Ⅰ。Introduction
Ⅱ。The Old English period (450---1066)
Poetry
Alliterative verse
The major manuscripts
Problems of dating
Religious verse
Elegiac and heroic verse
Prose
Early translations into English
Late 10th- and 11th-century prose
Ⅲ。The Early Middle English period (1066---mid-14th)
Poetry
Influence of French poetry
Didactic poetry
Verse romance
The lyric

英国文学源远流长，经历了长期、复杂的发展沿变过程。在这个过程中，文学本体以外的各种现实的、历史的、政治的、文化的力量对文学发生着影响，文学内部遵循自身规律，历经盎格鲁—撒克逊、文艺复兴、新古典主义、浪漫主义、现实主义、现代主义等不同历史阶段。