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450
THE OLD ENGLISH LANGUAGE PERIOD: 450 - 1066
Old English language, also called Anglo-Saxon, language spoken and written in England before 1100; it is the ancestor of Middle English and Modern English. Scholars place Old English in the Anglo-Frisian group of West Germanic languages. Dialects:
Northumbrian in northern England and southeastern Scotland
Mercian in central England
Kentish in southeastern England
West Saxon in southern and southwestern England. -
1066
THE MIDDLE ENGLISH LANGUAGE PERIOD: 1066 - 1500
It is the descendant of the Old English language and the ancestor of Modern English.
It was marked by the spread of the London literary dialect and the gradual cleavage between the Scottish dialect and the other northern dialects.
The main characteristic is the substitution of natural gender for grammatical gender and the loss of the old system of declensions in the noun and adjective and, largely, in the pronoun. Dialects:
Southern
Midland
Northern -
1500
THE RENAISSANCE PERIOD: 1500 - 1660
Was a cultural and artistic movement in England dating from the late 15th to the early 17th century. It is associated with the pan-European Renaissance that is usually regarded as beginning in Italy in the late 14th century. Like most of northern Europe, England saw little of these developments until more than a century later.
Characteristics:
Reforms in the institutions
Dominance of reason
Man-centred society
Development of science
Era of renowned names
Counter – reformation -
1558
THE ELIZABETHAN AGE 1558-1603
It saw the flowering of poetry (the sonnet, the Spenserian stanza, dramatic blank verse), was a golden age of drama (especially for the plays of Shakespeare), and inspired a wide variety of splendid prose (from historical chronicles, versions of the Holy Scriptures, pamphlets, and literary criticism to the first English novels). -
THE JACOBEAN AGE 1603-1625
(from Latin Jacobus, “James”), period of visual and literary arts during the reign of James I of England. The distinctions between the early Jacobean and the preceding Elizabethan styles are subtle ones, often merely a question of degree, for although the dynasty changed, there was no distinct stylistic transition. -
THE CAROLINE AGE 1625-1653
It is named after Charles I (1625-1649). Caroline is an adjective of Carolus, the Latin word for Charles. The age of Caroline is an age of poetry of three kinds or schools: Metaphysical, Cavalier and Puritan schools of poetry. -
THE PURITAN AGE LITERATURE PERIOD: 1653 - 1660
It was a radical Protestant movement to reform the Church of England; known as “Late Renaissance”, the Puritan literature had a modern spirit based on observation, systematic analysis of facts, feelings, and ideas. Followed the true spirit of science. English became the language for storing facts, and the literature included translations, science and learning, human behaviour and psychology, religious writings, travel writing, geography, pamphlets on education, knowledge, wisdom and culture. -
THE RESTORATION PERIOD (1660-1700)
After the Restoration in 1660, when Charles II came to the throne, there was a complete repudiation of the Puritan ideals and way of living. In English literature the period from 1660 to 1700 is called the period of Restoration, because monarchy was restored in England, and Charles II, the son of Charles I who had been defeated and beheaded, came back to England from his exile in France and became the King. -
THE 18th CENTURY: 1700 – 1798
During the 18th century literature reflected the worldview of the Age of Enlightenment (or Age of Reason): a rational and scientific approach to religious, social, political, and economic issues that promoted a secular view of the world and a general sense of progress and perfectibility. -
THE AUGUSTAN AGE: 1700–1750
It was the golden age of Latin literature, so the Age of Pope was the golden age of English literature. This epithet serves to bring out the analogy between the first half of the eighteenth century and the Latin literature of the days of Virgil and Horace.
This age may be divided into two periods:
The first stretching from 1700 to 1750 in the neo-classic Age.
The second, the transitional period which spans from 1750 to 1798. -
THE AGE OF SENSIBILITY 1750 - 1798
This period is known as the Age of Sensibility, but it is also sometimes described as the “Age of Johnson”.Samuel Johnson (1709–1784), often referred to as Dr Johnson, was an English author who made lasting contributions to English literature as a poet, essayist, moralist, literary critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer. -
THE ROMANTIC PERIOD: 1798 - 1837
It was an artistic, literary, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe toward the end of the 18th century.
It was one of major social change in England, because of the depopulation of the countryside and the rapid development of overcrowded industrial cities, that took place in the period roughly between 1785 and 1830.
French Revolution was an especially important influence on the political thinking of many of the Romantic poets. -
THE VICTORIAN PERIOD: 1837 – 1901
It is the body of poetry, fiction, essays, and letters produced during the reign of Queen Victoria (1837–1901) and during the era which bears her name. It forms a link and transition between the writers of the romantic period and the modernist literature of the twentieth century.
The influence of literature became more prevalent in society as reading evolved into a social pastime indicated by the increasing literacy rate. -
MODERN LITERATURE PERIOD: 1901 – 1940
It begins with the 20th century and remain till 1965. The period saw an abrupt break away from the old ways of interacting with the world. In all the previous periods experimentation and individualism were highly discouraged but with the onset of the modern period both these things became virtues. There were many cultural shocks with the beginning of modernism.
It is characterized by a self-conscious break with traditional ways of writing. -
THE POSTMODERN PERIOD: 1940 - 2000
The Postmodernism is characterized by the use of metafiction, unreliable narration, self-reflexivity, intertextuality, and which often thematizes both historical and political issues.
Postmodernism shares many of the features of Modernism. Both schools reject the rigid boundaries between high and low art. It gives voice to the insecurities, disorientation and fragmentation of the 20th century western world. -
THE PRESENT LITERATURE
It is being written in the now about the now, also means literature written after World War II through the current day.
It works of contemporary literature reflect a society's social and/or political viewpoints, shown through realistic characters, connections to current events and socioeconomic messages.
The writers are looking for trends that illuminate societal strengths and weaknesses to remind society of lessons they should learn and questions they should ask.
