Chronological overview of English literature

Old English (Anglo-Saxon) Period (450–1066)

450

-The term Anglo-Saxon comes from two Germanic tribes: the Angles and the Saxons.
-This period of literature dates back to their invasion of Celtic England circa 450 and ends in 1066.
-Much of the first half of this period - prior to the seventh century, at least—had oral literature.
- A lot of the prose during this time was a translation of something else or otherwise legal, medical, or religious in nature.
Works: Beowulf
Authors: Caedmon and Cynewulf

Middle English Period (1066–1500)

1066

-The Middle English period sees a huge transition in the language, culture, and lifestyle of England and results in what we can recognize today as a form of “modern” (recognizable) English.
-Much of the Middle English writings were religious in nature; however, from about 1350 onward, secular literature began to rise.
-The era extends to around 1500
Works: Piers Plowman and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
Authors: Chaucer, Thomas Malory, and Robert Henryson

The Renaissance (1500–1660)

1558

This period is subdivided into four parts:
-The Elizabethan Age (1558–1603)
Was the golden age of English drama.
Some of its noteworthy figures include Christopher Marlowe and William Shakespeare.
-The Jacobean Age (1603–1625)
It includes the works of John Donne, Elizabeth Cary, and Lady Mary Wroth.
-The Caroline Age (1625–1649)
John Milton, Robert Burton, and George Herbert are some of the notable figures.
-The Commonwealth Period (1649–1660)
Authors: Thomas Hobbes and Andrew Marvell.

The Neoclassical Period (1600–1785)

1600

This is period is subdivided into ages:
-The Restoration (1660–1700)
This period sees some response to the puritanical age, especially in the theater.
Authors: William Congreve,Samuel Butler, and Aphra Behn.
-The Augustan Age (1700–1745)
Was the time of Alexander Pope and Jonathan Swift, who imitated those first Augustans.
Other authors: Daniel Defoe and Lady Mary Wortley.
-The Age of Sensibility (1745–1785)
Ideas such as neoclassicism, and the Enlightenment were championed during this age.

The Romantic Period (1785–1832)

1785

-Period of British literature, perhaps the most popular and well-known of all literary ages.
-This era includes the works of such juggernauts as Wordsworth, Coleridge, William Blake, Lord Byron, John Keats, Charles Lamb, Mary Wollstonecraft, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Thomas De Quincey, Jane Austen, and Mary Shelley.

The Victorian Period (1832–1901)

1832

-It was a time of great social, religious, intellectual, and economic issues, heralded by the passage of the Reform Bill, which expanded voting rights.
-The period has often been divided into “Early” (1832–1848), “Mid” (1848–1870) and “Late” (1870–1901).
Authors: Poets of this time include Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Christina Rossetti, Alfred Lord Tennyson, and Matthew Arnold, among others.

The Edwardian Period (1901–1914)

1901

-The era includes incredible classic novelists such as Joseph Conrad, Ford Madox Ford, Rudyard Kipling, H.G. Wells, and Henry James; notable poets such as Alfred Noyes and William Butler Yeats; and dramatists such as James Barrie, George Bernard Shaw, and John Galsworthy.

The Georgian Period (1910–1936):

1910

-Here, we refer to the former description as it applies chronologically and covers, for example, the Georgian poets, such as Ralph Hodgson, John Masefield, W.H. Davies, and Rupert Brooke.
-Georgian poetry today is typically considered to be the works of minor poets anthologized by Edward Marsh. The themes and subject matter tended to be rural or pastoral in nature, treated delicately and traditionally.

The Modern Period (1914–?)

1914

-Applies to works written after the start of World War I.
-Common features include bold experimentation with subject matter, style, and form, encompassing narrative, verse, and drama.
-It is difficult to say whether modernism has ended, though we know that postmodernism has developed after and from it; for now, the genre remains ongoing.
-Some of the most notable writers of this period include the novelists James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, and the dramatists Tom Stoppard, Samuel Beckett.

The Postmodern Period (1945–?)

1945

-Begins about the time that World War II ended.
-Many believe it is a direct response to modernism.
-Poststructuralist literary theory and criticism developed during this time.
-Some notable writers of the period include Samuel Beckett, Joseph Heller, Anthony Burgess, John Fowles, Penelope M. Lively, and Iain Banks.
-Many postmodern authors wrote during the modern period as well.