-
731
The Venerable Bede
Complete his history of the English church and people, in the monastery at Jarrow -
800
Beowulf
Germanic literature, mingles the legends of Scandinavia with the experience in England of Angles and Saxons. -
950
Edda
It is a compilation between prosaic Edda and poetic Edda. Take place in Iceland, derives from earlier sources in Norway, Britain, and Burgundy. -
1300
Duns Scotus
Provides humanist with the name Dunsman or Dunce. Some works like Quaestiones, Lectura, expositio, ordinatio, collationes, reportatio,theoremata. -
1301
XIV Century
Between 1301 to 1400, It is a hard period, black plague, wars, and else events in all Europe. -
1340
Ockham´s Razor
"Simpler solutions are more likely to be correct than complex one" attributed by William of Ockham -
1367
Piers Plowman
Is the epic poem written by Will whose name may be Langland -
1375
Sir Gawain and the Green Knigth
Is a metric romance written in a only manuscript, the dialect is from the Midlands from northwest middle english. -
1385
Troilus and Criseyde
the long poem about a legendary love affair in ancient Troy by Geoffrey Chaucer -
1387
100 Canterbury Tales
Chaucer begins and ambitious scheme for 100 Canterbury Tales, of which he completes only 24 by the time of his death. -
1469
Morte d´Arthur
An English account of the French tales of King Arthur -
1510
Christian Humanism
Erasmus and Thomas More take the northern Renaissance they were two humanist writers and two main leaders of the Protestant Reformation -
1524
The Bible into English
William Tyndale studies in the university at Wittenberg and plans to translate the Bible into English -
1549
Book of Common Prayer
Is the first version of the English prayer book, is published with text by Thomas Cranmer -
1567
The Book of Common Prayer and the New Testament
Are published in Welsh, to be followed by the complete Bible 1588. -
Tamburlaine the Great
Was the first Marlowe´s play, introduces the swaggering blank verse of Elizabethan and Jacobean drama. -
XVII Century
Was characterized by the Baroque cultural movement, the latter part of the Scientific Revolution, and according to some historians, The General Crisis. -
Hamlet
Shakespeare´s central character expresses both the ideals of the Renaissance and the disilution of a less confident age. -
The Masque of Blackness
Written by Ben Jonson, the first of his many masques for the court of James I. -
Volpone
The satirical voice of the English playwright Ben Jonson is heard to powerful effect in Volpone. -
The Tempest
Shakespeare´s last completed play is performed. -
A Description of New England
written by John Smith as an account of his explaration of the region in 1614. -
William Shakespeare
Dies at New Place, his home of Stratford-Upon-Avon, and is buried in Holy Trinity Church -
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 -
Lycidas
John Milton's Lycidas is published in memory of a Cambridge friend, Edward King. -
The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America
The poems of Massachusetts author Anne Bradstreet are published in London under this title. -
The Compleat Angler
Devoted fisherman Izaak Walton publishes this classic work. -
Paradise Lost
It is published, earning its author John Milton just £10. -
Part I of The Pilgrim's Progress
Written during John Bunyan's two spells in Bedford Gaol, is published and is immediately popular. -
Oroonoko
Aphra Behn's novel Oroonoko makes an early protest against the inhumanity of the African slave trade -
Essay concerning Human Understanding
Published by John Locke, arguing that all knowledge is based on experience. -
The Augustan Age
The Augustan Age begins in English literature, claiming comparison with the equivalent flowering under Augustus Caesar. -
Robinson Crusoe
1719 Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, with its detailed realism, can be seen as the first English novel. -
Gulliver's Travels
Jonathan Swift sends his hero on a series of bitterly satirical travels in Gulliver's Travels. -
Treatise of Human Nature
Is published by David Hume, in which he applies to the human mind the principles of experimental science. -
Clarissa
Samuel Richardson's Clarissa begins the correspondence that grows into the longest novel in the English language. -
Elegy written in a Country Church Yard
By the English poet Thomas Gray. -
Dictionary of the English Language
By Samuel Johnson. -
Fingal
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 -
Castle of Otranto
English author Horace Walpole provides an early taste of Gothic thrills in his novel. -
Encyclopaedia Britannica
Made by an Society of Gentlemen in Scotland. -
She Stoops to Conquer
written by Oliver Goldsmith and is produced in London's Covent Garden theatre. -
Songs of Innocence
By William Blake, in a volume of his poems with every page etched and illustrated by himself. -
Reflections on the Revolution in France
Written by Anglo-Irish politician Edmund Burke, is a blistering attack on recent events across the Channel. -
A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
English author Mary Wollstonecraft publishes hers passionately feminist work. -
Thomas Paine
Thomas Paine moves hurriedly to France, to escape a charge of treason in England for opinions expressed in his Rights of Man -
'Tyger! Tyger! burning bright'
