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1567
the first book
The Book of Common Prayer and the New Testament are published in Welsh, to be followed by the complete Bible in 1588 -
1582
william Shakespeare Marriage
The 18-year-old William Shakespeare marries Anne Hathaway in Stratford-upon-Avon -
the swaggering blank verse
Marlowe's first play, Tamburlaine the Great, introduces the swaggering blank verse of Elizabethan and Jacobean drama -
Marlowe's first play
Marlowe's first play, Tamburlaine the Great, introduces the swaggering blank verse of Elizabethan and Jacobean drama -
The Faerie Queene
English poet Edmund Spenser celebrates the Protestant Elizabeth I as The Faerie Queene -
shakespeare masterpiece
After tentative beginnings in the three parts of Henry VI, Shakespeare achieves his first masterpiece on stage with Richard III -
Shakespeare's central character in Hamlet
Shakespeare's central character in Hamlet expresses both the ideals of the Renaissance and the disillusion of a less confident age -
the Authorized version of the Bible
James I commissions the Authorized version of the Bible, which is completed by forty-seven scholars in seven years -
The Masque of Blackness
Ben Jonson writes The Masque of Blackness, the first of his many masques for the court of James -
Ben Jonson voice
The satirical voice of the English playwright Ben Jonson is heard to powerful effect in Volpone -
plays of shakespeare
Shakespeare's sonnets, written ten years previously, are published -
shakespeare play
Shakespeare's last completed play, The Tempest, is performed -
John Smith play and William Shakespeare dies
John Smith publishes A Description of New England, an account of his exploration of the region in 1614 William Shakespeare dies at New Place, his home in Stratford-upon-Avon, and is buried in Holy Trinity Church -
dean of St Paul's
John Donne, England's leading Metaphysical poet, becomes dean of St Paul's -
the First Folio
John Heminge and Henry Condell publish thirty-six Shakespeare plays in the First Folio -
The temple
George Herbert's only volume of poems, The Temple, is published posthumously -
John Milton's Lycidas
John Milton's Lycidas is published in memory of a Cambridge friend, Edward King -
The Tenth Muse
The poems of Massachusetts author Anne Bradstreet are published in London under the title The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America -
Izaak Walton
Devoted fisherman Izaak Walton publishes the classic work on the subject, The Compleat Angler -
Samuel Pepys diary
On the first day of the new year Samuel Pepys gets up late, eats the remains of the turkey and begins his diary -
Paradise Lost
Paradise Lost is published, earning its author John Milton just £10 -
Samuel Pepys ends his diary,
Samuel Pepys ends his diary, after only writing it for nine years -
Part I of The Pilgrim's Progress,
Parrt I of The Pilgrim's Progress, written during John Bunyan's two spells in Bedford Gaol, is published and is immediately popular -
Jhon Locke essay
John Locke publishes his Essay concerning Human Understanding, arguing that all knowledge is based on experience -
Aphra Behn's novel Oroonoko
Aphra Behn's novel Oroonoko makes an early protest against the inhumanity of the African slave trade -
The Augustan Age begining
The Augustan Age begins in English literature, claiming comparison with the equivalent flowering under Augustus Caesar -
new style of journalism
The Tatler launches a new style of journalism in Britain's coffee houses, followed two years later by the Spectator -
Attack Locke
25-year-old George Berkeley attacks Locke in his Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge -
mock-heroic in English poetry
Alexander Pope's Rape of the Lock introduces a delicate vein of mock-heroic in English poetry -
the first English novel
Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, with its detailed realism, can be seen as the first English novel -
bitterly satirical travels in Gulliver's Travels
Jonathan Swift sends his hero on a series of bitterly satirical travels in Gulliver's Travels -
Treatise of Human Nature
David Hume publishes his Treatise of Human Nature, in which he applies to the human mind the principles of experimental science -
Samuel Richardson's Clarissa
Samuel Richardson's Clarissa begins the correspondence that grows into the longest novel in the English language -
Henry Fielding
Henry Fielding introduces a character of lasting appeal in the lusty but good-hearted Tom Jones -
English poet Thomas Gray publishes his Elegy written in a Country Church Yard
English poet Thomas Gray publishes his Elegir written in a Country Church Yard -
Dictionary of the English Language
Samuel Johnson publishes his magisterial Dictionary of the English Language -
James Woodforde,diary
James Woodforde, an English country parson with a love of food and wine, begins a detailed diary of everyday life -
Tristram Shandy book
Laurence Sterne publishes the first two volumes of Tristram Shandy, beginning with the scene at the hero's conception -
James MacPherson
Fingal, supposedly by the medieval poet Ossian, is a forgery in the spirit of the times by James MacPherson -
Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
English historian Edward Gibbon, sitting among ruins in Rome, conceives the idea of Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire -
Encyclopedia Britannica
A Society of Gentlemen in Scotland begins publication of the immensely successful Encyclopaedia Britannica -
She Stoops to Conquer
Oliver Goldsmith's play She Stoops to Conquer is produced in London's Covent Garden theatre -
The School for Scandal
Richard Brinsley Sheridan's second play, The School for Scandal, is an immediate success in London's Drury Lane theatre -
