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Period: 450 to 1066
Old English
English literature begins with the Anglo-Saxon, or Old English, period, which began approximately when the Romans withdrew from Britain, leaving it to Germanic and Scandinavian settlers. The Old English period ended with the Norman invasion of 1066, when French became the language of the educated classes, gradually blending with Anglo-Saxon to produce´´ the language of Geoffrey Chaucer´´ or Middle English. (Stevenson, S,2020) -
975
´´Beowulf ´´ example of Old English literature.
Old English epic poem consisting of 3,182 alliterative lines writen in West Saxon dialect of Old English.Unknown author. -
Period: 1066 to 1500
Middle English
The Norman conquest of England in 1066 saw the replacement of the top levels of the English-speaking political and ecclesiastical hierarchies by Norman rulers who spoke a dialect of Old French known as Old Norman, which developed in England into Anglo-Norman. The use of Norman as the preferred language of literature and polite discourse fundamentally altered the role of Old English in education and administration. -
1387
"The Canterbury Tales" by Chaucer,example of Middle english
Collection of 24 stories that runs to over 17,000 lines written in Middle English by Geoffrey Chaucer. -
Period: 1500 to
English Renaissance
The beginning of the English Renaissance is often taken, as a convenience, to be around 1485 and 1500, when the Battle of Bosworth Field ended the Wars of the Roses and inaugurated the Tudor Dynasty starting with the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). -
The Faerie Queene by Spenser example of Renaissance english literature.
Epic poem and fantastical allegory celebrating the Tudor dynasty and Elizabeth I. -
Period: to
Puritan and Restoration age
The Literature of the Seventeenth Century may be divided into two periods—The Puritan Age or the Age of Milton (1600-1660), which is further divided into the Jacobean and Caroline periods after the names of the ruled James I and Charles I, who rules from 1603 to 1625 and 1625 to 1649 respectively; and the Restoration Period or the Age of Dryden (1660-1700). -
Pilgrim's Progress by Bunyan and Paradise Lost by Milton; Examples of the Puritan and Restoration age.
Writings that reflect deep personal convictions, a passion for freedom and self-determination, and the urgent issues and political turbulence of those days. -
Period: to
18th Century
The 18th century is famous for its essayists and satirists and for the appearance of the novel and its precursors,the style of writing was characterized by a long prose narrative with realistic setting and three-dimensional characters.Divided in the Augustan age (1700-1750) and the age of Sensibility (1750-1798). -
Robinson Crusoe by Defoe, example of 18th century literature.
Epistolary, confessional, and didactic in form, the book is presented as an autobiography of the title character . The story has been thought to be based on the life of Alexander Selkirk, a Scottish castaway who lived for four years on a Pacific island called "Más a Tierra", now part of Chile, which was renamed Robinson Crusoe Island in 1966. -
Period: to
Romanticism
The 19th century is considered the great age of the novel, the Romantic movement, emphasized the nature and emotion. -
Don Juan by Lord Byron example of Romanticism
"Epic Satire" Byron completed 16 cantos, leaving an unfinished 17th. -
Period: to
Victorian
The Victorian era was the great age of the English novel—realistic, thickly plotted, crowded with characters, and long. It was the ideal form to describe contemporary life and to entertain the middle class.(The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia,2012) -
Great espectations by Dickens example of Victorian english.
Novel narrated in first person,the novel is full of extreme imagery – poverty, prison ships and chains, and fights to the death. -
Period: to
Modern Literature
The Modernist Period in English literature was first and foremost a visceral reaction against the Victorian culture and aesthetic, which had prevailed for most of the nineteenth century. Indeed, a break with traditions is one of the fundamental constants of the Modernist stance historically marked by World War One (1914-1918).(Rahn, J 2011) -
Dystopia Brave New World by Huxley example of modernism.
Set in a futuristic World State, whose citizens are environmentally engineered into an intelligence-based social hierarchy, the novel anticipates huge scientific advancements in reproductive technology, sleep-learning, psychological manipulation and classical conditioning that are combined to make a dystopian society which is challenged by only a single individual: the story's protagonist. -
Period: to
Post Modern
Postmodern literature is both a continuation of the experimentation championed by writers of the modernist period (relying heavily, for example, on fragmentation, paradox, questionable narrators, etc.) and a reaction against Enlightenment ideas implicit in Modernist literature. (Wikipedia. s,f) -
Nineteen Eighty-Four by Orwell example of post modernism
Nineteen Eighty-Four centres on the consequences of government over-reach, totalitarianism, mass surveillance, and repressive regimentation of all persons and behaviours within society. -
Period: to
Contemporary
Many works published in the twentieth-century were examples of genre fiction. This designation includes the crime novels, spy novel, historical romance, fantasy, graphic novel, and science fiction.(Wikipedia s,f) -
Harry Potter by Rowling example of contemporary