ian McEwan]] and [[Julian Barnes]] are other prominent late twentieth-century British novelists.

====Drama====
An important cultural movement in the British theatre which developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s was [[Kitchen sink realism]] (or "kitchen sink drama"), a term coined to describe art, novels, film and [[television play]]s. The term [[angry young men]] was often applied to members of this artistic movement. It used a style of [[social realism]] which depicts the domestic lives of the working class, to explore social issues and political issues. The [[drawing room play]]s of the post war period, typical of dramatists like [[Terence Rattigan]] and [[Noël Coward]] were challenged in the 1950s by these [[Angry Young Men]], in plays like [[John Osborne]]'s  ''[[Look Back in Anger]]'' (1956).

Again in the 1950s, the [[Absurdism|absurdist]] play ''[[Waiting for Godot]]'' (1955), by Irish writer [[Samuel Beckett]] profoundly affected British drama. The [[Theatre of the Absurd]] influenced [[Harold Pinter]], ([[The Birthday Party (play)|The Birthday Party]], 1958), whose works are often characterised by menace or claustrophobia. Beckett also influenced [[Tom Stoppard]] (''[[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, by [[Radio drama|BBC 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, including [[Caryl Churchill]] and [[Tom Stoppard]] whose "first professional production was in the fifteen-minute ''Just Before Midnight'' programme on BBC Radio, which showcased new dramatists".<ref name = "autogenerated1">{{Citation | publisher = IRDP | url = http://www.irdp.co.uk/radiodrama.htm | first = Tim | last = Crook | title = International radio drama | place = [[United Kingdom|UK]] | access-date = 29 January 2013 | archive-date = 5 October 2016 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20161005200753/http://www.irdp.co.uk/radiodrama.htm | url-status = live }}.</ref> [[John Mortimer]] made his radio debut as a dramatist in 1955, with his adaptation of his own novel ''Like Men Betrayed'' for the [[BBC]] [[Light Programme]]. Other notable radio dramatists included [[Brendan Behan]] and novelist [[Angela Carter]].

Among the most famous works created for radio are [[Dylan Thomas]]'s ''[[Under Milk Wood]]'' (1954), [[Samuel Beckett]]'s ''[[All That Fall]]'' (1957), [[Harold Pinter]]'s ''[[A Slight Ache]]'' (1959) and [[Robert Bolt]]'s ''[[A Man for All Seasons (play)|A Man for All Seasons]]'' (1954).<ref>[[J. C. Trewin]], "Critic on the Hearth." ''Listener''. London. 5 August 1954: 224.</ref>

====Poetry====
Major poets like T.S. Eliot, W.H. Auden and Dylan Thomas were still publishing in this period. Though [[W.H. Auden]]'s 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.<ref>Smith, Stan (2004). "Introduction". In Stan Smith. ''The Cambridge Companion to W.H. Auden''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 1–14. {{ISBN|0-521-82962-3}}.</ref>

New poets starting their careers in the 1950s and 1960s include [[Philip Larkin]] (''[[The Whitsun Weddings]]'', 1964), [[Ted Hughes]] (''[[The Hawk in the Rain]]'', 1957), [[Sylvia Plath]] (''[[The Colossus and Other Poems|The Colossus]]'', 1960) and [[Seamus Heaney]] (''[[Death of a Naturalist]]'', 1966). Northern Ireland has also produced a number of other significant poets, including [[Derek Mahon]] and [[Paul Muldoon]]. In the 1960s and 1970s [[Martian poetry]] aimed to break the grip of 'the familiar', by describing ordinary things in unfamiliar ways, as though, for example, through the eyes of a [[Martian]]. Poets most closely associated with it are [[Craig Raine]] and [[Christopher Reid (writer)|Christopher Reid]].

