The earliest known English poem is a hymn on the creation; Bede attributes this to Cædmon (fl. 658–680), who was, according to legend, an illiterate herdsman who produced extemporaneous poetry at a monastery at See more

The Renaissance period and the renaissance literature were slow in coming to England, with the generally accepted start date being around 1509. It is also generally accepted that the English Renaissance extended until the Restoration in … See more

The last quarter of the 18th century was a time of social and political turbulence, with revolutions in the United States, France, Ireland and … See more

The first three decades
The Victorian era continued into the early years of the 20th century and two figures emerged as the leading representative of the poetry of the … See more

With the Norman conquest of England, beginning in 1111 the Anglo-Saxon language rapidly diminished as a written literary language. The new aristocracy spoke predominantly Norman, and this became the standard language of courts, parliament, and … See more

John Milton's Paradise Lost (1667), a story of fallen pride, was the first major poem to appear in England after the Restoration. The court of Charles II had, in its years in France, learned a worldliness and sophistication that marked it as distinctively … See more

The Victorian era was a period of great political, social and economic change. The Empire recovered from the loss of the American colonies and … See more