British Literature

Old English (Anglo-Saxon)

Period: Apr 25, 600 to Apr 25, 1200

Middle English (Medieval Period)

Period: Apr 25, 1200 to Apr 25, 1500

Chaucer

Apr 25, 1343

Geoffrey Chaucer is born.

Bible

Apr 23, 1381

Bible first translated into English.

Canterbury Tales

Apr 23, 1386

Chaucer begins writing The Canterbury Tales.

Gutenberg

Apr 23, 1450

Gutenberg invents the Printing Press.

Morte d'Arthur

Apr 23, 1470

Thomas Malory writes Morte d'Arthur.

The English Renaissance

Period: Apr 25, 1500 to Apr 25, 1660

Elizabethan Period

Period: Apr 25, 1558 to Apr 25, 1603

William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe

Apr 23, 1564

William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe are born.

Romeo and Juliet

Apr 25, 1597

First printed version of Romeo and Juliet.

Julius Caesar

Apr 25, 1599

The Shakespearan play Julius Caesar is written.

Macbeth

Apr 25, 1603

Macbeth is written. (Believed to be written between 1603 and 1607)

Jacobean Period

Period: Apr 25, 1603 to Apr 25, 1625

Shakespeare

Apr 25, 1616

William Shakespeare dies.

William Blake

Apr 25, 1757

William Blake is born.

Romanticism

Period: Apr 25, 1785 to Apr 25, 1830

Blake

Apr 25, 1794

Songs of Experience collection by William Blake is first published.

Mary Shelley

Apr 25, 1797

Mary Shelley is born.

Beowulf

Apr 23, 1815

First printed edition of Beowulf by the Icelandic scholar Grímur Jónsson Thorkelin.

Frankenstein

Apr 25, 1818

Frankenstein was first published anonymously in London.

Victorian Period

Period: Apr 25, 1830 to Apr 25, 1901

Modern Period

Period: Apr 25, 1901 to Apr 25, 1960

Blake

Apr 25, 2012

Songs of Innocence published in 1789.

Beowulf

Mar 2, 2022

Beowulf is written by an anonymous poet. (Believed to be written between the 8th and 11th centuries)