Another literary movement in this period was the [[British Poetry Revival]] was a wide-reaching collection of groupings and subgroupings that embraces [[performance poetry|performance]], [[sound poetry|sound]] and [[concrete poetry]].{{sfn|Greene|2012|p=426}} The [[Liverpool poets|Mersey Beat poets]] were [[Adrian Henri]], [[Brian Patten]] and [[Roger McGough]]. Their work was a self-conscious attempt at creating an English equivalent to the [[Beat generation|American Beats]]. Other noteworthy later twentieth-century poets are Welshman [[R.S. Thomas]], [[Geoffrey Hill]], [[Charles Tomlinson]] and [[Carol Ann Duffy]]. [[Geoffrey Hill]] is considered one of the most distinguished English poets of his generation,<ref name = "Harold Bloom 1986">{{Citation | editor-first = Harold | editor-last = Bloom | title = Geoffrey Hill | series = Modern Critical Views | publisher = Infobase | year = 1986}}.</ref> [[Charles Tomlinson]] 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.<ref name="carcanet.co.uk">{{Citation | place = UK | url = http://www.carcanet.co.uk/cgi-bin/indexer?owner_id=770 | publisher = Carcanet Press | title = Charles Tomlinson | access-date = 15 November 2012 | archive-date = 23 March 2012 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120323104729/http://www.carcanet.co.uk/cgi-bin/indexer?owner_id=770 | url-status = live }}.</ref>

====Literature from the Commonwealth of Nations====
{{See also|Postcolonial literature|Australian literature|Canadian literature|Caribbean literature|Indian English literature|New Zealand literature|Pakistani English literature|African literature|South African literature|Migrant literature
|label 1=Postcolonial|label 2=Australian|label 3=Canadian|label 4=Caribbean|label 5=Indian|label 6=New Zealand|label 7=Pakistani|label 8=African|label 9=South African}}

[[File:Doris lessing 20060312.jpg|thumb|[[Doris Lessing]], Cologne, 2006.]]
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 the [[Victorian period]]. There had of course been a few important works in English prior to 1950 from the then [[British Empire]]. The [[South African literature|South African writer]] [[Olive Schreiner]]'s famous novel ''[[The Story of an African Farm]]'' was published in 1883 and [[New Zealand literature|New Zealander]] [[Katherine Mansfield]] published her first collection of short stories, ''In a German Pension'', in 1911. The first major novelist, writing in English, from the [[Indian English literature|Indian sub-continent]], [[R. K. Narayan]], began publishing in England in the 1930s, thanks to the encouragement of English novelist [[Graham Greene]].{{Sfn | Drabble | 1996 | p = 697}} [[Caribbean literature|Caribbean writer]] [[Jean Rhys]]'s writing career began as early as 1928, though her most famous work, ''[[Wide Sargasso Sea]]'', was not published until 1966. South Africa's [[Alan Paton]]'s famous ''[[Cry, the Beloved Country]]'' dates from 1948. [[Doris Lessing]] from [[Southern Rhodesia]], now [[Zimbabwe]], 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.
[[File:Hayfestival-2016-Salman-Rushdie-1-cu.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Sir [[Salman Rushdie]] at the 2016 [[Hay Festival]], the UK's largest annual literary festival]]
[[Salman Rushdie]] is another post Second World War writers from the former British colonies who [[Migrant literature|permanently settled in Britain]]. Rushdie achieved fame with ''[[Midnight's Children]]'' 1981. His most controversial novel ''[[The Satanic Verses]]'' 1989, was inspired in part by the life of Muhammad. [[V. S. Naipaul]], born in [[Trinidad]], was another immigrant, who wrote among other things ''[[A Bend in the River]]'' (1979). Naipaul won the [[Nobel Prize in Literature]].<ref name="nobelweb">{{cite web | url = http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/2001/ | website = [[Nobel Foundation]] | title = The Nobel Prize in Literature 2001 - V. S. Naipaul | access-date = 6 September 2012 | archive-date = 15 September 2012 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120915131638/http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/2001/ | url-status = live }}</ref>

