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1200 BCE
Classical Period (1200 BCE - 455 CE)
This period is divided into subsets 4, and each one contains important authors and works according to the topics of each context.
Homeric Period ( 1200 - 800 BCE)
Classical Greek Period (800 - 200 BCE)
Classical Roman Period (200 BCE - 455 CE)
Patristic Period ( 70 - 455 CE)
Authors: Homer, Platus, Ovid, Virgil, St. Augustine, Tertulian, St. Jerome
Works: ILIAD and ODYSSEY, Metamorphose, Fable, Bible Compilation
Topics: Poetry, drama, architecture, Fundamental Religious texts. (Chan, n.d.) -
450
Old English (Anglo - Saxon Period) 450 - 1066
It begins with the Germanic tradition of Anglo- Saxon settlers between the 5th and 11th centuries AD., in which the first long narrative poems in the history of English were Beowulf and Widsith. The first one is considered as the first English Epic Poem. (Leverage Edu, 2021)
Authors: Cynewulf and Caedmon.
Works: Genesis, Exodus, The Wanderer, Wife’s lament, Husband’s message, The battle of Maldon
Topics: Poetry, Prose -
455
The Medieval Period - 455 - 1485
It consists of 2 sub periods:
The Old English Period (428 - 1066): Literature resulting of the invasion of Celtic England by Germanic Tribes .
The Middle English Period ( 1066 - 1450) : Literature written between the Norman Conquest and the statement of modern English.
Authors: Thomas Malory, Geoffrey Chaucer
Works: Beowulf, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Morte d'Arthur
Topics: Poetry, Biblical Themes, Secular Literature, Chivalry Code. (Chan, n.d.) -
1066
Middle English Period – 1066 – 1500
It encompasses a time in which the population of England was bilingual and trilingual and most of them were literate. One of the most know poets during the period between 1342 and 1400 was Geoffrey Chaucer famous for his love poetry we can mention Canterbury tales. (Leverage Edu, 2021) Authors: Geoffrey Chaucer, William Langland
Works: Canterbury Tales, The House of Fame, The Book of Duchess, Morality Plays,
Topics: Love Poetry, Allegory, Ballad. -
1500
The Renaissance – 1485-1660
It consists of five subsets in Britain and other places in Europe: Early Tudor Period, Elizabethan Period, Jacobean Period, Caroline Age, Commonwealth Period (Chan, n.d.)
Authors: William Shakespeare, John Donne , John Bunyan, Edmund Spenser, Ben Jonson, Francis Bacon
Works: Utopia, The Faerie Queene , Doctor Faustus, King James Translation of the Bible, Political writings of John Milton, Thomas Hobbes Political Treatise Leviathan
Topics: Free Expression, Classical Reborn, Drama -
Neoclassical Period - 1660 - 1790
This period refers to the influence of classical literature during this time, which is divided in the following way:
Restoration Period (1660 - 1700)
The Augustan Age (1700 - 1750)
The Age of Jonhson ( 1750 - 1790)
It's greatly influenced by contemporaty French Literature
Authors: John Milton, John Dryden, Alexander Pope, Daniel Defoe, Samuel Richardson
Works: Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained, Pamela
Topics: Science, Phiilosophy , Use of skepticism and refinement in literature. (Chan, n.d.) -
The Romantic Period – 1785 -1832
Literature was characterized for being unreal, sentimental, and over imaginative, and its majority was divided into English and German writing (Pubstarr, n.d.) Authors: Casper David Friedrich, Joseph Mallard William Turner, Johann Gottried Herder, William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor, Lord Byron,
Works: The Polar Sea, The Great Western Railroad, Don Juan, Lucinde, The Sorrows of Young Werther
Topics: art, religious reverence, poetry, novels -
American Renaissance 1830 - 1865
It's described by the the expression of national spirit, thereby, writers' main feature was using native dialect, history and landscapes for exploring Amercan issues. . (Chan, n.d.)
Authors: Emily Dickenson, Herman Milvelle, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Whalt Whitman
Works: The Complete Poems, Song of Myself, The Scarlet Letter
Topics: History, American Issues, poems -
The Victorian Age – 1832 – 1901
This period encompasses the love poems of Elizabeth and Robert Browning and the Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson’s adventure stories and novels (Kampf, n.d.)
