As the British empire expanded ever outward, English writers of the 19th and early 20th centuries turned their gaze inward to matters of ethical and moral import. The social and psychological realities of the human condition were increasingly explored in the fiction and verse of writers such as Charles Dickens, T.S. Eliot, and Virginia Woolf. Although the body of English literature became less cohesive as the empire declined, modern writers continue to examine British identity by reformulating and reinventing literary movements and devices introduced by their predecessors. Readers of this volume are invited to observe the progression of English literature and enjoy the stories behind some of the most seminal works in the world.