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450
Old English (Anglo-Saxon) Period. (450-1066)
Old English literary works include genres such as epic poetry, Bible translations, hagiography, legal works, sermons, riddles, chronicles. Some of the most important surviving works of Old English literature are The Lord's Prayer, Charter of Cnut, Beowulf, an epic poem; the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the Franks Casket, and Cædmon's Hymn. During this period, Christianity was established and there was a flowering of literature and language. -
Period: 450 to 1066
Old English (Anglo-Saxon).
Some of the most important surviving works of Old English literature are The Lord's Prayer, Charter of Cnut, Beowulf, an epic poem; the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, a record of early English history; the Franks Casket, and Cædmon's Hymn, a Christian religious poem. Four dialects in old English: West Saxon, Mercian, Kentish, and Northumbrian. Almost all Old English poetry is anonymous; these are some of the authors in the old English period:
- Bede.
- Caedmon.
- Cynewulf.
- King Alfred. -
1066
Middle English Period (1066-1500).
Is the transitional period between Old English and modern English, also known as the Anglo-Norman period, and it started with the Norman Conquest, In this, we can find many more texts than in the Old English period. It is divided into 4 general edges:
- The Early Period.
- The Thirteenth Century.
- The Fourteenth Century.
- The Fifteenth Century. -
Period: 1066 to 1500
Middle English Period.
Major authors and their works: Geoffrey Chaucer (1343-1400).
- The Canterbury Tales.
- Troilus and Criseyde.
- Book of the Duchess. Pearl poet (Anonymous).
- Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
- Patience
- Cleanness
- Pearl Sir Thomas Malory (1405-1471)
- Le Morte D’Arthur
- The Book of King Arthur and His Noble
- Knights of the Round Table -
1500
The Renaissance (1500-1660).
In this period writing was developed with fluency, imagination, and enthusiasm. Renaissance means “Rebirth” (Rebirth of interest in the Greek and Latin Classics. This period is subdivided into four parts:
- The Elizabethan Age (1558–1603)
- The Jacobean Age (1603–1625)
- The Caroline Age (1625–1649)
- The Commonwealth Period (1649–1660) -
Period: 1500 to
The Renaissance
Some authors and their works:- William Shakespeare: Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Midsummer Night’s Dream, Twelfth Night, and Henry V.
- Miguel de Cervantes: Don Quixote de la Mancha.
- Niccolo Machiavelli: The Prince in 1513.
- Francesco Petrarch: the Canzoniere and the Triofi.
- Dante Alighieri: The Divine Comedy.
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The Neoclassical Period (1660-1785).
The Neoclassical Period was much influenced by contemporary French literature, inspired by the classical art and culture of ancient Greece and Rome. The literature of this time is known for its use of philosophy, reason, skepticism, wit, and refinement. The Neoclassical Period also marks the first great age of English literary criticism. This period is subdivided into three ages:- The Restoration (1660–1700)
- The Augustan Age (1700–1745)
- The Age of Sensibility (1745–1785)
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Period: to
The Neoclassical Period.
Famous writers:- The Restoration (1660–1700)
John Dryden.
John Milton.
Sir William Temple.
John Locke.
Samuel Pepys.
Aphra Behn.
Jean Racine.
Jean-Baptiste Poquelin(Moliere). - The Augustan Age (1700–1745)
Alexander Pope
Jonathan Swift
Francois-Marie Arouet de Voltaire
Joseph Addison - The Age of Sensibility (1745–1785)
Samuel Johnson
Edward Gibbon
George Crabbe
Robert Burns
William Cowper
Thomas Gray
Thomas Paine
Thomas Jefferson
Benjamin Franklin
- The Restoration (1660–1700)
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The Romantic Period (1785-1832).
The Romantic Period began in the late 18th century and lasted until approximately 1832. Romantic literature can be characterized by its personal nature, its strong use of feeling and symbolism, and its exploration of nature and the supernatural. -
Period: to
The Romantic Period.
Some authors:- Wordsworth
- Coleridge
- William Blake
- Lord Byron
- John Keats
- Charles Lamb
- Mary Wollstonecraft
- Percy Bysshe Shelley
- Thomas De Quincey
- Jane Austen and Mary Shelley
- Matthew Lewis
- Anne Radcliffe
- William Beckford
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The Victorian Period (1832-1901).
Victorian literature refers to English literature during the reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901). The 19th century is widely considered to be the Golden Age of the novel, and especially for British novels. It was in the Victorian era that the novel became the leading literary genre in English. Authors and their works:
- Charles Dickens:
The Pickwick Papers (1836–37)
Oliver Twist (1837–39)
Nicholas Nickleby (1838–39)
A Christmas Carol (1843)- William Makepeace Thackeray: Vanity Fair (1848)
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Period: to
The Victorian Period.
- George Eliot
The Mill on the Floss (1860)
Middlemarch (1872) - Thomas Hardy
Under the Greenwood Tree (1872)
Far from the Madding Crowd (1874)
The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886)
Tess of the d'Urbervilles (1891)
Jude the Obscure (1895) - Bronte Sisters
Wuthering Heights (1847)
Jane Eyre (1847)
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (1848)
- George Eliot
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The Edwardian Period (1901-1914).
The end of the Victorian era marked a new beginning for literature in the land with fresh ideas. This period is named for King Edward VII and covers the period between Victoria’s death and the outbreak of World War I. Some authors and their works:- Three Weeks, by Elinor Glyn
- “Gabriel-Ernest,” by Saki
- The Title Market, by Emily Post
- Sanctuary, by Edith Wharton
- The Benefactress, by Elizabeth von Arnim
- Henry Brocken or The Return, by Walter de La Mare
- Kim, by Rudyard Kipling
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Period: to
The Edwardian Period.
Also, we can find writers such as George Bernard Shaw and H. G. Wells who attacked social injustice. Other writers include William Butler Yeats, Joseph Conrad, Rudyard Kipling, Henry James, and E. M. Forster. Like its era, Edwardian literature was transitional and many women gaining importance as characters. -
The Georgian Period (1910-1936).
The Georgian Period refers to the period that is named for the reign of George V. Many writers of the Edwardian Period continued to write during the Georgian Period. Poets:
- Ralph Hodgson
- John Masefield
- W.H. Davies
- Rupert Brooke -
Period: to
The Georgian Period
Georgian poetry tends to focus on the rural subject matter and is traditional in technique and form. -
The Modern Period (1914-1945)
The Modern Period includes literature written since the beginning of World War I in 1914. Modernist writers proclaimed a new "subject matter" for literature and they felt that their new way of looking at life required a new form, a new way of writing. Novelists:- James Joyce,
- Virginia Woolf
- Aldous Huxley
- D.H. Lawrence
- Joseph Conrad
- Dorothy Richardson
- Graham Greene
- E.M. Forster
- Doris Lessing
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Period: to
The Modern Period.
Poets:- W.B. Yeats
- T.S. Eliot
- W.H. Auden
- Seamus Heaney
- Wilfred Owens
- Dylan Thomas
- Robert Graves
- Tom Stoppard
- George Bernard Shaw
- Samuel Beckett
- Frank McGuinness
- Harold Pinter
- Caryl Churchill
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The Postmodern Period (1945–?)
Following World War II, the Postmodern Period developed. Postmodernism blends literary genres and styles and attempts to break free of modernist forms. Some people say that the period ended around 1990. Many postmodern authors also wrote during the modern era. Authors:- Samuel Beckett
- Joseph Heller
- Anthony Burgess
- John Fowles
- Penelope M. Lively
- Iain Banks