English literature is the study of literature written in English language. The writers do not necessarily have to be from England but can be from all over the world. It includes some of history's most famous writers: James Joyce(Ireland), Willliam Shakespeare (England), Mark Twain (United States), Arthur Conan Doyle (Scotland), Dylan Thomas (Wales), and Vladmir Nabokov (Russia), just to name a few. 

English literature dates back more than five centuries. It represents writers not only from different parts of the world and time periods, but it covers every major genre and style of writing as well.