From [[Nigerian literature|Nigeria]] a number of writers have achieved an international reputation for works in English, including novelist [[Chinua Achebe]], as well as playwright [[Wole Soyinka]]. Soyinka won the [[Nobel Prize]] for literature in 1986, as did [[South Africa]]n novelist [[Nadine Gordimer]] in 1995. Other South African writers in English are novelist [[J. M. Coetzee]] (Nobel Prize 2003) and playwright [[Athol Fugard]]. [[Kenyan literature|Kenya]]'s most internationally renowned author is [[Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o]] who has written novels, plays and short stories in English. Poet [[Derek Walcott]], from [[St Lucia]] in the Caribbean, was another Nobel Prize winner in 1992.  An [[Australian literature|Australian]] [[Patrick 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 poet [[Les Murray (poet)|Les Murray]], and novelist [[Peter Carey (novelist)|Peter Carey]], who is one of only four writers to have won the [[Man Booker Prize|Booker Prize]] twice.<ref>Man Booker official site: J.G. Farrell [http://themanbookerprize.com/search/node/j%20g%20farrell] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170129070148/http://themanbookerprize.com/search/node/j%20g%20farrell|date=29 January 2017}}; Hilary Mantel {{cite web |title=Dame Hilary Mantel &#124; the Man Booker Prizes |url=http://themanbookerprize.com/people/hilary-mantel |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160313224147/http://themanbookerprize.com/people/hilary-mantel |archive-date=13 March 2016 |access-date=2016-03-22}}; J. M. Coetzee: {{cite web |title=J M Coetzee &#124; the Man Booker Prizes |url=http://themanbookerprize.com/people/j-m-coetzee |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160317185406/http://themanbookerprize.com/people/j-m-coetzee |archive-date=17 March 2016 |access-date=2016-03-22}}.</ref>

Major Canadian novelists include [[Carol Shields]], [[Lawrence Hill]], [[Margaret Atwood]] and [[Alice Munro]]. [[Carol Shields]] novel ''The Stone Diaries'' won the 1995 [[Pulitzer Prize for Fiction]], and another novel, ''[[Larry's Party]]'', won the [[Orange Prize for Fiction|Orange Prize]] in 1998. [[Lawrence Hill]]'s ''[[Book of Negroes]]'' won the 2008 [[Commonwealth Writers' Prize]] Overall Best Book Award, while [[Alice Munro]] became the first Canadian to win the [[Nobel Prize in Literature]] in 2013.<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/alice-munro-is-1st-canadian-woman-to-win-nobel-literature-prize-1.1958383 | title=Nobel-winner Alice Munro hailed as 'master' of short stories &#124; CBC News | access-date=25 April 2017 | archive-date=26 April 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170426153120/http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/alice-munro-is-1st-canadian-woman-to-win-nobel-literature-prize-1.1958383 | url-status=live }}</ref> Munro also received the [[Man Booker International Prize]] in 2009. Amongst internationally known poets are [[Leonard Cohen]] and [[Anne Carson]]. Carson in 1996 won the [[Lannan Literary Award]] for poetry. The foundation's awards in 2006 for poetry, fiction and nonfiction each came with $US 150,000.

====American writers====
{{Main |American literature|American poetry|Theater of the United States}}
From 1940 into the 21st century, American playwrights, poets and novelists have continued to be internationally prominent.

==={{Anchor|Genre fiction in the twentieth-century }} Genre fiction in the twentieth century===
{{Main|Genre fiction}}

Many works published in the twentieth century were examples of [[genre fiction]]. This designation includes the [[crime novel]]s, [[spy novel]], [[historical romance]], [[fantasy]], [[graphic novel]], and [[science fiction]].
[[File:J. R. R. Tolkien, ca. 1925.jpg|upright|thumb|left|[[J. R. R. Tolkien]], 1940s]]
[[Agatha Christie]] was an important, and hugely successful, crime fiction writer who is best remembered for her 66 [[detective novel]]s as well as her many short stories and successful plays for the [[West End theatre]]. Along with [[Dorothy L. Sayers]], [[Ngaio Marsh]], and [[Margery Allingham]], 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."<ref>Kaplan, C. (2013). 'Queens of Crime': The 'Golden Age' of Crime Fiction. In: Joannou, M. (eds) The History of British Women's Writing, 1920–1945. The History of British Women's Writing. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137292179_9</ref> Other recent noteworthy writers in this genre are [[Ruth Rendell]], [[P.D. James]] and the Scot, [[Ian Rankin]].

