History of English Literature

By hencabur
  • The Classical Period (1200 BCE - 455 CE)
    1200 BCE

    The Classical Period (1200 BCE - 455 CE)

    Homeric Period (The Iliad), Classical Greek Period (Julius Caesar, Caesar Augustus, Ovid Horacle, Cicero, Marcus, Classical Roman Period, Patristic Period
    It presume that Homer was the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey.
  • The Medieval Period (455 CE-1485 CE). The so-called "Dark Ages" (455 CE -799 CE) occured after Rome fell and barbarian tribes moved into Europe.
    428

    The Medieval Period (455 CE-1485 CE). The so-called "Dark Ages" (455 CE -799 CE) occured after Rome fell and barbarian tribes moved into Europe.

    Poems such as Beowulf, The Wanderer, and The Seafarer originated sometime late in the Anglo-Saxon period.
    This often tumultuous period is marked by the Middle English writings of Geoffrey Chaucer, the "Gawain" or "Pearl" Poet, the Wakefield Master, and William Langland.
  • The Venerable Bede, in his monastery at Jarrow, completes his history of the English church and people.
    731

    The Venerable Bede, in his monastery at Jarrow, completes his history of the English church and people.

    His most famous work, Ecclesiastical History of the English People, gained him the title "The Father of English History".
  • The material of the Eddas, taking shape in Iceland, derives from earlier sources in Norway, Britain and Burgundy.
    950

    The material of the Eddas, taking shape in Iceland, derives from earlier sources in Norway, Britain and Burgundy.

    The Codex Regius was written in the 13th century, but nothing is known of its whereabouts until 1643.
  • Duns Scotus, known as the Subtle Doctor in medieval times, later provides humanists with the name Dunsman or dunce.
    1300

    Duns Scotus, known as the Subtle Doctor in medieval times, later provides humanists with the name Dunsman or dunce.

    John Duns Scotus is a composite name. The "Scotus" is a nickname identifying his as a Scot during his travels in England and the Continent. "Duns" was his family name, and also probably the name of the town, Duns in Berwickshire, in which he was born and brought up.
  • A narrator who calls himself Will, and whose name may be Langland, begins the epic poem of Piers Plowman.
    1367

    A narrator who calls himself Will, and whose name may be Langland, begins the epic poem of Piers Plowman.

    He is the alleged author of the first known work of Piers Plowman.
  • Thomas Malory, in gaol somewhere in England, compiles Morte d'Arthur – an English account of the French tales of King Arthur.
    1469

    Thomas Malory, in gaol somewhere in England, compiles Morte d'Arthur – an English account of the French tales of King Arthur.

    He was the author of Le Morte Darthur, the first prose account in English of the rise and fall of the legendary king Arthur and the fellowship of the Round Table.
  • The Renaissance and Reformation (1485-1660 CE)
    1485

    The Renaissance and Reformation (1485-1660 CE)

    (The Renaissance took place in the late 15th, 16th, and early 17th century in Britain, but somewhat earlier in Italy and southern Europe and somewhat later in northern Europe.)
    Early Tudor Period (1485-1558). The Faerie Queen
    Elizabethan Period (1558-1603). Comedies and histories.
    Jacobean Period (1603-1625).
    Caroline Age (1625-1649). Sons of Ben.
    Commonwealth Period/Puritan Interregnum 1649-1660)
  • William Tyndale studies in the university at Wittenberg and plans to translate the Bible into English.
    1524

    William Tyndale studies in the university at Wittenberg and plans to translate the Bible into English.

    He was the first person to translate the Bible into English from its original Greek and Hebrew and the first to print the Bible in English.
  • The 18-year-old William Shakespeare marries Anne Hathaway in Stratford-upon-Avon.
    1582

    The 18-year-old William Shakespeare marries Anne Hathaway in Stratford-upon-Avon.

    The plays of Shakespeare have been studied more than any other writing in the English language and have been translated into numerous languages.
    He was rare as a play-write for excelling in tragedies, comedies and histories.
    Romeo and Juliet was one of his famous plays.
  • Ben Jonson writes The Masque of Blackness, the first of his many masques for the court of James I.

    Ben Jonson writes The Masque of Blackness, the first of his many masques for the court of James I.

    He popularised the comedy of humours. He is best known for the satirical plays Every Man in His Humour.
    He is generally regarded as the second most important English dramatist, after William Shakespeare.
  • The poems of Massachusetts author Anne Bradstreet are published in London under the title The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America.

    The poems of Massachusetts author Anne Bradstreet are published in London under the title The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America.

