From Anglo-Saxon runes to postcolonial rap, this undergraduate textbook covers the social and historical contexts of the whole of the English literature.

This is a guide to the main developments in the history of British and Irish literature, charting some of the main features of literary language development and highlighting key language topics.

First published in 1959. The scope of this four volume work makes it valuable as a work of reference, connecting one period with another an placing each author clearly in the setting of his time. This is the fourth volume and includes the Nineteeth Century and after (1789-1939).