ChaucerGeoffrey Chaucer (/ˈtʃɔːsər/; c. 1340s – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for The Canterbury Tales. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry".

The most important author from whom a considerable body of work survives is Cynewulf, who wove his runic signature into the epilogues of four poems. Aside from his name, little is known of him; he probably lived in the 9th century in Mercia or Northumbria.

William Shakespeare was some of the most famous writers of the Renaissance. He is still considered some of the greatest writers in English

Samuel Johnson: One of the most famous authors in the neoclassic period, Johnson was so influential that the second era in the movement is named after him. He added an appreciation for nature and the country to neoclassical literature. His poetry shows an experimentation with diction and rhythm that inspired others.

first published in 1798, a collection of poems that instigated an entire literary, artistic and cultural movement: Romanticism.

Charles Dickens is the most famous Victorian novelist. With a focus on strong characterization, Dickens became extraordinarily popular in his day and remains one of the most popular and read authors of the world.

Rudyard Kipling is remembered for his stories and poems of British soldiers in India and for his tales for children. His poems included “Mandalay,” “Gunga Din,” and “If—.” His children's stories included The Jungle Book (1894) and Just So Stories (1902). His most successful novel was Kim

in 1920, Hodgson inspired the campaign against the trafficking in birds' feathers for women's apparel, which resulted in the Plumage Act of 1921. He was also fascinated by English history and topography, and was a collector of books and maps on that subject.

Adeline Virginia Woolf, better known as Virginia Woolf, was a British writer, author of novels, short stories, plays and other literary works; considered one of the most prominent figures of avant-garde Anglo-Saxon modernism of the 20th century and international feminism

Samuel Barclay Beckett was an Irish playwright, novelist, critic and poet, one of the most important representatives of literary experimentalism of the 20th century, within Anglo-Saxon modernism.