Revised preface; 1. Medieval English, 500-1500 Valerie Allen; 2. The Renaissance, 1485-1660 Andrew Hiscock; 3. The Restoration and eighteenth century, 1660-1780 Lee Morrissey; 4. The Romantic period, 1780-1832 Peter J. Kitson; 5. The Victorian age, 1832-1901 Maria Frawley; 6. The twentieth century, 1901-39 Paul Poplawski; 7. The twentieth and twenty-first centuries, 1939-2015 John Brannigan; 8. Post-Colonial literature in English Paul Poplawski.