    She became one of the first poets to write English verse in the American colonies. It was during this time that Bradstreet penned many of the poems that would be taken to England by her brother-in-law, purportedly without her knowledge, and published in 1650 under the title The Tenth Muse, Lately Sprung Up in America.
  • The Enlightenment (Neoclassical) Period (1660-1790 CE)

    The Enlightenment (Neoclassical) Period (1660-1790 CE)

    IV. The Enlightenment (Neoclassical) Period (1660-1790 CE)
    "Neoclassical" refers to the increased influence of Classical literature upon these centuries.
    Restoration Period (1660-1700). Some writers John Dryden, John Locke, Sir William Temple.
    The Augustan Age (1700-1750). The principal English writers include Addison, Steele, Swift, and Alexander Pope.
    The Age of Johnson (1750-1790)
  • Samuel Pepys ends his diary, after only writing it for nine years.

    Samuel Pepys ends his diary, after only writing it for nine years.

    Pepys began his diary on 1 January 1660. It is written in a form of shorthand, with names in longhand. It ranges from private remarks, including revelations of infidelity - to detailed observations of events in 17th century England - such as the plague of 1665, the Great Fire of London and Charles II's coronation - and some of the key figures of the era.
  • Jonathan Swift sends his hero on a series of bitterly satirical travels in Gulliver's Travels.

    Jonathan Swift sends his hero on a series of bitterly satirical travels in Gulliver's Travels.

    Swift worked in Surrey's Moor Park and acted as an assistant to Temple, helping him with political errands, and also in the researching and publishing of his own essays and memoirs.
  • English poet Thomas Gray publishes his Elegy written in a Country Church Yard.

    English poet Thomas Gray publishes his Elegy written in a Country Church Yard.

    Gray began seriously writing poems in 1742, mainly after the death of his close friend Richard West, which inspired "Sonnet on the Death of Richard West".
  • 17-year-old Thomas Chatterton, later hailed as a significant poet, commits suicide in a London garret

    17-year-old Thomas Chatterton, later hailed as a significant poet, commits suicide in a London garret

    Chatterton’s first known poem was a scholarly Miltonic piece, “On the Last Epiphany,” written when he was 10.
  • Anglo-Irish politician Edmund Burke publishes Reflections on the Revolution in France, a blistering attack on recent events across the Channel.

    Anglo-Irish politician Edmund Burke publishes Reflections on the Revolution in France, a blistering attack on recent events across the Channel.

    In his Reflections on the Revolution in France, Burke asserted that the revolution was destroying the fabric of good society and traditional institutions of state and society and condemned the persecution of the Catholic Church that resulted from it.
  • The Romantic Period (1790-1830 CE)

    The Romantic Period (1790-1830 CE)

    Romantic poets wrote about nature, imagination, and individuality in England.
    Some Romantics include Coleridge, Blake, Keats, and Shelley in Britain and Johann von Goethe in Germany.
    Gothic writings (c. 1790-1890) overlap with the Romantic and Victorian periods.
  • William Blake includes his poem 'Jerusalem' in the Preface to his book Milton.

    William Blake includes his poem 'Jerusalem' in the Preface to his book Milton.

    He died on August 12, 1827, leaving unfinished watercolor illustrations to Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress and an illuminated manuscript of the Bible's Book of Genesis. In death, as in life.
  • Percy Bysshe Shelley publishes probably his best-known poem, the sonnet Ozymandias.

    Percy Bysshe Shelley publishes probably his best-known poem, the sonnet Ozymandias.

    He is best known for his classic anthology verse works such as Ode to the West Wind and The Masque of Anarchy.
  • English author Frances Trollope ruffles transatlantic feathers with her Domestic Manners of the Americans, based on a 3-year stay.

    English author Frances Trollope ruffles transatlantic feathers with her Domestic Manners of the Americans, based on a 3-year stay.

    Trollope's satire also takes on the evangelicals' prolific evangelistic outreach through tracts.
  • The Victorian Period and the 19th Century (1832-1901 CE)

    The Victorian Period and the 19th Century (1832-1901 CE)

    Writings from the period of Queen Victoria's reign include sentimental novels. British writers include Elizabeth Browning, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Matthew Arnold, Robert Browning, Charles Dickens, and the Brontë sisters.
    The end of the Victorian Period is marked by the intellectual movements of Aestheticism and "the Decadence" in the writings of Walter Pater and Oscar Wilde.
  • English author William Makepeace Thackeray begins publication of his novel Vanity Fair in monthly parts (book form 1848).

    English author William Makepeace Thackeray begins publication of his novel Vanity Fair in monthly parts (book form 1848).

    The Yellowplush Papers / Los papeles de Yellowplus (1837) was one of his famous plays.
  • Charles Dickens begins serial publication of his novel "Great Expectations" (in book form 1861.