Authors: Elizabeth and Robert Browning, Robert Louis Stevenson’s, William Butler Yeats, Virginia Woolfe, James Joyce
Works: Idylls of the King, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
Topics: Love Poems -
Transcendentalism 1835 - 1860
It was a philosophical movement which started in America and developed to the literary expression; therefore, it was believed that knowledge was gained by intuition and contemplation, not only by the senses and the contemplation of the internal spirit had great importance (Chan, n.d.) Authors: Ralph Waldo, Henry David Thoreau
Works: Self Reliance, Walking
Topics: Unity to all creation, philosophy that stated humans as essencially good, insight over logic about humanity's truth (Chan, n.d.) -
The American Realism and Regionalism 1855 - 1900
It was a great literaty movement which tried to present an specific image of contemporary life. This peridod ensued by the cilvi war, that's why the literature of this time was related to this event based on its realism (Chan, n.d.)
Authors: Mark Twain
Works: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn
Topics: Realism, Civil War, Slavery, Humans control their destiny, Character is more important than plot -
The Critical Realistic Period – The mid and late 19th century
Its social background is about the fight between workless and capitalist, the Victorian morality and Chartist movement. Hence, the literature of this period is based on fiction as Dickens being one of its main figures (Leverage Edu, 2021) Authors: Charles Dickens, Tennyson, George Elliot
Works: Oliver Twist, A Tale of Two Cities, In Memoriam
Topics: Fiction, Critical Realism, Criticism of society, -
Naturalism 1890 - 1910
This period is own of the U.S in which uses scientific principles of objectivity and detachment for studying humans (Chan, n.d.) Authors: Jack London, Edith Wharton
Works: White Fang, Burning Daylight, The Sea - Wolf
Topics: It focuses on the brute within each individual, Nature is an indifferent force on the lives of human beings (Chan, n.d.) -
The Modern Period – Early 20th century
Its social background is made of the difference or gap between wealthy and poor people. It’s also known by the born of several philosophical ideas (Leverage Edu, 2021) Authors: John Galsworthy, H. G Wells, Arnold Bennett
Works: Sons and Lovers, Women in Love, Lady Chatterley’s Lover
Topics: Modernism, theory of psychoanalysis, philosophy, Realistic novels, Modernism in Fiction -
The Lost Generation 1918 - 1940
There was a generation of writers who were soldiers and presented their works after WW1. Hence, these authors felt disdain due to the disillusion for the large number of casualties during this war. (Chan, n.d.) Authors: Enerst Hemingway; F. Scott Fitzgerald
Works: The Great Gatsby, Tender is the Night,
Topics: War, Gender Ideals -
Harlem Renaissance 1918 - 1930
During this time African-American had access to formal education. There was a particular concentration of this population that migrated to northern cities in search of economic and creative opportunities which included photographers, musicians and writers , the name of this period is dued to the city of Harlem in New York (Chan, n.d.)
Authors: Baldwin and Ellison
Works: Home to Harlem, Black no More, the Walls of Jericho
Topics: African - American Literature, art, music. -
The Postmodern Period – Mid – 20th century
Taking place WW2 the postmodern period mixes literary genres and styles and attempts to break free of modernist forms. (Chan, n.d.)
Authors: John Osborne, William S. Burroughs, Jean Rhys, Ted Hughes, Robert Lowell, Anne Sexton, Sylvia Plath, William S. Burroughs
Works: Look Back in Anger, Wide Sargasso Sea’ , Pastiche the combination of genres to create a unique narrative. (Learning Literature with Purba, n.d.)
Topics: New Forms of War, Multiculturalism, Information Age -
Beat Generation 1948 - 1960
During the decade of the 50s this new cultural and literary movement claimed on nation's consciousness. The Beat Generation influenced in cultural status (Chan, n.d.) Authors: The movement produced significant writers such as: Gregory Corso, Gary Snyder, and LeRoi Jones (Britannica, n.d.)
Works: On the Road, Howl and other Poems, A Coney Island of the Mind
Topics: Personal release, purification, illumination that might be induced by drugs, jazz, sex , poetry (Chan, n.d.) -
Postcolonial Literature 1950s to Present
A historical period which represents the results of westerm colonialism, it also describes the project to rethink and reclaim the history of people subordinated under varios forms of imperialism. (Chan, n.d.)
Authors: Jean Rhys, Chinua Achebe
Works: An Image of Africa, A Man of the People
Topics: Colonialism, imperialism, third world countries in Africa, history, culture, literature of Asia, Africa and South America