-
450
CLICK ON THE BLUE BAR
TO WATCH A DESCRIPTION OF EACH PERIOD PLEASE CLICK ON THE BLUE BAR, THANKS!! -
Period: 450 to 1066
Old English
The first literature of the Anglo-Saxons was poetry rather than prose. Because f the rhythm, poetry was easier to remember than prose. It was not written but recited or sung and passed down by word of mouth. The main topics were: Love or freedom, responsiveness to nature, strong religious convictions, reverence for womanhood, devotion to glory as of the ruling motive in every warrior’s life. The Anglo-Saxon poet was called scop, who wandered from place to place composing their poems. -
500
Beowulf (Anonym)
-
658
Caedmon
Caedmon Hymn -
900
Cynewulf
These poems are The Fates of the Apostles,
Juliana, Elene, and Christ II -
Period: 1066 to 1500
Middle English
The medieval English started when William the Conqueror invaded England from Normandy (France) in 1066. Literature written in English was found just 100 years after the Norman Invasion, Latin was the common language to write, as well French was also used by the aristocracy. The literature became refined and characterized by an air of courtliness, sentiment, and ornateness. The main literary genres were Romance (Arthur and Sir Gawain), Lyric, and Drama. -
1387
Chaucer
The Canterbury Tales. -
1483
Robert Henryson
Morall Fabillis -
1485
Thomas Malory
Le Morte d'Arthur -
Period: 1500 to
Renaissance
This period was subdivided into four: Elizabethan Age, The Jacobean Age, The Caroline Age, and The Commonwealth Period -
Period: 1500 to
Elizabethan Age
The Elizabethan Age, England experienced a revived interest in Greek and Roman literature, Bible became available to the people. Translations, Greek, Latin, writers flooded the literary market. The Italian sonnet was introduced to England by Wyatt, and also Lyric Poetry. The Romantic allegory by Edmund Spencer and the first piece of literary criticism were written. The Drama reached its Zenith, and became more secular than religious being William Shakespeare the most important ever. -
Christopher Marlowe
Tamburlaine -
William Shakespeare
Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth. -
Edmund Spenser
The Faerie Queene. -
Francis Bacon
Essays, The Advancement and Proficience of Learning Divine and Human (1605) -
Period: to
The Jacobean Age
The Jacobean Age is named after the reign of James I. The King James translation of the Bible also appeared during the Jacobean Age. During his age, it was the development of the extravagant courtly entertainment known as the masque, which reached its literary peak. In prose, Francis Bacon and Robert Burton were among the writers who displayed a new toughness and flexibility of style. -
Ben Jonson
The Alchemist. -
John Donne
Devotions upon Emergent Occasions -
Period: to
The Caroline Age
The Caroline Age covers the reign of Charles I (“Carolus”). The Caroline age is named after Charles I (1625-1649). Caroline is an adjective of Carolus, the Latin word for Charles. The age of Caroline is an age of poetry of three kinds or schools: Metaphysical, Cavalier, and Puritan schools of poetry. Let‘s see the characteristics of the Caroline Age. -
Robert Burton
The Anatomy of Melancholy. -
George Herbert
The Temple, Sacred Poems, and Private Ejaculations. -
Period: to
The Commonwealth Period
During the seventeenth century, the age of puritans, people who believed that Christians should live a pure and holy life, gained tremendous political, ecclesiastical, and social power. The Masterpieces during this term were produced by John Milton. Besides puritans other writers were included: Metaphysical poets, their topics were pleasures of this world, and women love. The prose of the period elevated particularly argument and controversy in government, philosophical and religious subjects. -
Thomas Hobbes
Leviathan. (The Caroline Age) -
Period: to
Neoclassical
This period is divided into three moments: The Restoration, The Augustan Age, The Age of Sensibility. -
Period: to
The Restoration
The Restoration writers were influentied by the French literature of the court of Louis XIV.The subjects appealed to the cold intellect and were the most presented in satirical, didactic, and argumentative manner. “The last resort a man has recourse to in the conduct of himself is his understanding” Locke. This declaration embodies a tendency of the age. -
John Milton
Paradise Lost. (The Caroline Age) -
John Dryden
The Tempest. -
William Congreve
Love for Love. -
Period: to
The Augustan Age
This period is related to the reign of Queen Anne and King George. It was a literary epoch that let the development of the novel, produced an explosion of satire, the drama became melodrama, and poetry was about personal reflection. Writings on Phylosophy, economics, and science gave capitalism the basis for its foundational and development. -
Daniel Defoe
Robinson Crusoe. 1 -
Jonathan Swift
Gulliver's Travels. -
Period: to
The Age of Sensibility.
