A historical survey of English literature aimed at improving students' knowledge of how it has been organised into a set of special texts (a 'canon'). Enhances their powers to describe, interpret and enjoy it. Presents particular works of literature in English from the earliest periods through to the twentieth century in chronological order, attending to the features of language that make them literary, the context of their production, and some of their major themes. Introduces students to some different kinds of criticism (Marxist, feminist, post-colonial, Bloomian) by way of critical engagement with their accounts of how the canon has been formed and how it should be revised.