<P> It was with the 14th century that major works of English literature began once again to appear; these include the so - called Pearl Poet's Pearl, Patience, Cleanness, and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight; Langland's political and religious allegory Piers Plowman; Gower's Confessio Amantis; and the works of Chaucer, the most highly regarded English poet of the Middle Ages, who was seen by his contemporaries as a successor to the great tradition of Virgil and Dante . </P> <P> The reputation of Chaucer's successors in the 15th century has suffered in comparison with him, though Lydgate and Skelton are widely studied . A group of Scottish writers arose who were formerly believed to be influenced by Chaucer . The rise of Scottish poetry began with the writing of The Kingis Quair by James I of Scotland . The main poets of this Scottish group were Robert Henryson, William Dunbar and Gavin Douglas . Henryson and Douglas introduced a note of almost savage satire, which may have owed something to the Gaelic bards, while Douglas' Eneados, a translation into Middle Scots of Virgil's Aeneid, was the first complete translation of any major work of classical antiquity into an English or Anglic language . </P> <P> The Renaissance was slow in coming to England, with the generally accepted start date being around 1509 . It is also generally accepted that the English Renaissance extended until the Restoration in 1660 . However, a number of factors had prepared the way for the introduction of the new learning long before this start date . A number of medieval poets had, as already noted, shown an interest in the ideas of Aristotle and the writings of European Renaissance precursors such as Dante . </P> <P> The introduction of movable - block printing by Caxton in 1474 provided the means for the more rapid dissemination of new or recently rediscovered writers and thinkers . Caxton also printed the works of Chaucer and Gower and these books helped establish the idea of a native poetic tradition that was linked to its European counterparts . In addition, the writings of English humanists like Thomas More and Thomas Elyot helped bring the ideas and attitudes associated with the new learning to an English audience . </P>

Series of songs or poems composed round a central event or figure