Discover the firsts in English literature, from the first novel to the first tragedy. A must-read for NET, JRF, SET, PhD, and English literature students.

Firsts in English Literature: Key Milestones for NET & PhD Students

📌 Introduction

📚 Firsts in English Literature: Milestones That Shaped Literary History

English literature has evolved through centuries, producing some of the most iconic works that laid the foundation for modern storytelling. From the first English novel to the first epic, these literary milestones have shaped genres and influenced generations of writers.

This post is essential for NET, JRF, SET, PhD, and English literature students, providing an in-depth look at key literary firsts, including the first English tragedy, first picaresque novel, first detective novel, first Gothic novel, and more. These works played a crucial role in the development of English literature, marking the beginning of new styles and storytelling techniques.

Poetry & Epic

📜 First Epic in English – Beowulf (c. 8th–11th century)
📜 First Allegorical Epic in English – The Faerie Queene (1590, 1596) by Edmund Spenser

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Prose & Travelogues

📖 First Prose Work in English – Ancrene Wisse (c. 1225, a guide for anchoresses)
📖 First Travelogue in English – The Travels of Sir John Mandeville (c. 1357–1371)
📖 First Autobiography in English – The Book of Margery Kempe (1430s)
📖 First English Essay Collection – Essays (1597) by Francis Bacon

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Novels & Fiction

📖 First Novel in English – Robinson Crusoe (1719) by Daniel Defoe
📖 First English Picaresque Novel – The Unfortunate Traveller (1594) by Thomas Nashe
📖 First English Historical Novel – Waverley (1814) by Sir Walter Scott
📖 First English Gothic Novel – The Castle of Otranto (1764) by Horace Walpole
📖 First English Epistolary Novel – Pamela (1740) by Samuel Richardson
📖 First English Psychological Novel – Clarissa (1748) by Samuel Richardson
📖 First English Satirical Novel – Gulliver’s Travels (1726) by Jonathan Swift
📖 First English Science Fiction Novel – Frankenstein (1818) by Mary Shelley
📖 First English Detective Novel – The Moonstone (1868) by Wilkie Collins
📖 First English Dystopian Novel – The Time Machine (1895) by H.G. Wells
📖 First English Stream-of-Consciousness Novel – Dorothy Richardson’s Pilgrimage series (1915–1938)

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Drama & Plays

🎭 First English Tragedy – Gorboduc (1561) by Thomas Norton & Thomas Sackville
🎭 First English Comedy – Ralph Roister Doister (c. 1552) by Nicholas Udall
🎭 First English Revenge Tragedy – The Spanish Tragedy (1585–1592) by Thomas Kyd
🎭 First Shakespearean Tragedy – Titus Andronicus (c. 1591–1592)

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Literary Milestones

📚 First English Novel to Sell Over a Million Copies – Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852) by Harriet Beecher Stowe
📚 First Booker Prize Winner – Something to Answer For (1969) by P.H. Newby
📚 First English Nobel Laureate in Literature – Rudyard Kipling (1907)

Poetry

📜 First Epic in English – Beowulf (c. 8th–11th century)
📜 First Allegorical Poem – The Vision of Piers Plowman by William Langland (14th century)
📜 First English Sonnet – Astrophel and Stella by Sir Philip Sidney (1580s)
📜 First Sonnet Sequence in English – Astrophel and Stella by Sir Philip Sidney (1591)
📜 First Blank Verse Poem – Surrey’s Aeneid (1554) by Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey
📜 First Pastoral Poem in English – The Shepheardes Calender by Edmund Spenser (1579)

Drama

🎭 First Tragedy in English – Gorboduc (1561) by Thomas Norton and Thomas Sackville
🎭 First Comedy in English – Ralph Roister Doister (c. 1552) by Nicholas Udall
🎭 First Blank Verse Tragedy – Gorboduc (1561)

Novels & Prose

📖 First Novel in English – Robinson Crusoe (1719) by Daniel Defoe
📖 First English Novel in Verse – Tristram Shandy (1760) by Laurence Sterne (though not strictly verse, it's experimental)
📖 First Gothic Novel – The Castle of Otranto (1764) by Horace Walpole
📖 First Epistolary Novel in English – Pamela (1740) by Samuel Richardson
📖 First English Historical Novel – Waverley (1814) by Sir Walter Scott

Poetry & Verse

📜 First English Narrative Poem with Novelistic Elements – Troilus and Criseyde (1380s) by Geoffrey Chaucer
📜 First Epic in Modern English – The Faerie Queene (1590, 1596) by Edmund Spenser
📜 First Mock-Epic Poem in English – The Rape of the Lock (1712, expanded 1714) by Alexander Pope
📜 First Romantic Poetry Collection – Lyrical Ballads (1798) by William Wordsworth & Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Drama

🎭 First Printed Play in English – Everyman (c. 1510, morality play)
🎭 First English Revenge Tragedy – The Spanish Tragedy (1585–1592) by Thomas Kyd
🎭 First Shakespearean Tragedy – Titus Andronicus (c. 1591–1592)
🎭 First English Comedy of Manners – The Country Wife (1675) by William Wycherley
🎭 First English Feminist Play – The Rover (1677) by Aphra Behn

