Survey of British Literature
Old and Medieval periods (450---1066)
After the fall of the Roman Empire and the withdrawal of Roman troops from Albion , the aboriginal Celtic population of the larger part of the island was soon conquered  and  almost totally exterminated by the Teutonic tribes of Angles ,  Saxons and Jutes who came from the continent and settled in the island , naming its central part Anglia , or England.
For nearly four hundred years prior to the coming of  the English , Britain had been a Roman province . In 410 A.D.  the Romans withdrew their legions from Britain to  protect  Rome herself against swarms of Teutonic invaders . About 449 a band of Teutons , called Jutes , left Denmark , landed on the Isle  of Thanet . Warriors from the tribes of the Angles and the Saxons soon followed , and drove westward the original inhabitants.
The literature of this period  falls  naturally  into  two divisions , ---Religious and Secular . In  reading  the  earliest poetry of England it is well to remember that all of it was copied by the monks , and seems to have been more or less altered  to give it a religious coloring.
The Song of Beowulf can be  justly  termed  England’s national epic and its hero Beowulf ---one of the national heroes of the English people .
The only existing manuscript of The Song of Beowulf was written by an unknown scribe at the  beginning  of  the  10th century and was not discovered until 1750 .  The  Song  was  composed much earlier , and reflects events which took  place  on  the Continent approximately at the beginning of  the  6th  century , when the forefathers of the Jutes lived in the southern part of the Scandinavian  peninsula  and  maintained  close  relations with kindred tribes , e.g. with the Danes who lived  on the other side of the straits.
Medieval periods (1066---mid-14th century)
      In the year 1066 , at the battle of Hastings , the Normans headed by William , Duke of Normandy , defeated the Anglo-Saxons.
    The Normans were originally a hardy race of sea rovers inhabiting Scandinavia . In the
tenth century they conquered a part of northern France , which is still called Normandy , and rapidly adopted French civilization and the French language . Their conquest of Anglo-Saxon England under William , Duke of Normandy , began with the battle of Hastings in 1066 .
    The literature which they brought to England is remarkable for its bright , romantic tales of love and adventure , in marked contrast with the strength and somberness of Anglo-Saxon poetry . During the strength three centuries Anglo-Saxon speech simplified itself by dropping of its Teutonic inflection , absorbed eventually a large part of the French vocabulary , and became the English language . English literature is also a combination of French and Saxon elements .
The Renaissance Period (mid-14th ---mid-17th century)
    The 16th century in English was a period of the breaking up of feudal relations and the establishing of the foundations of capitalism .
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      Manufactories were developing and the wool trade was rapidly growing in bulk . The enclosure of commons drove thousands of peasants off their lands and many of them settled in towns .
      New social and economic conditions brought about great changes in the development of science and art .
      Together with the development of bourgeois relationships and formation of the English national state this period is marked by a flourishing of national culture known as the Renaissance .
      The greatest of all English authors , William Shakespeare belongs to those rare geniuses of mankind who have become landmarks in the history of world culture . The works of William Shakespeare are a great landmark in the history of world literature for he was one of the first founders of realism , a masterhand at realistic portrayal of human characters    and relations .
      His first original play written in about 1590 was King HenryⅥ ,parts two and three , the first part having been written earlier by another dramatist and only retouched by Shakespeare . During the twenty-two years of his literary work he produced 37 plays , two narrative poems and 154 sonnets .
      His literary work may be divided into three major periods : the first period from 1590 to 1600 , the second from 1601 to 1608 , and the third from 1609 to 1612 .
    Hamlet is considered to be summit of Shakespeare’s art . It was written in 1602-1620 and first published in 1603 . Shakespeare took a certain story of Prince Amleth from old sources which can be traced to the 12th century .
      Under Shakespeare’s pen the medieval story assumed new meaning and significance . Danish names could not hide from the spectators and readers the fact that it was English which the great writer described in his play . The whole tragedy is permeated with the spirit of Shakespeare’s own time . Hamlet is the profoundest expression of Shakespeare’s humanism and his criticism of contemporary life .

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