English literature has a fascinating history. It starts off with Old and Middle English, think of examples like Beowulf, or Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, then the Renaissance with Shakespeare and the Metaphysical poets. Fast forward, and you’ve got the Romantics, the Victorians, and the modernists. Through this, you see how big moments in history and new ideas shape what writers do and how they do it.

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Writers react differently to the world around them. Some dive into politics, others get swept up in cultural shifts, and all the while, literature itself keeps changing. You will notice how language, stories, and poetry evolve. By digging into works from all these different periods, you start to see how English literary traditions grow and shift. That’s the groundwork you need if you want to really understand and critique literature today.