-
800
Beowulf.
This Old English epic of 3,182 lines, the first great work of Germanic literature, mingles the legends of Scandinavia with the experience in England of Angles and Saxons. -
1300
Duns Scotus.
Known as the "Subtle Doctor" in medieval times, later provides humanists with the name Dunsman or dunce, When in the sixteenth century the Scotists argued against Renaissance humanism, the term duns or dunce became, in the mouths of the Protestants, a term of abuse and a synonym for one incapable of scholarship. -
1385
Troilus and Criseyde Poem.
Chaucer completes his long poem about a legendary love affair in ancient Troy, "Troilus y Criseyde" Chaucer longest complete poem, in 8,239 lines of rhyme.
Many Chaucer scholars regard it as the poet's finest work. -
1524
William Tyndale.
William Tyndale studies in the university at Wittenberg and plans to translate the Bible into English. -
1564
The birth of two bigs.
Marlowe and Shakespeare are born in the same year, with Marlowe the older by two months. -
Shakespeare and their three parts of Henry VI.
After tentative beginnings in the three parts of Henry VI, Shakespeare achieves his first masterpiece on stage with Richard III. -
The Tempest.
Shakespeare's last complete play, The Tempest, is performed. -
William Shakespeare dies.
William Shakespeare dies at New Place, his home in Stratford-upon-Avon, and is buried in Holy Trinity Church -
Rape of the Lock.
A play by Alexander Pope, Largely self-educated, the son of a Roman Catholic draper presents a delicate vein of simulacrum-heroic in English poetry. -
Clarissa.
The story of a young lady, by Samuel Richardson begins the correspondence that becomes the longest novel in the English language. -
Jane Austen.
English author Jane Austen published her first work in print, Sense and Sensibility, at her own expense. -
John Keats
English poet John Keats publishes Ode to a Nightingale, inspired by the bird's song in his Hampstead garden, and dies in Rome at the age of twenty-five. -
Dickens Charles.
English novelist.
He began his writing career as a parliamentary reporter. Charles Dickens' first novel, Oliver Twist, begins monthly publication (in book form, 1838) -
J. Osborne.
John Osborne's play Look Back in Anger features in the first season of London's new English Stage Company. -
Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.
British novelist Muriel Spark publishes The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, set in an Edinburgh school in the 1930s -
Partingtime Hall.
English poets John Fuller and James Fenton collaborate in a volume of satirical poems. -
Sebastian Faulks.
English novelist and journalist, born in Berkshire and educated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge. He received widespread recognition by publishes Birdsong, set partly in the trenches of World War I. -
Michael Frayn.
He worked as a humorous columnist.
Michael Frayn's play Copenhagen dramatizes the visit of Werner Heisenberg to Niels Bohr in wartime Denmark. -
Martin Amis.
Yellow Dog is the title of a 2003 novel by the British writer Martin Amis, it's set in contemporary London. -
On Chesil Beach.
Novel by British writer Ian McEwan. The novel was selected for the 2007 Booker Prize shortlist.