Novels & Prose

📖 First English Picaresque Novel – The Unfortunate Traveller (1594) by Thomas Nashe
📖 First Realist Novel in English – Pamela (1740) by Samuel Richardson
📖 First Psychological Novel in English – Clarissa (1748) by Samuel Richardson
📖 First English Satirical Novel – Gulliver’s Travels (1726) by Jonathan Swift
📖 First Science Fiction Novel in English – Frankenstein (1818) by Mary Shelley
📖 First English Detective Novel – The Moonstone (1868) by Wilkie Collins
📖 First English Stream-of-Consciousness Novel – Dorothy Richardson’s Pilgrimage series (1915–1938)

Poetry & Verse

📜 First English Long Poem on a Historical Subject – Brut (c. 1190) by Layamon (Middle English chronicle poem)
📜 First Metaphysical Poem in English – The Flea (published posthumously, 1633) by John Donne
📜 First Major Satirical Poem in English – Hudibras (1663–1678) by Samuel Butler
📜 First Feminist Poetry Collection in English – Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral (1773) by Phillis Wheatley
📜 First Modernist Long Poem in English – The Waste Land (1922) by T.S. Eliot

Drama & Theatre

🎭 First Play by a Female English Dramatist – The Forc’d Marriage (1670) by Aphra Behn
🎭 First English Restoration Tragedy – Venice Preserv’d (1682) by Thomas Otway
🎭 First English Melodrama – A Tale of Mystery (1802) by Thomas Holcroft
🎭 First English Absurdist Play – Waiting for Godot (1953) by Samuel Beckett

Novels & Prose

📖 First English Autobiography – The Book of Margery Kempe (1430s, first autobiography in English)
📖 First English Novel by a Woman – Oroonoko (1688) by Aphra Behn
📖 First English Bildungsroman (Coming-of-Age Novel) – The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling (1749) by Henry Fielding
📖 First English Novel on Slavery – The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano (1789) by Olaudah Equiano
📖 First English Dystopian Novel – The Time Machine (1895) by H.G. Wells
📖 First English Modernist Novel – A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916) by James Joyce
📖 First English Graphic Novel – A Contract with God (1978) by Will Eisner (debated, but influential)

Literary Movements & Genres

📚 First Work of English Romanticism – Songs of Innocence and Experience (1789–1794) by William Blake
📚 First Realist Novel in English Literature – Pamela (1740) by Samuel Richardson
📚 First English Existential Novel – Nausea (1938, translated later) by Jean-Paul Sartre (originally French, but influential in English)
📚 First English Postmodern Novel – Slaughterhouse-Five (1969) by Kurt Vonnegut (arguably)

Here’s a list of "firsts" in Indian English literature" across different genres and literary forms:

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Poetry & Verse

📜 First Indian English Poet – Henry Louis Vivian Derozio (Poems, 1827)
📜 First Indian English Epic Poem – The Shair and Other Poems (1830) by Kashiprasad Ghosh
📜 First Indian English Sonnet Writer – Toru Dutt (Ancient Ballads and Legends of Hindustan, 1882)
📜 First Indian English Woman Poet – Toru Dutt (A Sheaf Gleaned in French Fields, 1876)
📜 First Indian English Modernist Poet – Nissim Ezekiel (A Time to Change, 1952)

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Novels & Prose

📖 First Indian Novel in English – Rajmohan’s Wife (1864) by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay
📖 First Indian English Novel by a Woman – Saguna (1887) by Krupabai Satthianadhan
📖 First Indian English Historical Novel – Seeta (1872) by Colonel Meadows Taylor
📖 First Indian English Autobiography – My Experiments with Truth (1927) by Mahatma Gandhi
📖 First Indian English Fiction Writer Gaining International Fame – R.K. Narayan (Swami and Friends, 1935)
📖 First Indian English Novel Winning the Booker Prize – Midnight’s Children (1981) by Salman Rushdie

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Drama & Theatre

🎭 First Indian English Playwright – Michael Madhusudan Dutt (Is This Called Civilization?, 1871)
🎭 First Notable Indian English Play – Tughlaq (1964) by Girish Karnad

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Literary Milestones

📚 First Indian English Writer to Win the Nobel Prize – Rabindranath Tagore (Gitanjali, 1913)
📚 First Indian Woman to Win the Booker Prize – Arundhati Roy (The God of Small Things, 1997)
📚 First Indian English Novel Shortlisted for the Booker Prize – The Painter of Signs (1976) by R.K. Narayan

📌 Conclusion

The firsts in English literature highlight the evolution of literary forms, from epics and sonnets to novels and plays. These works not only defined genres but also inspired countless authors. Understanding these milestones is essential for English literature students preparing for NET, JRF, SET, and PhD research, as they form the core of literary studies.

Note for Readers

This list highlights key "firsts" in English literature. If you spot any errors or have more to add, please share your thoughts in the comments! 📖✨