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This period of literature dates back to the invasion of Celtic England circa 450. The era ends in 1066 when Norman France, under William, conquered England.
Much of the first half of this period had oral literature. A lot of the prose during this time was a translation of something else or otherwise legal, medical, or religious in nature; however, some works, such as Beowulf and those by period poets Caedmon and Cynewulf, are important. -
The Middle English period sees a huge transition in the language, culture, and lifestyle of England and results in what we can recognize today as a form of “modern” (recognizable) English. The era extends to around 1500. This period is home to the likes of Chaucer, Thomas Malory, and Robert Henryson. Notable works include "Piers Plowman" and "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight."
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This period is often subdivided into four parts, including the Elizabethan Age (1558–1603), the Jacobean Age (1603–1625), the Caroline Age (1625–1649), and the Commonwealth Period (1649–1660). The Elizabethan Age includes Christopher Marlowe, Francis Bacon, Edmund Spenser. The Jacobean Age includes the works of John Donne, Michael Drayton, John Webster, Elizabeth Cary, Ben Jonson, and.The Caroline Age covers John Milton, Robert Burton, and George Herbert. -
The Neoclassical period is subdivided into ages, including The Restoration (1660–1700), The Augustan Age (1700–1745), and The Age of Sensibility (1745–1785). The Restoration period includes William Congreve and John Dryden
The Augustan Age was the time of Alexander Pope and Jonathan Swift- Lady Mary Wortley Montagu.
The Age of Sensibility was the time of Edmund Burke, Edward Gibbon, Hester Lynch Thrale, James Boswell, and, of course, Samuel Johnson -
This era includes the works of such juggernauts as Wordsworth, Coleridge, William Blake, Lord Byron, John Keats, Charles Lamb, Mary Wollstonecraft, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Thomas De Quincey, Jane Austen, and Mary Shelley. There is also a minor period, also quite popular (between 1786–1800), called the Gothic era. Writers of note for this period include Matthew Lewis, Anne Radcliffe, and William Beckford. -
It was a time of great social, religious, intellectual, and economic issues. The period has often been divided into “Early” (1832–1848), “Mid” (1848–1870) and “Late” (1870–1901).
The period includes poets of this time include Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Finally, prose fiction truly found its place under the auspices of Charles Dickens, Charlotte and Emily Bronte. -
This period is named for King Edward VII and covers the period between Victoria’s death and the outbreak of World War I. The era includes incredible classic novelists such as Joseph Conrad, Ford Madox Ford, Rudyard Kipling, H.G. Wells, and Henry James; notable poets such as Alfred Noyes and William Butler Yeats; and dramatists such as James Barrie, George Bernard Shaw, and John Galsworthy. -
The Georgian period usually refers to the reign of George V (1910–1936) but sometimes also includes the reigns of the four successive Georges from 1714–1830.
Georgian poetry today is typically considered to be the works of minor poets anthologized by Edward Marsh. The themes and subject matter tended to be rural or pastoral in nature, treated delicately and traditionally rather than with passion or with experimentation -
The modern period traditionally applies to works written after the start of World War I.
Some of the most notable writers of this period include the novelists James Joyce, Graham Greene, E.M. Forster, and Doris Lessing; the poets W.B. Yeats, T.S. Eliot, W.H. Auden, Seamus Heaney, Wilfred Owens, Dylan Thomas, and Robert Graves; and the dramatists Tom Stoppard, George Bernard Shaw, Samuel Beckett, Frank McGuinness, and Caryl Churchill. -
The postmodern period begins about the time that World War II ended. Many believe it is a direct response to modernism. Some say the period ended about 1990. Poststructuralist literary theory and criticism developed during this time. Some notable writers of the period include Samuel Beckett, Joseph Heller, Anthony Burgess, John Fowles, Penelope M. Lively, and Iain Banks. Many postmodern authors wrote during the modern period as well.