[[Robert Erskine Childers|Erskine Childers]]' ''[[The Riddle of the Sands]]'' (1903), is an early example of [[spy fiction]]. [[John Buchan]], a Scottish diplomat, and later the Governor General of Canada, is sometimes considered the inventor of the [[Thriller (genre)|thriller 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 by [[Alfred Hitchcock]].  Hannay was the prototype for the even more famous fictional character, [[James Bond 007]], created by [[Ian Fleming]], and the protagonist in a long line of films.  Another noted writer in the [[spy novel]] genre was [[John le Carré]].

[[File:Jk-rowling-crop.JPG|thumb|right|upright|[[J. K. Rowling]], 2006]]
The novelist [[Georgette Heyer]] created the [[historical romance]] genre. [[Emma Orczy]]'s original play, ''[[The Scarlet Pimpernel]]'' (1905), a "hero with a [[secret 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.<ref>Kabatchnik, Amnon (2008). ''Blood on the Stage: Milestone Plays of Crime, Mystery, and Detection: an Annotated Repertoire'', 1900–1925. Scarecrow Press. p. 28. The novel ''The Scarlet Pimpernel'' was published soon after the play opened and was an immediate success.</ref>

Among significant writers in the fantasy genre were [[J. R. R. Tolkien]], author of ''[[The Hobbit]]'' and ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]''. [[C. S. Lewis]] author of ''[[The Chronicles of Narnia]]'', and [[J. K. Rowling]] who wrote the highly successful ''[[Harry Potter]]'' series. [[Lloyd Alexander]] winner of the [[Newbery Honor]] as well as the [[Newbery Medal]] for his ''[[The Chronicles of Prydain]]'' [[pentalogy]] is another significant author of [[fantasy novels]] for younger readers. Like fantasy in the later decades of the 20th century, the genre of [[science fiction]] began to be taken more seriously, and this was because of the work of writers such as [[Arthur C. Clarke]] (''[[2001: A Space Odyssey (novel)|2001: A Space Odyssey]]'') and [[Michael 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 such [[Doris Lessing]] and [[Margaret Atwood]] also wrote works in this genre.

Known for his macabre, darkly comic fantasy works for children, [[Roald Dahl]] became one of the best selling authors of the 20th century, and his best-loved children's novels include ''[[Charlie and the Chocolate Factory]]'', ''[[Matilda (novel)|Matilda]]'', ''[[James and the Giant Peach]]'', ''[[The Witches (novel)|The Witches]]'', ''[[Fantastic Mr Fox]]'' and ''[[The BFG]]''.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/once-upon-a-time-there-was-a-man-who-liked-to-make-up-stories-2158052.html|title=Once upon a time, there was a man who liked to make up stories&nbsp;...|newspaper=The Independent|access-date=14 October 2017|archive-date=30 January 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120130161349/http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/once-upon-a-time-there-was-a-man-who-liked-to-make-up-stories-2158052.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Noted writers in the field of [[comic book]]s are [[Neil Gaiman]], and [[Alan Moore]], while Gaiman also produces [[graphic novel]]s.

=== Literary criticism in the twentieth century ===
{{Main|Literary Criticism|date=August 2019}}
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.

== 21st century ==
{{See also|21st century in literature}}{{Expand section|date=December 2023}}

*[[British literature#21st-century literature|21st century British literature]]
*[[English novel#Contemporary novelists|Contemporary English novelists]]

