This new edition of an established text provides a succinct and up-to-date historical overview of the story of English literature. Focusing on how writing both reflects and challenges the periods in which it is produced, John Peck and Martin Coyle combine close readings of key texts with recent critical thinking on the interaction of literary works and culture. Providing a lively introductory guide to English literature from Beowulf to the present day, the authors write in their characteristically lucid and accessible style.
A true masterpiece of clarity and compression, this is essential reading for undergraduate students coming across the vast areas of English literature for the first time and looking for a way of making critical sense of the texts being studied. In addition, the concise nature and narrative structure of this book makes it excellent reading for general readers.
New to this Edition:
- Revised chapter on twentieth century literature
- Complete new chapter on twenty-first century literature
- Updated Chronology and Further Reading section

John Peck is now retired and was formerly Reader in Victorian Literature at Cardiff University, UK.

Preface
Acknowledgements
1. Old English Literature
2. Middle English Literature
3. SixteenthCentury Poetry and Prose
4. Shakespeare
5. Renaissance and Restoration Drama
6. Seventeenth-Century Poetry and Prose
7. The Eighteenth Century
8. The Novel: The First Hundred Years
9. The Romantic Period
10. Victorian Literature 1837-1857
11. Victorian Literature 1857-1876
12. Victorian Literature 1876-1901
13. The Twentieth Century: The Early Years
14. The Twentieth Century: Between the Wars
15. The Twentieth Century: The Second World War to the End of the Millennium
16. The Twenty-First Century-Periods of English Literature and Language
Chronology
Further Reading
Index.