A Short History of English Literature

English literature covers more than a thousand years, and any survey has to decide what to leave out. Ifor Evans and Bernard Bergonzi manage that compression without flattening the subject into a list of names. The book moves period by period from early writing through to the twentieth century, introducing major authors, characteristic forms and the social conditions that produced them. Analysis is kept brief and pointed, which makes the volume usable as a course companion or as background reading before tackling primary texts. The short version: • A chronological survey of English literary history • Coverage of principal authors, movements and literary forms • Historical and cultural context alongside literary discussion • Concise enough to work as a revision companion Literature students, teachers and general readers building background will find this Penguin Publications edition useful, stocked at Boipoka.