The rise of the popular novel
In the 19th century， adult literacy increases markedly： attempts to provide education by the state， and self-help schemes are partly the cause and partly the result of the popularity of the novel. Publication in instalments means that works are affordable for people of modest means. The change in the reading public is reflected in a change in the subjects of novels： the high bourgeois world of Austen gives way to an interest in characters of humble origins. The great novelists write works which in some ways transcend their own period， but which in detail very much explore the preoccupations of their time.
Dickens and the Bront？？s
Certainly the greatest English novelist of the 19th century， and possibly of all time， is Charles Dickens （1812-1870）。 The complexity of his best work， the variety of tone， the use of irony and caricature create surface problems for the modern reader， who may not readily persist in reading. But Great Expectations， Bleak House， Our Mutual Friend and Little Dorrit are works with which every student should be acquainted.
Charlotte Bront？？ （1816-1855） and her sisters Emily （1818-1848） and Anne （1820-1849） are understandably linked together， but their work differs greatly. Charlotte is notable for several good novels， among which her masterpiece is Jane Eyre， in which we see the heroine， after much adversity， achieve happiness on her own terms. Emily Bront？？'s Wüthering Heights is a strange work， which enjoys almost cult status. Its concerns are more romantic， less contemporary than those of Jane Eyre - but its themes of obsessive love and self-destructive passion have proved popular with the 20th century reader.
The beginnings of American literature
The early 19th century sees the emergence of American literature， with the stories of Edgar Allan Poe （1809-1849）， the novels of Nathaniel Hawthorne （1804-64）， Herman Melville （1819-91）， and Mark Twain （Samuel Langhorne Clemens； 1835-1910）， and the poetry of Walt Whitman （1819-92） and Emily Dickinson （1830-86）。 Notable works include Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter， Melville's Moby Dick， Twain's Huckleberry Finn and Whitman's Leaves of Grass.
Later Victorian novelists
After the middle of the century， the novel， as a form， becomes firmly-established： sensational or melodramatic "popular" writing is represented by Mrs. Henry Wood's East Lynne （1861）， but the best novelists achieved serious critical acclaim while reaching a wide public， notable authors being Anthony Trollope （1815-82）， Wilkie Collins （1824-89）， William Makepeace Thackeray （1811-63）， George Eliot （Mary Ann Evans； 1819-80） and Thomas Hardy （1840-1928）。 Among the best novels are Collins's The Moonstone， Thackeray's Vanity Fair， Eliot's The Mill on the Floss， Adam Bede and Middlemarch， and Hardy's The Mayor of Casterbridge， The Return of the Native， Tess of the d'Urbervilles and Jude the Obscure.
Modern literature
Early 20th century poets
W.B. （William Butler） Yeats （1865-1939） is one of two figures who dominate modern poetry， the other being T.S. （Thomas Stearns） Eliot （1888-1965）。 Yeats was Irish； Eliot was born in the USA but settled in England， and took UK citizenship in 1927. Yeats uses conventional lyric forms， but explores the connection between modern themes and classical and romantic ideas. Eliot uses elements of conventional forms， within an unconventionally structured whole in his greatest works. Where Yeats is prolific as a poet， Eliot's reputation largely rests on two long and complex works： The Waste Land （1922） and Four Quartets （1943）。
The work of these two has overshadowed the work of the best late Victorian， Edwardian and Georgian poets， some of whom came to prominence during the First World War. Among these are Thomas Hardy， Rudyard Kipling （1865-1936）， A.E. Housman （1859-1936）， Edward Thomas （1878-1917）， Rupert Brooke （1887-1915）， Siegfried Sassoon （1886-1967）， Wilfred Owen （1893-1918） and Isaac Rosenberg （1890-1918）。 The most celebrated modern American poet， is Robert Frost （1874-1963）， who befriended Edward Thomas before the war of 1914-1918.
