English literature
Shakespeare's literary tradition
English literature is the body of written works produced in the English language, particularly those considered to have artistic merit.
The term often refers specifically to literature from England, as distinct from American, Australian, or other Anglophone traditions.
As an academic subject, English literature encompasses poetry, drama, fiction, and essays from Beowulf through contemporary works: She's majoring in English literature.
Elizabethan dramatist and poet
- AustenLiterary family name
- DickensSurname of Victorian novelist
- MiltonBaroque English verse master
- KeatsEnglish Romantic poet
Chaucer · Wordsworth · Shelley · Byron · Brontë · Woolf · Eliot · Hardy
New and unusual
- short storyBrief prose fiction
- novellaShort fictional book
- proseUnversified language
- chapterDivision of a book
narrator · plot · characterization · setting · theme · serialization · triple-decker · epistolary
Metered poetic passage
- sonnetFourteen-line metered poem
- rhymeMatching terminal sounds
- meterDevice that measures usage
- stanzaPoem's line grouping
couplet · ballad · ode · elegy · lyric · iambic · quatrain · blank verse
Recreation or staged drama
- tragedyDisastrous or sorrowful event
- comedyWork meant to amuse
- playwrightAuthor of stage dramas
- soliloquyDramatic speech to oneself
dialogue · act · scene · Elizabethan theater · Jacobean · Globe Theatre · blank verse · stage directions
Of the Middle Ages
- RenaissanceEuropean cultural reawakening
- ElizabethanOf late 1500s England
- JacobeanPertaining to King James's reign
- Restoration1660s monarchical revival
Augustan · Victorian · Edwardian · postwar · contemporary · Enlightenment · Gothic Revival · fin de siècle
Methodical study of parts
- interpretationAssigned meaning
- close readingDetailed textual analysis
- canonAccepted authoritative works
- deconstructionAnalysis exposing self-contradiction
New Criticism · postcolonial · feminist criticism · hermeneutics · textual analysis · philology · formalism · structuralism
Shakespeare
Elizabethan dramatist and poet
Chaucer · Wordsworth · Keats · Shelley · Byron · Brontë · Woolf · Eliot · Hardy · Orwell
novel
New and unusual
- short storyBrief prose fiction
- novellaShort fictional book
- proseUnversified language
chapter · narrator · plot · characterization · setting · theme · serialization · triple-decker · epistolary · bildungsroman
verse
Metered poetic passage
stanza · couplet · ballad · ode · elegy · lyric · iambic · quatrain · blank verse · heroic couplet
play
Recreation or staged drama
- tragedyDisastrous or sorrowful event
- comedyWork meant to amuse
- playwrightAuthor of stage dramas
soliloquy · dialogue · act · scene · Elizabethan theater · Jacobean · Globe Theatre · blank verse · stage directions · dramatic irony
medieval
Of the Middle Ages
- RenaissanceEuropean cultural reawakening
- ElizabethanOf late 1500s England
- JacobeanPertaining to King James's reign
Restoration · Augustan · Victorian · Edwardian · postwar · contemporary · Enlightenment · Gothic Revival · fin de siècle
analysis
Methodical study of parts
- interpretationAssigned meaning
- close readingDetailed textual analysis
- canonAccepted authoritative works
deconstruction · New Criticism · postcolonial · feminist criticism · hermeneutics · textual analysis · philology · formalism · structuralism · reader-response
curriculum
Educational program's content plan
tutorial · seminar · essay · dissertation · Oxbridge · humanities · pedagogy · anthology · Norton · scholarship
- British StudiesBritish history, British drama, British folklore, medieval studies, Romantic poetry
- BritainEngland, Wales, Scotland, London, Northern Ireland
- humanitiesphilosophy, history, philosophy class, novels, humanities
- English influencecommon law, parliamentary system, cricket, Shakespeare, BBC
- English StudiesShakespeare, Milton, Chaucer, Romantic poetry, close reading
- World EnglishesSinglish, Hinglish, Chinglish, Japanglish, Spanglish
English literatureAmerican literature
U.S. written works
French literature · German literature · Russian literature · Japanese literature · classical literature
English literaturemathematics
Science of quantity and structure
physics · chemistry · engineering · computer science · biology
literature, literary, literate, English, illiterate, obliterate, Anglophone, obliteration, Anglican