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Chronological overview of English literature
Literature was produced in England from the introduction of Old English by the Anglo-Saxons from the 5th century to the present day. -
450
OLD ENGLISH
Some works, such as Beowulf and those by period poets Caedmon and Cynewulf, are important. In descending order of quantity, Old English literature consists of sermons and saints' lives; biblical translations; translated Latin works of the early Church Fathers; Anglo-Saxon chronicles and narrative history works; laws, wills, and other legal works; practical works on grammar, medicine, and geography; and poetry. -
Period: 450 to 1066
OLD ENGLISH
Its works belong to genres as diverse as epic poetry, hagiography, sermons, translations of the Bible, legal works, chronicles, spells, riddles, and others. A total of 400 manuscripts from this period are preserved. Old English poetry was composed to be sung, to the accompaniment of the harp. The oldest text is the hymn of Caedmon (7th century English poet) and epic poem known as Beowulf -
1066
Middle English
There are three main categories of Middle English literature, religious, courtly love, and Arthurian, through much of Geoffrey Chaucer's work stands outside these. 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. -
Period: 1066 to 1500
Middle English
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. -
1080
Some works in Middle English
These writings in Middle English, two written in prose and the rest in verse, are contained in a larger narrative. -
1470
Middle English
During this time the Chancery Standard, a form of London-based English became widespread and the printing press regularized the language. Between the 1470s and the middle of the following century, there was a transition to early Modern English. In literary terms, the characteristics of the literary works written did not change radically until the effects of the Renaissance and Reformed Christianity. -
1500
The Renaissance
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). Edmund Spenser (c. 1552–1599) was one of the most important poets of the Elizabethan period, author of The Faerie Queene (1590 and 1596), an epic poem and fantastical allegory celebrating the Tudor dynasty and Elizabeth I. -
Period: 1500 to
The Renaissance
English Renaissance (1500–1660) Renaissance style and ideas were slow to penetrate England and the Elizabethan era (1558–1603) is usually regarded as the height of the English Renaissance. ... After William Caxton introduced the printing press in England in 1476, vernacular literature flourished. -
Period: to
The Neoclassical Period
In England, Neoclassicism flourished roughly between 1660, when the Stuarts returned to the throne, and the 1798 publication of Wordsworth's Lyrical Ballads, with its theoretical preface and collection of poems that came to be seen as heralding the beginning of the Romantic Age. Regarding English literature, the Neoclassical Age is typically divided into three periods: the Restoration Age (1660-1700), the Augustan Age (1700-1750), and the Age of Johnson (1750-1798). -
William Shakespeare
He was an English playwright, poet, and actor. Sometimes known as the Bard of Avon (or simply the Bard), Shakespeare is considered the most important writer in the English language and one of the most famous in world literature. In the 20th century, his works were adapted and rediscovered on many occasions by all kinds of artistic, intellectual, and dramatic art movements. Shakespearean comedies and tragedies have been translated and performed in various cultural contexts. -
The Neoclassical Period
Neoclassical writers modeled their works on classical texts and followed various esthetic values first established in Ancient Greece and Rome. Seventeenth-century and eighteenth-century Neoclassicism was, in a sense, a resurgence of classical taste and sensibility, but it was not identical to Classicism. -
The Age of Sensibility
The Restoration period sees some response to the puritanical age, especially in the theater. Restoration comedies (comedies of manner) developed during this time under the talent of playwrights like William Congreve and John Dryden. Satire, too, became quite popular, as evidenced by the success of Samuel Butler. The Age of Sensibility (sometimes referred to as the Age of Johnson) was the time of Edmund Burke, Edward Gibbon, Hester Lynch Thrale, and, of course, Samuel Johnson. -
Period: to
The Romantic Period
The beginning date for the Romantic period is often debated. Some claim it is 1785, immediately following the Age of Sensibility. Others say it began in 1789 with the start of the French Revolution, and still, others believe that 1798, the publication year for William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s book Lyrical Ballads is its true beginning. -
The Romantic Period
Robert Burns is considered the pioneer of the Romantic Movement. Although his death in 1796 precedes what many consider the start of Romanticism, his lyricism and sincerity mark him as an early Romantic writer. His most notable works are “Auld Lang Syne” (1788) and “Tam o’ Shanter” (1791). -
American literature - The Romantic Period
American literature has its own Romantic period, but typically when one speaks of Romanticism, one is referring to this great and diverse age of British literature, perhaps the most popular and well-known of all literary ages. 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. -
The Victorian Period
It was in the Victorian era that the novel became the leading literary genre in English. English writing from this era reflects the major transformations in most aspects of English life, from scientific, economic, and technological advances to changes in class structures and the role of religion in society. Famous novelists from this period include Charles Dickens, William Thackeray, the three Brontë sisters, George Eliot, and Thomas Hardy. -
Period: to
The Victorian Period
This period is named for the reign of Queen Victoria, who ascended to the throne in 1837, and it lasts until her death in 1901. It was a time of great social, religious, intellectual, and economic issues, heralded by the passage of the Reform Bill, which expanded voting rights. The Victorian period is in strong contention with the Romantic period for being the most popular, influential, and prolific period in all of English. -
The Edwardian Period
The death of Queen Victoria in January 1901 marked the end of the Victorian era. Her son and successor, Edward VII, was already the leader of a fashionable elite that set a style influenced by the art and fashions of continental Europe. The era includes incredible classic novelists such as Joseph Conrad, Ford Madox Ford, and Henry James; notable poets such as Alfred Noyes and William Butler Yeats. -
Period: to
The Edwardian Period
This period is named for King Edward VII and covers the period between Victoria’s death and the outbreak of World War I. -
The Georgian Period
Georgian poetry today is typically considered to be the works of minor poets anthologized by Edward Marsh. Covers, for example, the Georgian poets, such as Ralph Hodgson, John Masefield, W.H. Davies, and Rupert Brooke. The term Georgian is typically used in the contexts of social and political history and architecture. The term Augustan literature is often used for Augustan drama, Augustan poetry, and Augustan prose in the period 1700–1740s. -
Period: to
The Georgian Period
The Georgian era is a period in British history from 1714 to c. 1830–37, named after the Hanoverian Kings George I, George II, George III, and George IV. The definition of the Georgian era is often extended to include the relatively short reign of William IV, which ended with his death in 1837. -
The Modern Period
The modern period traditionally applies to works written after the start of World War I. Common features include bold experimentation with subject matter, style, and form, encompassing narrative, verse, and drama. W.B. Yeats’ words, “Things fall apart; the center cannot hold,” are often referred to when describing the core tenet or “feeling” of modernist concerns. -
The Modern Period
Some of the most notable writers of this period include the novelists James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, Aldous Huxley, D.H. Lawrence, Joseph Conrad, Dorothy Richardson, Graham Greene, E.M. Forster, and Doris Lessing. New Criticism also appeared at this time, led by the likes of Woolf, Eliot, William Empson, and others, which reinvigorated literary criticism in general. English literature of the modern age started with the initiation of the 20th century. -
Qualities of the Modern Period
Industrialization, globalization, historical events. First-person narrative expressed in a stream of consciousness. Realism, cultural, political, and economic issues. -
The Postmodern Period
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, but it is likely too soon to declare this period closed. 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. -
The Postmodern Period
Eliot, Morrison, Shaw, Beckett, Stoppard, Fowles, Calvino, Ginsberg, Pynchon, and other modern writers, poets, and playwrights experimented with metafiction and fragmented poetry. Multiculturalism led to the increasing canonization of non-Caucasian writers such as Langston Hughes, Sandra Cisneros, and Zora Neal Hurston.