Songs of Innocence,
William Blake publishes Songs of Innocence, a volume of his poems with every page etched and illustrated by himself -
Reflections on the Revolution in France,
Anglo-Irish politician Edmund Burke publishes Reflections on the Revolution in France, a blistering attack on recent events across the Channel -
Tam o' Shanter
Scottish poet Robert Burns publishes Tam o' Shanter, in which a drunken farmer has an alarming encounter with witches -
A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
English author Mary Wollstonecraft publishes a passionately feminist work, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman -
poem 'Tyger! Tyger! burning bright'
William Blake's volume Songs of Innocence and Experience includes his poem 'Tyger! Tyger! burning bright' -
Age of Reason
Thomas Paine publishes his completed Age of Reason, an attack on conventional Christianity -
Kubla Khan
Samuel Taylor Coleridge says that while writing Kubla Khan he is interrupted by 'a person on business from Porlock' -
Lyrical Ballads,
English poets Wordsworth and Coleridge jointly publish Lyrical Ballads, a milestone in the Romantic movement -
Jerusalem
William Blake includes his poem 'Jerusalem' in the Preface to his book Milton -
The Lay of the Last Minstrel,
Walter Scott publishes The Lay of the Last Minstrel, the long romantic poem that first brings him fame -
Walter Scott's poem
Walter Scott's poem Lady of the Lake brings tourists in unprecedented numbers to Scotland's Loch Katrine -
Childe Harold's Pilgrimage
The first two cantos are published of Byron's largely autobiographical poem Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, bringing him immediate fame -
First Impressions
Pride and Prejudice, based on a youthful work of 1797 called First Impressions, is the second of Jane Austen's novels to be published -
Percy Bysshe Shelley
Percy Bysshe Shelley publishes probably his best-known poem, the sonnet Ozymandias -
Don Juan-Ivanhoe
Byron begins publication in parts of his longest poem, Don Juan an epic satirical comment on contemporary life Walter Scott publishes Ivanhoe, a tale of love, tournaments and sieges at the time of the crusades -
Ode to a Nightingale-Ode to the West Wind
English poet John Keats publishes Ode to a Nightingale, inspired by the bird's song in his Hampstead garden English poet Percy Bysshe Shelley publishes Ode to the West Wind, written mainly in a wood near Florence -
Confessions of an English Opium-Eater Rural Rides-Table Talk
English author Thomas De Quincey publishes his autobiographical Confessions of an English Opium-Eater English poet John Keats dies in Rome at the age of twenty-five English radical William Cobbett begins his journeys round England, published in 1830 as Rural Rides English author William Hazlitt publishes Table Talk, a two-volume collection that includes most of his best-known essays -
Charles Dickens -monthly publication
24-year-old Charles Dickens begins monthly publication of his first work of fiction, Pickwick Papers (published in book form in 1837) -
Oliver twist
Charles Dickens' first novel, Oliver Twist, begins monthly publication (in book form, 1838) -
The Pied Piper of Hamelin
English poet Robert Browning publishes a vivid narrative poem about the terrible revenge of The Pied Piper of Hamelin English author Thomas Babington Macaulay publishes a collection of stirring ballads, Lays of Ancient Rome -
A Christmas Carol
Ebenezer Scrooge mends his ways just in time in Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol -
David Copperfield,
Charles Dickens begins the publication in monthly numbers of David Copperfield, his own favourite among his novels -
Conservatism
In his novel Coningsby Benjamin Disraeli develops the theme of Conservatism uniting 'two nations', the rich and the poor -
Friedrich Engels,
Friedrich Engels, after running a textile factory in Manchester, publishes The Condition of the Working Class in England -
Edward Lear and The three Brontë sisters
Edward Lear publishes his Book of Nonsense, consisting of limericks illustrated with his own cartoons The three Brontë sisters jointly publish a volume of their poems and sell just two copies -
vanity fair
English author William Makepeace Thackeray begins publication of his novel Vanity Fair in monthly parts (book form 1848) Charlotte becomes the first of the Brontë sisters to have a novel published — Jane Eyre Emily Brontë's novel Wuthering Heights follows just two months after her sister Charlotte's Jane Eyre -
Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases
London physician Peter Mark Roget publishes his dictionary of synonyms, the Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases -
Maud-The Warden
Tennyson publishes a long narrative poem, Maud, a section of which ('Come into the garden, Maud') becomes famous as a song English author Anthony Trollope publishes The Warden, the first in his series of six Barsetshire novels -
On the Origin of Species
Charles Darwin puts forward the theory of evolution in On the Origin of Species, the result of 20 years' research
Tennyson publishes the first part of Idylls of the King, a series of linked poems about Britain's mythical king Arthur Charles Dickens publishes his French Revolution novel, A Tale of Two Cities Edward FitzGerald publishes The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám, romantic translations of the work of the Persian poet -
Charles Dickens-George Eliot
Charles Dickens begins serial publication of his novel "Great Expectations" (in book form 1861) George Eliot publishes The Mill on the Floss, her novel about the childhood of Maggie and Tom Tulliver -
East Lynne