William Blake's volume Songs of Innocence and Experience includes his poem 'Tyger! Tyger! burning bright' -
Age of Reason
Published by Thomas Paine, an attack on conventional Christianity -
Lyrical Ballads
English poets Wordsworth and Coleridge jointly publish Lyrical Ballads, a milestone in the Romantic movement. -
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
By Samuel Taylor Coleridge is a poem and published in Lyrical Ballad. -
Walter Scott
Walter Scott publishes The Lay of the Last Minstrel, the long romantic poem that first brings him fame -
Sense and Sensibility
English author Jane Austen publishes her first work in print, Sense and Sensibility, at her own expense. -
Childe Harold's Pilgrimage
The first two cantos are published of Byron's largely autobiographical poem, bringing him immediate fame. -
Pride and Prejudice
It is based on a youthful work of 1797 called First Impressions, is the second of Jane Austen's novels to be published. -
Ozymandias
Percy Bysshe Shelley publishes probably his best-known poem, the sonnet Ozymandias. -
Jane Austen
Two of Jane Austen's novels, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, are published in the year after her death -
Frankenstein
Mary Shelley publishes Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus, a Gothic tale about giving life to an artificial man. -
Ivanhoe
Walter Scott publishes Ivanhoe, a tale of love, tournaments and sieges at the time of the crusade -
Ode to a Nightingale
English poet John Keats publishes Ode to a Nightingale, inspired by the bird's song in his Hampstead garden. -
Ode to the West Wind
By the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, written mainly in a wood near Florence -
Thomas De Quincey
English author, publishes his autobiographical Confessions of an English Opium-Eater. -
Table Talk
English author William Hazlitt publishes Table Talk, a two-volume collection that includes most of his best-known essays. -
Domestic Manners of the Americans
English author Frances Trollope ruffles transatlantic feathers with her Domestic Manners of the Americans, based on a 3-year stay -
Charles Dickens
24-year-old, begins monthly publication of his first work of fiction, Pickwick Papers (published in book form in 1837) -
Oliver Twist
Charles Dickens' first novel, 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. -
Coningsby
Benjamin Disraeli develops the theme of Conservatism uniting 'two nations', the rich and the poor. -
Friedrich Engels
After running a textile factory in Manchester, publishes The Condition of the Working Class in England. -
Book of Nonsense
Edward Lear publishes his book, consisting of limericks illustrated with his own cartoons. -
Vanity Fair
English author William Makepeace Thackeray begins publication of his novel Vanity Fair in monthly parts -
Jane Eyre
Charlotte becomes the first of the Brontë sisters to have a novel published. -
David Copperfield
Charles Dickens begins the publication in monthly numbers of David Copperfield, his own favourite among his novels -
Peter Mark Roget
London physician Peter Mark Roget publishes his dictionary of synonyms, the Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases. -
Maud
Tennyson publishes a long narrative poem, Maud, a section of which ('Come into the garden, Maud') becomes famous as a song -
The Warden
English author Anthony Trollope publishes The Warden, the first in his series of six Barsetshire novels -
Tom Brown's Schooldays
In Tom Brown's Schooldays Thomas Hughes depicts the often brutal aspects of an English public school -
Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin puts forward the theory of evolution in On the Origin of Species, the result of 20 years' research -
A Tale of Two Cities
Charles Dickens publishes his French Revolution novel. -
The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám
Edward FitzGerald publishes The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám, romantic translations of the work of the Persian poe -
George Eliot
English author George Eliot wins fame with her first full-length novel, Adam Bede -
The Mill on the Floss
By George Eliot, her novel about the childhood of Maggie and Tom Tulliver -
East Lynne
Mrs Henry Wood publishes her first novel, which becomes the basis of the most popular of all Victorian melodramas. -
Alice Liddell
Oxford mathematician Lewis Carroll tells 10-year-old Alice Liddell, on a boat trip, a story about her own adventures in Wonderland -
The Water-Babies
English author Charles Kingsley publishes an improving fantasy for young children. -
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Lewis Carroll publishes Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, a development of the story he had told Alice Liddell three years earlier -
Great Expectations
Charles Dickens begins serial publication of his novel "Great Expectations" (in book form 1861) -
Culture and Anarchy
English author Matthew Arnold publishes Culture and Anarchy, an influential collection of essays about contemporary society -
Through the Looking Glass
Lewis Carroll publishes Through the Looking Glass, a second story of Alice's adventures -
Far from the Madding Crowd
English author Thomas Hardy has his first success with this novel. -
Bulgarian Horrors
William Gladstone's pamphlet Bulgarian Horrors, protesting at massacre by the Turks, sells 200,000 copies within a month -
