English language has come a long way from its early origins during the Old English period to the post-colonial era. A varying wavelength of author’s expression, thoughts and opinions during the many eons now form literature, as we know it. While the Early Modern Period was characterised by Elizabethan, Jacobean, Restoration and Augustan literature, each of these sub eras have an imperative role in English literature’s progression. During the ‘Mid English Literature’ times, a notable piece produced was The Canterbury Tales, a collection of 24 stories running over 17,000 lines written by Geoffrey Chaucer. Moreover, the Vernacular Literature became a noteworthy part during the Reissuance Literature while William Caxton and the Book of Common Prayer became the period’s lifeline. When talking about the Early Modern Period and especially the Elizabethan era, William Shakespeare with his views on society and an effective portrayal of characters depicting the norms of the society are still seen as iconic pieces of literature. While William Shakespeare revolutionized the foundations of English literature with his literary vision, creative genius and the construction of human drama, comedy, and romantic sonnets, the post-Shakespearean era did present a void impossible to be filled. John Milton endeavoured during the Restoration Era by writing his epic poems ‘Paradise Lost’ and ‘Paradise Regained”. When talking about the Early Modern Period and especially the Elizabethan era, William Shakespeare with his views on society and an effective portrayal of characters depicting the norms of the society are still seen as iconic pieces of literature A shift in literature in terms of storytelling came forth during the Augustan literature, produced during the first half of the 18th century. Satirical manuscripts such as that of Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels and Daniel Dafoe’s Robinson Crusoe were the major novels of this period. Swift and Dafoe’s narration, plot and character development are a prime representation of satire in literature never seen before. The Age of Enlightenment and the Age of Sensibility with Horace Walpole’s ‘The Castle of Ontario’ became of the era’s most influential works. Regarded as the first gothic novel, Walpole merged medievalism and terror in his piece. The Romanticism period was a movement based on arts, literature and intellect characterized by the prominence of using individualism and emotions along with the extolment adoration of nature and the past. Two distinctive generations of romantic poetry are seen where the first generation includes William Blake, William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and the second generation includes George Byron, Percy Shelley and John Keats. Where poetry flourished during the Romantic period, prose and novels emerged during the Victorian Period, the phase under Queen Victoria’s reign. Charles Dickens is perhaps the most popular novelist with his novels including Oliver Twist, Nicholas Nickleby, A Christmas Carol, A Tale of Two Cities and Great Expectations. Dickens greatest rival, William Thackeray expressed his satirical views through a more middle-class society as portrayed by Dickens. Other notable Victorian era writers are Samuel Butler, Mark Twain, Emily Jane Bronte and William Butler Yeats. Emerging during the Victorian era was fiction in its purest and original form along with the dramatic monologue, which later became a permanent and a much-needed aspect of literature. Even though Arthur Conan Doyle, Rudyard Kipling, HG Wells, Bram Stroker and Joseph Conrad are Victorian era authors, their opinions match more with the Edwardian era literature preceding the Victorian era. The Edwardian literature presented writings and expressions of the new millennium where George Bernard Shaw led this phase with his unique writing style. Imagism, futurism, realism along with introspection on politics, institutions and questioning social norms became a part of the Edwardian literature. Ernst Mach, Henri Bergson, Friedrich Nietzsche, Fyodor Dostoevsky emerged during this literary era. A satire on totalitarianism reflected in the works of Malcolm Lowry and George Orwell still holds an iconic reverence. The twentieth century literature marked the emergence of novelists such as JRR Tolkien, CS Lewis, Agatha Christie and Arthur C Clarke. Novelists, during the 20th century, began using fantasy, adventure and science fiction to create a fictional realism for expression. The advent of postmodern literature, which emerged during the post-World War II era, includes multiple meaning, lack of meaning or the inclusion of pastiche, temporal distortion, minimalism, magical realism and faction. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller, One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez, Braschi’s Empire of Dreams by Giannina Braschi, American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis are some popular pieces. The post-colonial literature, looks at the problems and consequences of the decolonization of those countries formerly under the British dominion while a major shift in literature was brought to fore through modernity and post-modernism. Where modernity was the transition from feudalism to capitalism, it also presented a secular worldview and a scientific discourse. Modernity had its foundations during the second industrial revolution, the era when stable social classes faded and a sense of urban alienation emerged. Post-modernity, as some claim, began following the World War-II. The writer is an independent researcher, author and columnist. He can be reached at omariftikhar@hotmail.com Published in Daily Times, March 18th 2019.