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455
The old English (Anglo-Saxon) Period
During this period, written literature began to develop from the oral tradition, and in the 8th century written poetry appeared in the Anglo-Saxon vernacular.
The venerable Bede, in his monastery at jarrow completes histoy of the English church and people -
455
The earliest narrative poems of Old English literature and poets
:Famous works of ancient English literature
Epic narrative poems in the history of English literature:
- Beowolf: Which is a series of stories about a people called the Geats and a battle-hardened hero named "Beowulf" and Widsith.
Poets: Caedmon and Cynewulf -
Period: 455 to 1485
THE MEDIEVAL PERIOD
Also known as the Late English period.
-characterized by Christian morality and the chivalry code
-Translation of legal, medical or religious texts
- The population of this period was already literate and a considerable part was also bilingual and trilingual.
Characterized. -
1066
The Middle English Period
-Cultural life was influenced by the church.
-standard literary language derived from the dialect of the London
-Secular literature -
1066
During the period of medieval English literature, the most esteemed works include morality plays, miracle plays and interludes.
"Everyman", was a morality play of the time and miracle plays were taken from the bible and were frequently performed in churches.
-The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, The anonymus Sir Wagne and the green knight and Thomas Mallory mort the author.
hese are the notable literary works of this period. -
1469
Thomas Malory, in gaol,somewhere in England, compiles Morte d' Arthur an English account of the friends tales of king Arthur
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1485
Early Tudor Period
The war of the roses ended in England with Henry Tudor, Henry VII claiming the throne. Martin Luther's with rome marks the emergence of protestantism followed by Henry VII, XV anglicam protestant church schism which created the first protestant in England. -
Period: 1485 to
THE RENAISSANCE AND REFORMATION (1485-1660)
The classical renaissance
Finding a place for the human being in a changing world in free expression. -
1510
Erasmus y Thomas More take the northern Renaissance in the direction of christian humanism
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1558
Elizabethan period (Golden age)
During this time the medieval tradition was blended with renaissance optimism lyric poetry, prose and drama. Were the major styles of literature that flowered during the elizabethan age. -
1572
John Donne also played a larger role in the metaphysical poetry and beautiful sonnets of the Elizabethan era
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Edmund spenser: Known as the poet of poets, famous for "The Shepherds calendar" poem with 89 sonnets.
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contributed many historical dramas and tragedies, as well as romantic plays and comedies to the golden century. Among them is "Romeo and Juliet".
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Sir Francis Bacon popularized the scientific method of analysis and wrote many intellectual and analytical essays in this period and Thomas Middleton
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Jacobean Period
Produces rich prose and drama as well as the king James translation of the bible -
Caroline Age
-The writers of this age wrote with refinement and elegance
-This era produced a circle of poets known as the cavalier poets poets and dramatist. -
Commonwealth period/Puritan Interregnun
Includes the literature produced during the time of puritan leader oliver cromwell.
-The puritans closed theaters on moral and religious grounds for the next 18 years the theaters remained closed accounting for the lack of drama producing during this period.
This period produced political writings of:John Milton, Thomas Hobbes political treatise leviatha and the prose of andrew marvel. -
Period: to
THE ENLIGHTENMENT (NEOCLASSICAL PERIOD)
Refers to the increased influence of classical literature upon these countries.
-Is also called the enlightenment due to the increased reverence for logic and disdain for superstition.
-marks the first great age of english literary criticism -
Restoration Period
-Age of enlightenment
-Monarchy and the triumph of reason and tolerance over religious and political passion.
-Abundance of prose and poetry distinctive comedy of manners known as restoration comedy.
-Use of philosophy reason, skepticism with and refinement
-Science can help understand nature -
The Augustan Age
The brilliant literary period under emperor roman Augustus.
-Refining, clarity, elegance and balance of judgment -
The Age of Johnson
-Reflects the world view of enlightenment and began to emphasize instinct anfd feeling rather that judgment and restraint.
-Growing simphaty for the middle age during the ages of sensibility sparked an interest in medieval ballads and folk literature. -
The age of restoration in English literature
-John Dryden became one of the most prominent literary figures of this era. He wrote a famous heroic poem "Asta Redix"
-John Milton published paradise lost and paradise regained.
-Rober Buns
-John Locke wrote an essay on human understanding .
-Daniel Defoe experimented with prose narrative and wrote a novel called "Robinson Crusoe".
-In the field of prose, Richars Steel and Jonatah Swift were known for a satirical style. -
Period: to
THE ROMANTIC PERIOD
Characterized by :
-Mysterious nature
-Mortality and mutability
-Imagination
-Search for sublime
-Person emotion and experience
-Develop into Gothic Period -
English author Mary Wollstonecraft publishes a passionately feminist work, A vindication of the rights of woman.
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Pride and prejudice, based on youthful work of 1797 called first impressions, is the second of Jane Austen’s novels to be published
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Period: to
THE VICTORIAN PERIOD
-Deals with the issues and problems of the day
-Include the social, economic, religious and intellectual issues
-Industrial revolution
-Growing class tensions
-The early feminist movement
-Pressures toward political and social reform -
Period: to
AMERICAN RENAISSANCE PERIOD
-Expression of natural spirit the writers.
