The Short Oxford History of English Literature provides a comprehensive and authoritative introductory guide to the literature of the British Isles from the Anglo-Saxon period to the present day, including a full treatment of Irish, Scottish, and Welsh writing in English. The chapters are arranged chronologically, covering all major periods of English literature from Old English to the post-war era, including the medieval period, the Renaissance, Shakespeare, the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Romanticism, the Victorians, Modernism, and Postmodernism. In addition to a detailed discussion of all major figures and their works, Andrew Sanders examines throughout the relationship between the literary landscape and wider contemporary social, political, and intellectual developments. This edition contains a range of new entries on important contemporary authors and an increased focus on female writers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries as well as a fully updated and revised bibliography. Introduction : poets' corners : the development of a canon of English literature p. 1 Old English literature p. 16 Medieval literature 1066-1510 p. 28 Renaissance and Reformation : literature 1510-1620 p. 86 Revolution and restoration : literature 1620-1690 p. 189 Eighteenth-century literature 1690-1780 p. 276 The literature of the romantic period 1780-1830 p. 338 High Victorian literature 1830-1880 p. 405 Late Victorian and Edwardian literature 1880-1920 p. 465 Modernism and its alternatives : literature 1920-1945 p. 513 Post-war and post-modern literature p. 586 Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.