The Age of Sensibility (sometimes referred to as the Age of Johnson) was the time of Ideas such as neoclassicism, a critical and literary mode, and the Enlightenment, a particular worldview shared by many intellectuals, were championed during this age. Novelists to explore include. -
Samuel Butler
"Hudibras" (The Restoration) -
Samuel Johnson
The Patriot. -
Thomas Percy
The Reliques of Ancient English Poetry. -
Period: to
Romantic
The Romantic Age began as a deliberate movement in 1798 with the publication of Lyric Ballads. Poets turned away the timeworn tradition of using nobility for their characters and turned to the common people and the simple things of field, home, and daily life. The Bible appeared again to refining and purifying the thoughts, giving people love for nature as the creation of God. The view of man was one of great respect for the individual and his liberty and strong faith in the common man. -
Wordsworth
Lyrical Ballads. -
Jane Austen
Pride and Prejudice. -
Lord Byron
Prometheus. -
Mary Shelley
Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. -
Period: to
Victorian
Victorian literature reflects all the crosscurrents of the era. There was an emphasis on realism, it was truthfulness in reflecting the practical problems and issues of daily life. It also reflects the moral earnestness of the time. Writers were moral teachers, presented love, truth, and brotherhood. It was an age of prose where magazines and newspapers flourished. Victorian poets were more concerned with contemporary issues of the society, it had a message as well as song. -
Charles Dickens
Oliver Twist -
Thomas Carlyle
Latter-Day Pamphlets -
Elizabeth Barrett
Two Poems: "A Plea for the Ragged Schools of London" and "The Twins". -
Rudyard Kipling
The Jungle Book. (Edwardian) -
Period: to
Edwardian
Edwardian literature was more intense, social, and political. Novels started a new style of writing. The questions about the order in society, political structures, institutions, and female emancipation dominated this age. -
George Bernard Shaw
Man and Superman. -
Alfred Noyes
Walking Shadow. -
H.G. Wells
The War in the Air. -
Period: to
Georgian
The Georgian era is featured as a fictional time, in which long prose and satirical in nature were some of the issues. Novels expressed societal stigmas, using humor and hard-hitting messages. -
James Joyce
Dubliners -
Period: to
Modern
The literature of the 20th century was characterized by realism. Writers dwelt on cruel, harsh realities of life which they experienced during the pre-war and war years. Literature was greatly influenced by psychological studies. New styles and techniques emerged in the literature as imagism, surrealism, and existentialism. Some topics were social protest and ridicule of society. It was also called the Age of Anxiety. The drama was affected by political decisions generating new conceptions. -
John Masefield
Sard Harker (Heinemann)
(Georgian) -
Samuel Beckett
Echo's Bones and Other Precipitates. -
Aldous Huxley
The Perennial Philosophy.
(Modern) -
Period: to
Postmodern
Postmodernism expresses a shift on topics as the dehumanization of the post-second world war and the era of the onslaught of consumer capitalism. Postmodernism shares many features of modernism but mixes low and high art, past and future conceptions, one and another genre. It uses many stylistic resources such as parody, pastiche, fragmented think-way, ambiguity, and multiple interpretations. As well it considers fragmentation and disorientation as the only possible way of existence. -
Graham Greene
The Third Man.
(Modern) -
Anthony Burgess
Time for a Tiger. -
Ralph Hodgson.
The Skylark
(Georgian) -
Joseph Heller
Catch-22 -
John Fowles
Wormholes - Essays and Occasional Writings -
Penelope M. Lively
Family Album.