==Nobel Prizes==
{{Columns-list|colwidth=30em|
* [[Rudyard Kipling]] (1907): UK (born in [[British India]])
* [[Rabindranath Tagore]] (1913): India
* [[W. B. Yeats]] (1923): Ireland
* [[George Bernard Shaw]] (1925): Ireland
* [[Sinclair Lewis]] (1930): US
* [[John Galsworthy]] (1932): UK
* [[Eugene O'Neill]] (1936): US
* [[Pearl S. Buck]] (1938): US
* [[T.S. Eliot]] (1948): UK (born in the US)
* [[William Faulkner]] (1949): US
* [[Bertrand Russell]] (1950): UK
* [[Winston Churchill]] (1953): UK
* [[Ernest Hemingway]] (1954): US
* [[John Steinbeck]] (1962): US
* [[Samuel Beckett]] (1969): Ireland (lived in France much of his life)
* [[Patrick White]] (1973): Australia
* [[Saul Bellow]] (1976): US (born in [[Canada]])
* [[Isaac Bashevis Singer]] (1978): US (born in [[Poland]])
* [[William Golding]] (1983): UK
* [[Wole Soyinka]] (1986): Nigeria
* [[Joseph Brodsky]] (1987): US (born in Russia)
* [[Nadine Gordimer]] (1991): South Africa
* [[Derek Walcott]] (1992): St Lucia, West Indies
* [[Toni Morrison]] (1993): US
* [[Seamus Heaney]] (1995): Ireland
* [[V.S. Naipaul]] (2001): UK (born in [[Trinidad]])
* [[J. M. Coetzee]] (2003): South Africa
* [[Harold Pinter]] (2005): UK
* [[Doris Lessing]] (2007): UK (grew-up in [[Zimbabwe]])
* [[Alice Munro]] (2013): Canada
* [[Bob Dylan]] (2016): US
* [[Kazuo Ishiguro]] (2017): UK (born in [[Japan]])
* [[Louise Glück]] (2020): US
* [[Abdulrazak Gurnah]] (2021): UK (born in the [[Sultanate of Zanzibar]], now Tanzania)
}}

==See also==

{{div col}}
* [[British literature]]
** [[Theatre of the United Kingdom]]
** [[Literature of Birmingham]]
* [[English novel]]
* [[English poetry]]
** [[List of English-language poets]]
* [[Irish literature]]
** [[Irish theatre]]
** [[Literature of Northern Ireland]]
* [[Literature in the other languages of Britain]]
* [[Scottish literature]]
** [[Theatre in Scotland]]
* [[Welsh literature in English]]
** [[Theatre of Wales]]
* [[Women's writing in English]]
* [[List of Commonwealth Writers prizes]]
* {{section link|Commonwealth of Nations | Literature}}
* [[Postcolonial literature]]
* [[Australian literature]]
* [[American literature]]
* [[Philippine literature in English]]
* [[Bangladeshi English literature]]
* [[Canadian literature]]
* [[Caribbean literature]]
* [[Ghanaian literature]]
* [[Guyanese literature]]
* {{section link | Hong Kong literature | Hong Kong literature in English}}
* [[Indian English literature]]
* [[Kenyan literature]]
* [[Malaysian literature]]
* {{section link | Nigerian literature | Nigerian literature in English}}
* [[New Zealand literature]]
* [[Pakistani English literature]]
* {{section link | Singaporean literature | Literature in English}}
* [[South African literature]]
* [[Sri Lankan literature#Sri Lankan and Sri Lankan diaspora authors who write in English|Sri Lankan literature in English]]
* {{section link | Tanzanian literature | Literature in English}}
* [[List of countries by English-speaking population]]
* [[List of countries and territories where English is an official language]]
{{div col end}}

==Notes==
{{Reflist|group=note}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

