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500
Medieval Period 500-1500
No noteable progression or contribution to the further civilization of society.
Period of decline marked by decadence. -
500
Fall of Holy Roman Empire
The Fall of the Holy Roman Empire marks the beginning of Dark Ages, or Middle Ages. This was period of social, cultural, political, and economically decline and stagnation, thus the "nickname" the Dark Ages. There was little to no progress in any mode of civiliiation, especially when compared to the prosperous and progressive Holy Roman Empire. -
Period: 500 to
Literary Movements
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Jan 1, 1000
Beowulf 1000
Beowulf is an Old English epic poem detailing the events of hero, Beowulf. Dated somewhere between the 700-1000 time period. No authorship, rumored to be passed down through oral tradition. -
Sep 27, 1390
Geoffrey Chaucer: The Canterbury Tales
Geoffrey Chaucer is on of the most renowned of English authors.and is often revered as The Father of English Literature.
Being as though he is one of the only authors of the Middle Ages, it is easy for him to become a legend; his "Canterbury Tales" are just that. -
Apr 23, 1500
English Renaissance Period 1500-1670
The English Renaissance Period is often marked by Queen Elizabeth the first's rise to the crown.
English Renaissance authors include the mega-famous William Shakespeare, Chirstopher Marlow, Edmund Spencer and John Milton. -
Apr 23, 1564
William Shakespeare 1564-1616
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Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet 1597
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John Milton's Paradise Lost 1667
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Period: to
Enlightenment Period
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Enlightenment Period 1700-1800
The Enlightenment Period , or the Age of Reason as it is referred to, is marked by an emphasis democratic thinking.
In America authors include Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Frnaklin -
Jonathan Swift's "Gulliver's Travels"
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Benjamin Franklin: Frather Abraham's Sermmon aka The Way to Wealth
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Voltaire
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Thomas Paine's "Common Sense"
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America etablished as a independant nation
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Romantic Period 1798-1870
The Romantic Period was in many ways formed out of a response to the Industrial Revolution and the Age of Reason.
Romanticism is characterized by the aesthetics of emotion and emphasized the mind, subconscious, dreams, intuition, and the general beauty of human emotion;as well as the supernatural and macbre.
Authors include Edgar Allen Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Charles Dickens, Mary Shelley, and a whole list of authors including "The Lake Poets" -
Realism Movement 1820-1920
The Realism movement was a reaction to the Romantic Movement where instead of romanticizing, or focusing on thoughts and emotions, realism focused on "objective reality" and accurate portrayl of society and people.
Realism authors include Franz Kafka, T.S. Eliot, F. Scott Fritzgerald,Ernst Hemingway, and William Faulkner, to name a few. -
Transcendental Movement 1830-1860
The Transcendental Movement was marked by an emphasis on nature both physical and the human nature of man. Transcendentalist beleived in the goodness and purity of th human soul and felt that organized political and religious groups corrupted the purity of the soul. Only through an kindership and connection with nature could man and his soul be in communication and agreement.
Transcendentalist writers include: Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Herman Melville -
Charles Dickens began writing atound 1832
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Victorian Period 1837-1901 in England
The Victorian Period is an English movement within the Romantic and Transcendentalist Movements.
There are many coinciding dates and authors for each period.
This period also includes authors like Jane Austen, Emily and Charolette Bronte, Robert Browning, Lord Tennyson, and more. -
Edgar Allen Poe 1845 "The Raven"
One of the leading writers of the American Renaissance and Romantic Period.
His works like "The Black Cat", "The Tell-Tale Heart" and "The Fall of the House of Usher" characterize the Romantic Period -
Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter" 1850
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Naturalism 1870-1920
Naturalism coincided with the Realism, Transcendental, and Existentialism movements.
Naturalism aligned with realism in the accurate portryal of the natural, real, unromanticized version of the human condition. However, Naturalism emphasized the inevitablity and inescapable force of nature. This includes the forces of nature like weather, natural diasters, and the human survival when pitted against the forces of nature.
Authors include: Stephan Crane, Edith Wharton, and E.M. Forster -
Modernism1910-1965
Modernism was marked by a rejection of tradition. It formed as an attempt to depict the modern society and cultural instead antiquity classics and traditions.
This movement that led into experiments of form and works and emphasized the process.
"avant-garde" meaning experimental or innovative was the original name of the movement. -
The Beat Generation 1945-1965
The Beat Generation formed out of a reaction to rejection of World War II. It was marked by an emphasis on Eastern religions, rejection and aversion to materialism, new forms of sexuality, experimentations with drugs and writings, and a general expression of being and living.
Authors include: Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, William S. Burroughs, and Neal Cassady.
This movement was self-proclaimed and was introduced by the group of writers who were all friends. -
Post Modernism 1965-today
Post-Modernism argues that truth is relative and that no one story can speak for a group.
There is very vague definition and argues there are no absolute truths that exist, and that each occurance, reaction and perception is subjective to the person.
Authors include Samuel Beckett, Kurt Vonnegut, John Barth, Thomas Pynchon, too name a few.
Post-modernism will be better defined once a new literary movement emerges in reaction or rejection of it.