Mrs Henry Wood publishes her first novel, East Lynne, which becomes the basis of the most popular of all Victorian melodramas -
dual personality
Robert Louis Stevenson introduces a dual personality in his novel The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Thomas Hardy publishes his novel The Mayor of Casterbridge, which begins with the future mayor, Michael Henchard selling his wife and child at a fair -
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde's most brilliant comedy, The Importance of Being Earnest is performed in London's St. James Theatre Oscar Wilde loses a libel case that he has brought against the marquess of Queensberry for describing him as a sodomite Oscar Wilde is sent to Reading Gaol to serve a two-year sentence with hard labour after being convicted of homosexuality -
Henry James
Henry James moves from London to Lamb House in Rye, Sussex, which remains his home for the rest of his life H.G. Wells publishes his science-fiction novel The War of the Worlds, in which Martians arrive in a rocket to invade earth Henry James publishes The Turn of the Screw in a collection of short stories -
stories, poem publications
Rudyard Kipling publishes his Just So Stories for Little Children The Tale of Peter Rabbit is published commercially, a year after being first printed by Beatrix Potter at her own expense John Masefield's poem 'Sea Fever' is published in Salt-Water Ballads Henry James publishes the first of his three last novels, The Wings of the Dove Joseph Conrad publishes a collection of stories including Heart of Darkness, a sinister tale based partly on his own journey up the Congo -
best seller
Erskine Childers has a best-seller in The Riddle of the Sands, a thriller about a planned German invasion of Britain Henry James publishes The Ambassadors, the second of his three last novels written in rapid succession British philosopher G.E. Moore publishes Principia Ethica, an attempt to apply logic to ethic -
Peter Pan
Joseph Conrad publishes his novel Nostromo, about a revolution in South America and a fatal horde of silver Henry James publishes his last completed novel, The Golden Bowl J.M Barrie's play for children Peter Pan, or the Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up has its premiere in London Under the pseudonym Saki, H.H. Munro publishes Reginald, his first volume of short stories -
variety plays
Oscar Wilde's De Profundis, a letter of recrimination written in Reading Gaol to Lord Alfred Douglas, is published posthumously H.G. Wells publishes Kipps: the story of a simple soul, a comic novel about a bumbling draper's assistant Sir Percy Blakeney rescues aristocrats from the guillotine in Baroness Orczy's The Scarlet Pimpernel -
excellent publishing
The first volume of the inexpensive Everyman's Library is issued by Joseph Dent, a London publisher E. Nesbit publishes The Railway Children, the most successful of her books featuring the Bastable family John Galsworthy publishes The Man of Property, the first of his novels chronicling the family of Soames Forsyte -
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
James Joyce's novel Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man begins serial publication in a London journal, The Egoist After years of delay James Joyce's Dubliners, a collection of short stories, is published The Times Literary Supplement is published in London as an independent paper, separate from The Times Robert Tressell's Ragged Trousered Philanthropists is published posthumously in an abbreviated version -
wartime experiences - lesbian subject
Caribbean-born author Jean Rhys publishes her first novel, Postures, based on her affair with the writer Ford Madox Ford
Siegfried Sassoon publishes Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man, the first volume of a semi-autobiographical trilogy
Set in a World War I trench, the play Journey's End reflects the wartime experiences of its British author, R.C. Sherriff
Radclyffe Hall's novel The Well of Loneliness is the first to deal openly with a lesbian subject -
novels
Dylan Thomas's 'play for voices', Under Milk Wood, is broadcast on BBC radio, with Richard Burton as narrator Politician and author Winston Churchill completes his six-volume history The Second World War Anglo-Irish novelist Iris Murdoch publishes her first novel, Under the Net English author Kingsley Amis's first novel, Lucky Jim, strikes an anti-establishment chord William Golding gives a chilling account of schoolboy savagery in his first novel, Lord of the Flies -
war requiem
Benjamin Britten's War Requiem, setting poems by Wilfred Owen, is first performed in the rebuilt Coventry Cathedral British author Doris Lessing publishes an influential feminist novel, The Golden Notebook British author P.D. James's first novel, Cover Her Face, introduces her poet detective Adam Dalgleish Anthony Burgess publishes A Clockwork Orange, a novel depicting a disturbing and violent near-future -
The Madness of George III
Alan Bennett's play The Madness of George III is performed at the National Theatre in London Regeneration is the first volume of English author Pat Barker's trilogy of novels set during World War I -
J.K. Rowling's
The poems forming Ted Hughes's Birthday Letters describe his relationship with Sylvia Plath A schoolboy wizard performs his first tricks in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone -
Michael Frayn's play
Michael Frayn's play Copenhagen dramatizes the visit of Werner Heisenberg to Niels Bohr in wartime Denmark -
Michael Frayn's play
Michael Frayn's play Copenhagen dramatizes the visit of Werner Heisenberg to Niels Bohr in wartime Denmark -
Philip Pullman's trilogy
The Amber Spyglass completes Philip Pullman's trilogy, His Dark Materials
