Introduction: what this is and why it matters
In BCS, Bank, and IT-officer (and most PSC/Combined) exams, a fixed slice of the English section is pure literature general knowledge: Who wrote X? To which period does Y belong? What is a sonnet? Who is the "Father of English Poetry"? These are one-mark objective questions with a single correct answer, no grammar reasoning involved — so they are the cheapest, most reliable marks in the whole English paper if you have memorized the right author–work–period facts.
This lesson is a compact but complete reference: the major authors and their signature works, the literary periods in order, the literary terms with crisp definitions and examples, famous quotations, and the "record" facts (Father of English Poetry, Poet Laureates) that examiners love. Learn the tables, drill the practice set, and you can convert this topic into a near-guaranteed scoring zone.
Learning objectives
By the end of this lesson you will be able to:
- Match major English authors to their famous works (Shakespeare, Chaucer, Milton, Swift, Wordsworth, Dickens, Hardy, Shaw, Maugham, Austen, Hemingway).
- Place each author and work in the correct literary period (Old English through Modern).
- Define and identify the core literary terms — epic, sonnet, elegy, ode, allegory, metaphor, simile, personification, alliteration.
- Recall famous quotations and attribute them correctly.
- State the "Father of" titles and the key facts about Poet Laureates.
- Answer past-exam MCQs on all of the above quickly and accurately.