-Utilization of native dialect, history, landscape an character.
Some writers of this period were: Emily Dickenson, Whalt Whitman, Hernan Milvelle and Nathaniel Hawthorne. -
Oliver Wendell Holmes’ poems The Last is inspired by an aged survivor of the Boston Tea Party
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Period: to
TRASCENDENTALISM
- Philosophy or system of through based on the idea that humans are essentially good, that humanity's greatest thruths maybe formulated through insight rather than logic, and that there is essential unity to all creation. Notable writers: -Ralph Waldo and Henry David Thoreau
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Ebenezer srooge mends his ways just in time in Charles Dickens ‘ A Christmas carol’
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Period: to
AMERICAN REALISM AND REGIONALISM
-Attemptted to portray an accurate, detailed picture of ordinary, contemporary life.
-Character is more important that action and plot
-Humans control their destinities
-Render reality closely and in comprehensive detail.
-Events will usually be plausible
-Class is important
-Diction is natural vernacular
-The use of symbolism is controlled and limited. -
Notaible writers during this period
Mark Twain: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. -
Period: to
NATURALISM PERIOD
-Attempts to apply scientific principles of objective and detachment to its study of human beings.
-It focuses of the " brote within" of each individual
-Native is viewed as an indifferent force acting on the lives of human beings.
Notable writers:
-Edith Wharton
-Jack London -
H.G Wells publishes The time Machine,a story about a Time Traveller whose first stop on his journey is the year 802701
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Frank baum introduces children to Oz, in his book The wonderful Wizard of Oz
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Beatrix Potter publishes at her own expense The Tale of Peter Rabbit
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Period: to
THE MODERNISM
-Provided a radical break with traditional modes of literature
-Stylistic innovations -
Lucy Maud Montgomery’s first novel, Anne of Green Gables, bring her instant fame and fortune
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Edwardian period
The writing of the Edwardian périod reflect on these social conditions
during this time the british empire was at its height and the wealthy lived of materialistic luxury.
-Four-fifth of the english population lived in Squalor
Others writers of the time include:
William Butler Yates, Joseph Conrad, Rudyard Kilping, Henry James and E.M Forster. -
H.G Wells The history of Mr Polly, a novel about an escape from drab everyday existence
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Rupert Brooke’s 1914 and other poems is published a few months after this death in Greece
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Period: to
HARLEM RENAISSANCE
-An Explosion of African-America literature, art and music
-It marks the rise of black writers such as Baldwin and Ellison.
-Thi is the time when African-American received formal education. -
Period: to
THE LOST GENERATION
Generation of writes, many of them ere solders, who publishes in the years following
-These authors were said to be disillusioned by the large number of casualties of the WW1, cynical, disdainful of the antiquated nations of morality and propriety of them elders and ambivalent about gender ideals -
Virginia Woolf publishes her novel Mrs Dalloway, in which the action limited to a single day
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Irish author Frank Harris publishes the fourth and final volume of My life and Loves
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Scott Fitzgerald published the book soft is the night
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Georgian Period
It refers to the Period of British literature that is named after the reign of George V.
This era produced a group of poets known as the georgian poets.
-Experimented with the subject matter form and style and have produced achievements in all literary genres.
.Poets of the period includes:Yeats, T.S. Eliot, Dylan Thomas and Seamus Haney.
-Novelist Include: james Joyce, D.H Lawrence and Virginia Woolf
-Dramatists include: Noel Cow -
Us author Margaret Mitchell her one book, which becomes probably the best- selling novel of all the time-Gone with the wind
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Ernest hemingway publishes the novel For whom the Bell Tolls, set in the spanish civil war
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Period: to
POST MODERNISM (1945-PRESENT) Following world war II (1939-1945), the postmodernism period of British literature developed. Postmodernism blend literary genres and styles and attempts to break free of modernist forms.s
-Common Themes
-New form of war
-The rise of Multiculturalism & capitalism
-Information Age -
Period: to
Beat Generation
-A new cultural and literary movement internet of sheer numbers, but in influence and cultural status, they were more visible then any other competing aesthetic. -
C.S Lewis gives the first glimpse of Narnia in the Lion, the witch and wardrobe
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Period: to
Post colonialism literature
Post colonialism, the historical period or state of affray, representing the aftermath of western colonialism the term can also be used to describe the concurrent project to reclaim and rethink the histry and agency of people subordinated under various forms of imperialism -
Period: to
Confessional Poetry
- Confessional poetry is the poetry of the personal. -private experiences with and feeling about death, trauma, depression and relationship were addressed in this type of poetry, often in an autobiographical manner.
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US author maya Angelou publishes her autobiographical first novel, know why the caged Bird sings.
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A. Schoolboy Wizard perfoms his first tricks in J.K Rowling’s Harry Potter and the philosopher’s stone