    Charles Dickens begins serial publication of his novel "Great Expectations" (in book form 1861.

    He wrote such beloved classic novels as Oliver Twist, A Christmas Carol, Nicholas Nickleby, David Copperfield, A Tale of Two Cities and Great Expectations.
  • Henry James's early novel Roderick Hudson is serialized in the Atlantic Monthly and is published in book form in 1876.

    Henry James's early novel Roderick Hudson is serialized in the Atlantic Monthly and is published in book form in 1876.

    He is best known for a number of novels dealing with the social and marital interplay between emigre Americans, English people, and continental Europeans. Examples of such novels include The Portrait of a Lady, The Ambassadors, and The Wings of the Dove.
  • Oxford University Press publishes the A volume of its New English Dictionary, which will take 37 years to reach Z.

    Oxford University Press publishes the A volume of its New English Dictionary, which will take 37 years to reach Z.

  • Oscar Wilde publishes his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray in which the ever-youthful hero's portrait grows old and ugly.

    Oscar Wilde publishes his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray in which the ever-youthful hero's portrait grows old and ugly.

    Author Oscar Wilde was known for his acclaimed works including The Picture of Dorian Gray and The Importance of Being Earnest, as well as his brilliant wit, flamboyant style and infamous imprisonment for homosexuality.
  • Rupert Brooke publishes Poems, the only collection to appear before his early death in World War I.

    Rupert Brooke publishes Poems, the only collection to appear before his early death in World War I.

    One of his most popular sonnets, “The Soldier"
  • The Modern Period (1914-1945 CE)

    The Modern Period (1914-1945 CE)

    In America, the modernist period includes Robert Frost and Flannery O'Connor as well as the famous writers of The Lost Generation (also called the writers of The Jazz Age, 1914-1929) such as Hemingway, Stein, Fitzgerald, and Faulkner.
  • Virginia Woolf publishes her novel Mrs Dalloway, in which the action is limited to a single day.

    Virginia Woolf publishes her novel Mrs Dalloway, in which the action is limited to a single day.

    Her best-known works include the novels Mrs Dalloway (1925), To the Lighthouse (1927) and Orlando (1928). She is also known for her essays, including A Room of One's Own (1929), in which she wrote the much-quoted dictum, "A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction."
  • English children's author Enid Blyton introduces the Famous Five in Five on a Treasure Island.

    English children's author Enid Blyton introduces the Famous Five in Five on a Treasure Island.

    Enid Blyton has been in The Guinness Book of Records as one of the world's biggest selling writers.
  • The Postmodern Period (1945 - onward)

    The Postmodern Period (1945 - onward)

    T. S. Eliot, Morrison, Shaw, Beckett, Stoppard, Fowles, Calvino, Ginsberg, Pynchon, and other modern writers, poets, and playwrights experimented with metafiction and fragmented poetry. Multiculturalism
    Magic Realists such as Gabriel García Márquez, Luis Borges, Alejo Carpentier, Günter Grass, and Salman Rushdie flourished with surrealistic writings embroidered in the conventions of realism.
    Then came One Hundred Years of Solitude, in which García Márquez tells the story of Macondo.
  • British author Doris Lessing publishes her first novel, The Grass is Singing.

    British author Doris Lessing publishes her first novel, The Grass is Singing.

    Her first published book, The Grass Is Singing (1950), is about a white farmer and his wife and their African servant in Rhodesia. Among her most substantial works is the series Children of Violence (1952–69), a five-novel sequence that centres on Martha Quest.
  • James Bond, agent 007, has a licence to kill in Ian Fleming's first novel, Casino Royale.

    James Bond, agent 007, has a licence to kill in Ian Fleming's first novel, Casino Royale.

    Casino Royale is the first novel by the British author Ian Fleming. Published in 1953, it is the first James Bond book, and it paved the way for a further eleven novels and two short story collections by Fleming, followed by numerous continuation Bond novels by other authors.
  • English author Margaret Drabble publishes her first novel, A Summer Birdcage.

    English author Margaret Drabble publishes her first novel, A Summer Birdcage.

    A Day in the Life of a Smiling Woman: Complete Short Stories (2011) this is the last short-fiction.
  • English author Julian Barnes publishes a multi-faceted literary novel, Flaubert's Parrot.

    English author Julian Barnes publishes a multi-faceted literary novel, Flaubert's Parrot.

    Barnes won the Man Booker Prize for his book The Sense of an Ending (2011), and three of his earlier books had been shortlisted for the Booker Prize: Flaubert's Parrot (1984), England, England (1998), and Arthur & George (2005). He has also written crime fiction under the pseudonym Dan Kavanagh. In addition to novels, Barnes has published collections of essays and short stories.