what is the history of children's literature
Children's literature Early children's literature consisted of spoken stories, songs, and poems that were used to educate, instruct, and entertain children.[11] It was only in the 18th century, with the development of the concept of childhood, that a separate genre of children's literature began to emerge, with its own divisions, expectations, and canon.[12]:x-xi
Old English literature There were considerable losses of manuscripts as a result of the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 16th century.[2] Scholarly study of the language began when the manuscripts were collected by scholars and antiquarians such as Matthew Parker, Laurence Nowell and Sir Robert Bruce Cotton.[8]