@Kardamom
In most discourses, including those concerned with literature, linguistics, and history, the modern period began after the Middle Ages, sometime around the 16th century and toward the tail-end of the Renaissance.
The Great Vowel Shift constituted the birth of Modern English in 1550. Shakespeare wrote in Modern English, and is considered an early modern writer. Hamlet is seen by many to be the first truly modern representation of humankind and consciousness. Et cetera, et cetera.
Dickens was certainly an important author. He is pre-Modernism, but not pre-modern, and so he doesn’t really fit with the question.
Sorry to be pedantic. Though it’s a little inaccurate to say so, I suppose you could think of pre-modern literature as that which occurred during the Renaissance and earlier, if that helps. We tend to think of modern as being somewhat synonymous with contemporary, but that’s not always true in academic discourses.