The Hunting of the Snark
Lewis Carroll publishes a poem about a voyage in search of an elusive mythical creature -
Treasure Island
Robert Louis Stevenson's adventure story, Treasure Island, features Long John Silver and Ben Gunn. -
New English Dictionary
Oxford University Press publishes the A volume of its New English Dictionary, which will take 37 years to reach Z -
The Arabian Nights
Explorer and orientalist Richard Burton begins publication of his multi-volume translation from the Arabic of The Arabian Nights -
The Mayor of Casterbridge
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 -
The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Robert Louis Stevenson introduces a dual personality in his novel. -
Study in Scarlet
Sherlock Holmes features in Conan Doyle's first novel, A Study in Scarlet -
The Wanderings of Oisin
23-year-old Irish author William Butler Yeats publishes his first volume of poems. -
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Oscar Wilde publishes his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray in which the ever-youthful hero's portrait grows old and ugly -
Tess of the Durbervilles
Thomas Hardy publishes his novel Tess of the Durbervilles, with a dramatic finale at Stonehenge -
The Countess Cathleen
W.B. Yeats publishes a short play The Countess Cathleen, his first contribution to Irish poetic drama -
The Diary of a Nobody
Mr Pooter is the suburban anti-hero, by George and Weedon Grossmith -
The Jungle Book
Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book surrounds the child Mowgli with a collection of vivid animal guardians -
The Importance of Being Earnest
Oscar Wilde's most brilliant comedy, is performed in London's St. James Theatre -
The Time Machine
H.G. Wells publishes a story about a Time Traveller whose first stop on his journey is the year 802701 -
A Shropshire Lad
English poet A.E. Housman publishes his first collection -
Liza of Lambeth
Somerset Maugham publishes his first novel, based on the London life he has observed as a medical student. -
Dracula
English author Bram Stoker publishes his gothic tale of vampirism in Transylvania. -
The War of the Worlds
H.G. Wells publishes his science-fiction novel, in which Martians arrive in a rocket to invade earth -
The Turn of the Screw
By Henry James in a collection of short stories. -
The Story of the Treasure Seekers
By E. Nesbit, introducing the Bastable family who feature in several of her books for children. -
Lord Jim
Joseph Conrad publishes his novel Lord Jim about a life of failure and redemption in the far East. -
The Tale of Peter Rabbit
By Beatrix Potter -
Just So Stories for Little Children
Written by Rudyard Kipling. -
Sea Fever
John Masefield's poem published in Salt-Water Ballads -
The Wings of the Dove.
Henry James publishes the first of his three last novels. -
Heart of Darkness
Joseph Conrad publishes a collection of stories including Heart of Darkness, a sinister tale based partly on his own journey up the Congo. -
The Riddle of the Sands
Erskine Childers has a best-seller in The Riddle of the Sands, a thriller about a planned German invasion of Britain -
Nostromo
Joseph Conrad publishes his novel, about a revolution in South America and a fatal horde of silver. -
The Golden Bowl
Henry James publishes his last completed novel. -
Peter Pan
J.M Barrie's play for children Peter Pan, or the Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up has its premiere in London -
the story of a simple soul
H.G. Wells publishes Kipps. A comic novel about a bumbling draper's assistant. -
Bernard Shaw
has two new plays opening in London in the same year, Major Barbara and Man and Superman -
The Railway Children
E. Nesbit publishes The Railway Children, the most successful of her books featuring the Bastable family. -
The Man of Property
John Galsworthy publishes the first of his novels chronicling the family of Soames Forsyte. -
Father and Son
Edmund Gosse publishes Father and Son, an account of his difficult relationship with his fundamentalist father, Philip Gosse -
The Wind in the Willows
Rat, Mole and Toad, in Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows, appeal to a wide readership -
Ann Veronica
The heroine of H.G. Wells' novel Ann Veronica is a determined example of the New Woman -
Prester John
John Buchan publishe, the first of his adventure stories -
The History of Mr Polly
H.G. Wells publishes a novel about an escape from drab everyday existence. -
The White Peacock
D.H. Lawrence's career as a writer is launched with the publication of his first novel. -
Sons and Lovers
D.H. Lawrence publishes a semi-autobiographical novel about the Morel family. -
Dubliners
After years of delay James Joyce's Dubliners, a collection of short stories, is published -
The Voyage Out
The English writer Virginia Woolf publishes her first novel. -
The Rainbow
D.H. Lawrence's novel about the Brangwen family, is seized by the police as an obscene work. -
Over the Brazier
Robert Graves publishes his first book of poems. -
The Man with Two Left Feet
Jeeves and Bertie Wooster make their first appearance in P.G. Wodehouse's The Man with Two Left Feet. -
The Return of the Soldier
Rebecca West publishes her first novel. -
The Mysterious Affair at Styles
The Belgian detective Hercule Poirot features in Agatha Christie's first book. -
Whose Body?
