-
450
400 - 450 Old English: first period
The poetry of England is attributed to the Anglo-Saxons, Northern Germanic tribes who immigrated to England in the wake of the removal of Roman soldiers needed to defend Rome at its fall. They are the biggest group of foreigners in medieval England. One of the main references of the period is The 7th-century poem Hymn of Caedmon. -
Jan 1, 1066
1000 - 1066 Middle English: the vernacular spoken
Vernacular is the language or dialect spoken by the ordinary people of a country or region. In England, in this period It was very common to see people using vernacular speech as a form o artistic expression. It starts in the XI century and extends until the middle of the XIII. These are the years of domination in Norman and in them, the gradual sociocultural fusion between Anglo-Saxons and Normans takes place under the Angevin dynasty - the house of Anjou - or Plantagenet. -
Jan 1, 1500
1450 - 1500: Thrid period (English Renaissance)
Since the beginning of the seventeenth century, theater was developed under the protection of kings and nobles. In France, Enrique IV and his wife María de Médicis on numerous occasions invited Italian companies and later highlighted the protective role of Cardinal Richelieu. The main well-known writer of this time was W. Shaeskpare. As a curious fact, this period ended with the death of King Richard III (1452-1485) in the battle of Bosworth in 1485. -
Jan 1, 1564
Christopher Marlowe
While Christopher Marlowe's literary career lasted less than six years, and his life only 29 years, his achievements, most notably the play The Tragicall History of Doctor Faustus, ensured his lasting legacy. -
Period: Jan 1, 1564 to
1564-1616 (Willian Shakespeare)
Shakespeare is one of the most famous and prolific writers in the history of English. His plays include perennial classics like Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Macbeth, The Tempest, Julius Caesar, and A Midsummer Night's Dream, and he coined many now-common expressions and words. -
1616 - Legacy
William Shakespeare makes prominent use of nature in his tragedies, discuss. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a clear example of the fusion of Cultural influences in Western Europe during the Middle Ages. Many of the elements and episodes of the narrative have antecedents and parallels in other earlier and contemporary narratives. -
1600 - 1660: Restoration Age
Restoration literature, English literature written after the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660 following the period of the Commonwealth. Some literary historians speak of the period as bounded by the reign of Charles II (1660–85). -
1663 - Puritan: fourth period
Willam Bardford and John Milton were the precursors of the Puritan movement in English literature, the most common way to find this type of writing is through diaries or manuscripts dating from the time of colonization, when the monarchy was in the process of imposing the restoration. -
1660 -1700: Restoration Age (Fifth period)
During the Restoration, all literary forms experienced a rebirth. The most prominent poetic form was satire (literary genre expressing indignation towards someone or something). -
1700 - 1798: Sixth period
The reaction to industrialization and urbanism pushed poets to explore nature, such as the group of "The Lake Poets," in which we include William Wordsworth. These romantic poets brought to English literature a new degree of sentimentality and introspection. Among the most important authors of the second generation of romantic poets are Lord Byron, Percy Bysse Shelley and John Keats. -
Jane Austen
200-years since Jane published Pride & Prejudice from her Chawton home, Jane Austen continues to give pleasure to millions worldwide. Jane's books have been translated into thirty-five languages and inspired countless adaptations, biographies, documentaries, and re-imaginings. -
1799 - 1837: eigth period (Victorian)
The Victorian era covers the beginning of Romanticism until the end of the century, and literarily represents a change in realistic styles and structures. The most important subgenre during these years was the novel. -
1900 - 1901: Modern literature (Nine period)
Between the two World Wars we find important novelists like D.H. Lawrence and Virginia Woolf, member of the Bloomsbury group. The Sitwells also gained strength among the literary and artistic movements, but it was less influential. The most important writers of popular literature were P.G. Wodehouse and Agatha Christie. -
1900 - 1940: post-modern
Ten period. Postmodern literature is literature characterized by the dependence on narrative techniques such as fragmentation, paradox and the unreliable narrator; and often (though not exclusively) it is defined as a style or trend that emerged in the post-World War II era. Postmodern works are seen as a response against dogmatic follow-up of Enlightenment thinking and modernist approaches to literature. -
1940 - 1945: Contemporary
The influence of the English language in many countries means that its literature is not limited to England and is enriched by varied cultural contributions. American literature abandons its link to Europe to concentrate on its own reality and deepen the heterogeneity of its population. -
The Postmodern Period (1945 – onward)
Metafiction, Multiculturalism, Magic Poetry, etc. In 1945, after the end of the Second World War, the creative attitude of the artists took a turn, they began to have a much more cynical and skeptical vision of life, thus they welcomed dark humor, parody, and satire. Thus in the 50s and 60s, the postmodernist movement was born. Post-war writers emerged such as George Orwell (Breakfast in Paris and London -1933, Animal Farm - 1945, 1984 - 1949). -
George Orwell
Orwell produced literary criticism and poetry, fiction and polemical journalism; and is best known for the allegorical novella Animal Farm (1945) and the dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949). -
20th Century
After the end of the victorian age, the modern history of English literature began with the beginning of the 20th century. Rudyard Kipling is considered one of the greatest writers in this century. Some of the most important contributions to the 20th-century literature were EM Foster’s ‘A Passage to India’, H.G Wells, The Time Machine, The Invisible Man, First Man on the Moon’ and many others -
Agatha Christie
Agatha certainly never minded hard work – she was incredibly prolific, producing 30 Poirot novels, 12 Miss Marple novels, 5 Tommy and Tuppence novels, 3 Colonel Race novels, many stand-alone novels and dozens and dozens of short stories
