English Literature

450 - 1066 OLD ENGLISH / ANGLO-SAXON PERIOD

450

Content:
- Strong belief in fate
-Admiration of heroic warriors
-Literature was used for expressing moral instructions and religious faith. Genres:
-Poetry dominant
- Unique verse form. Alliteration/repetition
- Oral tradition of literature Events:
- Language closer to modern German than modern English
- Christianity helps literacy to spread Key literature & Authors:
- Beowulf, "The Wanderer"
- Exeter book

1066 - 1485 THE MIDDLE ENGLISH PERIOD (MEDIEVAL PERIOD)

1066

Content:
-Religious devotion
-Chilvaric code of honor/ romances Genres:
- Frame stories
- Oral tradition continues
- Mystery and miracle plays Events:
- John Wycliffe translated the whole Bible in English.
- It's an unfinished collection of comic and moral stories told by a group.
- Church instructs its people through morality and miracle plays. Key literature & Authors:

• Geoffrey Chaucer (1340 - 1400)
• John Wycliffe ( 1320 - 1384)
• Domesday book
• L`Morte de Arthur

1485 - 1660 THE RENAISSANCE

1485

Content:
- Popular themes: Development of human potential
Many aspects of love explored.
- World view shifts form religion. Genres:
- Poetry / metaphysical poetry
- Drama: written in verse / supported by royalty/tragedies, histories Events:
- Not all middle-class embrace the metaphysical poets
- Conservatives try to close theaters on grounds that they promote brazen behaviors. Authors:
- Willian Shakespeare (He wrote historical plays)
- Sit Thomas More (Utopia)

1660 - 1798 THE NEOCLASSICAL PERIOD

1660

Content:
-Emphasis on reason and logic
-Stresses harmony, stability, wisdom
- Locke: a social contract exists between the goverment and the people Genres:
- Satire
- Poetry
- letters, diaries, biographies Events:
- Approach to life: "the world as it should be"
- Belief that humanity is basically evil
- Factories begin to spring up as industrial revolution begins Key literature & Authors:

• Alexander Pope (1688 - 1744)
• Daniel Defoe (1660 - 1731)
• Jonathan Swift (1667 - 1745)

1798 - 1832 THE ROMANTIC PERIOD

1798

Content:
-Human knowledge consists of impressions and ideas formed in the individual's mind
- Introduction of gothic elements and terror/horror stories and novels Genres:
- Poetry
- Lyrical ballads Events:
- Human beings are basically good
- Evil attributed to society not to human nature
- Children seen as hapless victims of poverty and exploitation
- Gas lamps developed Key literature & Authors:

• Jane Austen
• Mary Shelley
• Robert Burns
• Lord Byron
• John Keats

1832 - 1901 THE VICTORIAN PERIOD

1832

Content:
-Conflict between those in power and the common masses of laborers and the poor
-Country versus city life
-Aristocratic villains Genres:
- Novels
- Poetry
- Drama
- Magazines ofter stories to masses Events:
- Literature begins to reach the masses
- Magazines and novels cheap to mass produce
- Novel Vanity Fair: describes a vivid picture of early 19th century society Key literature & Authors:

• Charles Dickens
• Charles Darwin
• Robert Browning
• Oscar Wilde

1901 - (Subject to debate) The Modern Period

1901

Content:
-The European Renaissance,, the American Revolution, the French Revolution, the Industrial Revolution, and the Russian Revolution. Genres:
- Novel
- Poetry
- Ephifanies begin to appear in literature Events:
- British Empire loses 1 million soldiers to World War I
- Winston Churchill leads Britain trhough WW II and the Germans
- Arthur Conan Doyle brought the figure of sherlock holmes into English literature. Key literature & Authors:

• James Joyee
• Virginia Woolf
• Joseph Conrad