Learning resources

Explore 100 of our best-loved Discovering Literature articles, perfect for teachers of Years 10 – 13. Not all our digital resources are available at the moment following a cyber-attack in October 2023, so we've prioritised those we know teachers use the most.

You'll find articles written by a range of experts to enrich the study of set texts. For now, we have not included individual pages on particular works, people or collection items.

If you have any questions about how to use our resources, please contact discovering.literature@bl.uk.

Explore all the articles on Padlet, a free and easy-to-use platform. Just scroll down the page or use the search box to find what you need.

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Discovering Literature

Browse our handpicked selection of resources, including expert articles, films, classroom activities and our Black literature timeline to help with your lesson planning.

Manuscript showing the opening of the Prologue from Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, written in Middle English and with a decorated floral border.

Medieval literature

Discover articles on texts and themes from the medieval period, including Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, women's voices and Old and Middle English.

Explore medieval literature

Illustration featuring a photomontage, showing a man and woman with red and pink hearts on their faces. The patterns in the background include pink circles and lines with a skull, moon, heart and stars in a line on the left.

Shakespeare and Renaissance writers

Enrich your lessons with expert insights into the works of Shakespeare, examining rich subject matter from Juliet's eloquence to Macbeth's witches.

Explore Shakespeare and Renaissance writers

An illustration of a man in a night shirt and night cap sitting on a pink armchair by the fire. He looks on at a ghost who has a bandage round his head.

18th- and 19th-century literature

From Romantic poetry to Gothic horror, depictions of poverty and portrayals of industrialisation, discover our pick of articles investigating 18th- and 19th-century literature.

Explore 18th- and 19th-century literature

A watercolour illustration of a woman reflected four times, with a staircase-like structure behind her.

20th- and 21st-century literature

Explore the ways in which key 20th- and 21st-century authors experimented with new forms and themes to capture the fast-changing world around them, from Wilfred Owen to Andrea Levy, George Orwell to Angela Carter.

Explore 20th- and 21st-century literature