This is an attempt to write a history of English literature admittedly with an innovative approach. The traditional as well as the more modern views in the West on literary movements， schools， traditions and influences in the field of English literature and on individual English authors and their major and minor works are here given due respect and serious consideration， but with the reservation sometimes to differ and occasionally to introduce new and totally contrary judgments from the viewpoint of historical materialism i.e.， the writers and their writings are to be given their proper places in each case in accordance with the roles， healthful or otherwise， that they play in the progress of history， social and literary. Of course，whether or how far have I succeeded in these pages in living up to the theory advanced above awaits judgment from my readers.
This history is written primarily for Chinese readers， in particular for Chinese college students majoring in English language and literature， with the aim to give them a historical survey of English literature from its earliest beginnings down to the 20th century. As many college students in China today are being introduced for the first time to English literature in any systematic way， biographical sketches of the major writers and rather detailed resumes of their major works are generally provided in this history， before I enter into any serious discussions on the authors and their writings.
A companion-book providing students with selections from representative works of representative English authors， arranged chronologically and accompanied with introductory remarks and notes， is expected to appear at the same time as this history. It is hoped that the two books together， this history and “Selected Readings in English Literature”， will give the students a rudimentary knowledge of English literature in its historical development.
In view of the vastly different levels of proficiency in the English language among English majors in Chinese colleges and universities today， a shorter history than this， written in simpler language， seems also necessary for the present. Such a book is now being prepared.

Chapter I ENGLISH LITERATURE OF THE ANGLO-SAXON PERIOD
1. The Historical Background
2. “Beowulf” the National Epic of the Anglo-Saxons
3. Minor Anglo-Saxon Poetry：Caedmon and Cynewulf
4. Anglo-Saxon Prose: Bede；Alfred; “The Anglo Saxon Chronicle”; Aelfric
Chapter II ENGLISH LITERATURE OF THE LATE MIDDLE AGES
Section I English Literature from the Mid-11th Century to the Mid-14th
1. The Background: Political and Social
2. Folk Literature and Religious Literature from the Mid-11th to the Mid-14th Century
3. Early Alliterative and Metrical Romances in the 12th， 13th and Early 14th Centuries
Section II English Literatuire of the Second Half of the 14th Century
1. The Background：Political and Social
2. John Wycliffe； John Gower；William Langland
3. Geoffrey Chaucer
Section III English Literature of the Fifteenth Century
1. The Background：Political and Social
2. The English and Scottish Popular Ballads: “Robin Hood Ballads”
3. Early English Drama: Folk Drama; The Mystery Plays;
The Miracle Plays; The Morality Plays
4. The English Chaucerians; Early Scottish Poetry and the Scottish Chaucerians
5. English Prose of the 15th Century: Sir Thomas Malory and His "Le Morte d'Arthur"
Chapter III ENGLISH LITERATURE OF THE RENAISSANCE
Section I The Historical Background： Economic， Political and Cultural
1. The Renaissance in Europe
2. Stages and Trends of English Literature of the Renaissance
Section II English Literature of the Early 16th Century
1 The Oxford Reformers;Thomas More
2. Court Poetry: Skelton; Wyatt and Surrey
3. Morality Plays and Interludes of the 16th Century：
David Lyndsay; John Heywood
Section III English Literature of the Second Half of the 16th Century.
1. Court Poetry：Philip Sidney; Edmund Spenser
2. Prose Fiction: Lyly， Lodge， Greene， Sidney， Nashe，Deloney
3. Pre-Shakespearean Drama: English Drama under Classical Influence；University Wits：Lyly， Peele，Lodge， Nashe， Greene， Kyd and Marlowe
Section IV Shakespeare
1. Shakespeare's Life and Literary Career
2. Shakespeare's Poems and Sonnets
3. Early Period of Shakespeare's Plays： History Plays
(“Richard III”， “Henry IV”， Parts 1 and 2， “Henry V”)；Early Tragedies (“Romeo and Juliet”， “Julius Caesar”)； Comedies (“The Merchant of Venice”，“Much Ado about Nothing”， “As You Like It”，“Twelfth Night”)
4. Mature Period of Shakespeare's Plays. Tragedies(“Hamlet”， “Othello”， “King Lear”， “Macbeth”，“Antony and Cleopatra”， “Coriolanus”， “Timon of Athens”)， Tragi-Comedies (“Measure for Measure”，“All's Well that Ends Well”， “Troilus and Cressida”)
5. Last Period of Shakespeare's Dramatic Career：“Pericles”， “Cymbeline”， “The Winter's Tale”， “The Tempest”， “Pericle”， “Henry VIII”
6. General Comments on Shakespeare：Shakespeare's Progressive Significance and Limitations；His Indebtedness to the English Dramatic Tradition；His CharacterCreations；His Plot Construction；His Mastery of Language；His Literary Influence
Section V English Literature of the First Quarter of the 17th Century
1. Drama of Shakespeare's Contemporaries: Ben Jonson，Chapman， Dekker， Thomas Heywood， Beaumont and Fletcher
2. The Decline of Drama in Early 17th-Century England up to the Closing of the Theatres in London in 1642：Marston， Tourneur， Webster， Ford， Middleton， Massinger， Shirley
3. Francis Bacon
4. The King James Bible and Other Prose in Early 17th Century
5. English Non-Dramatic Poetry in the First Thirty Years of the 17th Century: John Donne， Ben Jonson，the Spenserians
Chapter IV ENGLISH LITERATURE DURING THE ENGLISH BOURGEOIS REVOLUTION AND THE RESTORATION