The gentleman detective Lord Peter Wimsey makes his first appearance in Dorothy Sayers' Whose Body? -
A Passage to India
E.M. Forster's novel builds on cultural misconceptions between the British and Indian communities. -
Pastors and Masters
English writer Ivy Compton-Burnett finds her characteristic voice in her second novel. -
Seven Pillars of Wisdom
T.E. Lawrence publishes privately his autobiographical, describing his part in the Arab uprising. -
A Drunk Man Looks at the Thistle
Hugh MacDiarmid writes his long poem A Drunk Man Looks at the Thistle in a revived version of the Lallans dialect of the Scottish borders -
Winnie-the-Pooh
Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore and the others make their first appearance in A.A. Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh -
Tarka the Otter
Henry Williamson wins a wide readership with Tarka the Otter, a realistic story of the life and death of an otter in Devon -
The Hotel
Anglo-Irish author Elizabeth Bowen publishes her first novel. -
A High Wind in Jamaica
Richard Hughes publishes his first novel. -
The Good Companions
English author J.B. Priestley has an immediate success with his first novel. -
Swallows and Amazons
Is the first of Arthur Ransome's adventure stories for children -
in Murder at the Vicarage
Agatha Christie's Miss Marple makes her first appearance. -
The Waves
Virginia Woolf publishes the most fluid of her novels, The Waves, in which she tells the story through six interior monologues. -
Brave New World
British author Aldous Huxley gives a bleak view of a science-based future in his novel. -
A Glastonbury Romance
John Cowper Powys's novel A Glastonbury Romance is published first in New York. -
The Shape of Things to Come
H.G. Wells publishes a novel in which he accurately predicts a renewal of world war. -
Murder in the Cathedral
T.S. Eliot's play Murder in the Cathedral has its first performance in Canterbury cathedral -
Brighton Rock
British author Graham Greene publishes Brighton Rock, a novel following 17-year-old Pinkie in the criminal underworld of the seaside town -
Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats
T.S. Eliot gives cats a poetic character in Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats -
Famous Five in Five on a Treasure Island
English children's author Enid Blyton introduces the Famous Five in Five on a Treasure Island -
Under the Volcano
English author and alcoholic Malcolm Lowry publishes an autobiographical novel. -
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
C.S. Lewis gives the first glimpse of Narnia in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe -
The Day of the Triffids
British author John Wyndham creates a dark fantasy in his novel The Day of the Triffids -
Lord of the Flies
William Golding gives a chilling account of schoolboy savagery in his first novel. -
The Lord of the Rings
British philologist J.R.R. Tolkien publishes the third and final volume of his epic fantasy The Lord of the Rings -
The Hawk in the Rain
Is English author Ted Hughes' first volume of poems -
The Birthday Party
Harold Pinter's first play in London's West End, The Birthday Party, closes in less than a week -
A Clockwork Orange
Anthony Burgess publishes a novel depicting a disturbing and violent near-future. -
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Roald Dahl publishes a fantasy treat for a starving child. -
The Magic Toyshop
English author Angela Carter wins recognition with her quirky second novel. -
The Cement Garden
British author Ian McEwan publishes his first novel. -
A Start in Life
English author Anita Brookner publishes her first novel. -
Flaubert's Parrot
English author Julian Barnes publishes a multi-faceted literary novel. -
Trainspotting
Scottish author Irvine Welsh publishes his first novel. -
Harry Potter
A schoolboy wizard performs his first tricks in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone -
His Dark Materials
The Amber Spyglass completes Philip Pullman's trilogy, His Dark Materials
