An Introduction to English Literature

English literature had its beginning with works written in about the 6th century . There early works were written in a language that few today would recognize as English, called Old English or Anglo Saxon, it was the language of England for long time before the Norman Conquest in A.D. 1066 and for some 100 years afterward.

Gradually, Old English changed into Middle English, the langauge in which Chaucer's works are written. Middle English i, too, different from modern English. Yet in it one finds many of the elements of the English Language as it is now written and spoken.

By the time of Queen Elizabeth I's reign (1558-1603), English was spoken and written basiccally as it is today. In all the centuries since, the English language has uundergone gradual changes.