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* {{Citation | first1 = RD | last1 = Fulk | first2 = Christopher M | last2 = Cain | title = A History of Old English Literature | place = Malden | publisher = Blackwell | year = 2003}}.
* {{cite book |title=Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare |last=Greenblatt |first=Stephen |author-link=Stephen Greenblatt |publisher=[[Pimlico (publishing imprint)|Pimlico]] |location=London |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-7126-0098-9}}
* {{cite encyclopedia |editor-surname=Greene |editor-given=Roland |editor-link=Roland Greene |display-editors=etal |entry=Poetry of England |title=The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics |edition=4th rev. |year=2012 |pages=420–428 |entry-url={{Google books|id=uKiC6IeFR2UC|plainurl=y|page=425|keywords=|text=}} |url={{Google books|id=uKiC6IeFR2UC|plainurl=y}} |place=Princeton, NJ |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-15491-6}}
* {{Citation | last = Kiernan | first = Kevin | title = Beowulf and the Beowulf Manuscript | location = Ann Arbor, MI | publisher = University of Michigan | year = 1996 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Yv8cnwEACAAJ |isbn= 978-0-472-08412-8}}.
* {{cite book |title=Shakespeare's Tragic Sequence |last=Muir |first=Kenneth |author-link=Kenneth Muir (scholar) |publisher=Routledge |location=London |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-415-35325-0}}
* {{Citation | last = Robinson | first = Fred C | title = The Cambridge Companion to Old English Literature | year = 2001 | place = Cambridge | publisher = Cambridge University Press | page = 143}}.
* {{citation |last=Tillyard |first=E M W |year=1929 |title=The Poetry of Sir Thomas Wyatt, A Selection and a Study |publisher=The Scholartis Press |location=London}}
* {{Citation | last = Tolkien | first = John Ronald Reuel | author-link = J. R. R. Tolkien | title = Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics | location = London | publisher = Oxford University Press | year = 1958| title-link = Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics}}
* [[Thomas_George_Tucker|Tucker, T.&nbsp;G.]] [https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/73805 The foreign debt of English literature] (1907)  London: George Bell and Sons
* {{cite encyclopedia |editor-surname=Ward |editor-given=A. W. |editor-surname2=Waller |editor-given2=A. R. |editor-link=Adolphus William Ward |editor-link2=Alfred Rayney Waller |title=[[The Cambridge History of English and American Literature|The Cambridge History of English Literature]] |volume=1–14 |place=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1907–1916}}
* {{Citation | title = History of English and American literature  | editor1-first = AW | editor1-last = Ward | editor2-first = AR | editor2-last = Waller | editor3-first = WP | editor3-last = Trent | editor4-first = J | editor4-last = Erskine | editor5-first = SP | editor5-last = Sherman | editor6-first = C | editor6-last = Van Doren | place = New York | publisher = GP Putnam's Sons University Press | date = 1907–21}}.
* {{cite book |title=Shakespeare: A Life in Drama |last=Wells |first=Stanley |author-link=Stanley Wells |year=1997 |location=New York |publisher=[[W.W. Norton]] |isbn=978-0-393-31562-2}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{Wikiversity|Topic:Literary Studies}}
{{Commons category|English-language literature}}
{{Library resources box
|by=no
|onlinebooks=no
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|about=yes
|label=English literature}}
* {{cite encyclopedia |title=The Cambridge History of English and American Literature: an Encyclopedia in Eighteen Volumes |format=Online Version of 1907–1921 print |url=http://www.bartleby.com/cambridge/ |via=[[Bartleby.com]]}}
* {{cite web |url=http://sites.google.com/site/theenglishliterarycanon/ |title=The English Literary Canon |url-access=registration |via=[[Google Sites]]}}
* [http://www.librarything.com/tag/british%20literature&more=1 British literature – Books tagged British literature] [[LibraryThing]]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20160617173843/http://www.bl.uk/shakespeare ''Discovering Literature: Shakespeare''] at the British Library
* [http://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians ''Discovering Literature: Romantics and Victorians''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160701124614/http://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/ |date=1 July 2016 }} at the British Library
* [http://www.bl.uk/20th-century-literature ''Discovering Literature: 20th century''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160701132340/http://www.bl.uk/20th-century-literature |date=1 July 2016 }} at the British Library
* [http://www.luminarium.org/medlit/ Luminarium: Anthology of Middle English Literature (1350–1485)]
* [http://www.luminarium.org/renlit/ Luminarium: 16th Century Renaissance English Literature (1485–1603)]
* [http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/ Luminarium: Seventeenth Century English Literature (1603–1660)]
* [http://www.luminarium.org/eightlit/ Luminarium: Eighteenth Century English Literature (1660–1785)]
* [http://www.eighteenthcenturypoetry.org/ Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive (ECPA)]
* [https://personal.unizar.es/garciala/bibliography.html A Bibliography of Literary Theory, Criticism and Philology] Ed. José Ángel García Landa, (University of Zaragoza, Spain)

{{English literature}}
{{European literature}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:English Literature}}
[[Category:English-language literature| ]]
[[Category:English-language culture|Literature]]
[[Category:History of literature in the United Kingdom]]