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450
Old English (Anglo-Saxon Period)
Encompasses literature written in Old English, in Anglo-Saxon England from the 7th century to the decades after the Norman Conquest of 1066. "Cædmon's Hymn", composed in the 7th century, according to Bede, is often considered as the oldest surviving poem in English. -
455
Classical Period
This period was characterized by all the great philosophers, writers, poets, playwrights. Who brought intellectual, religious and artistic influences to English literature. Authors such as Homer, Gorgias, Aesop, Plato, Socrates, Aristotle, Euripides among other artists of the classical Greek period. -
1066
Middle English Period
Middle English marks the middle period between Old English and Modern English. There came changes in pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar. In fact there were French loan words also. The considerable number of old loan words had already entered into the speech of the people. -
1500
The Renaissance
Renaissance literature developed around humanism, the new theory that emphasized the primordial role of the human being over any other consideration. At this time the world of letters received invention of the printing press by Gutenberg, a fact that led to access to literature by a larger public. This led to a greater concern for spelling and linguistics, with the emergence of the first grammar systems in vernacular languages and the first academies of national languages appeared. -
The Neoclassical Period
This time period is broken down into three parts: the Restoration period, the Augustan period, and the Age of Johnson. Writers of the Neoclassical period tried to imitate the style of the Romans and Greeks. -
The Romantic Period
As a term to cover the most distinctive writers who flourished in the last years of the 18th century and the first decades of the 19th century, "romantic" is indispensable but also a bit misleading: there was no self-described "romantic movement" at the time, and the great writers of the day did not call themselves romantics. -
The Victorian Age
English writing from this era reflects the major transformation in most aspects of English life, such as significant scientific, economic, and technological advances to changes in class structures and the role of religion in society. Prominent examples include poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning, and novelists Charles Dickens and Thomas Hardy. Barrett's poem entitled "Cry of the Children." -
The Edwardian Period
Edwardian era writers focused on the bigger picture: subversive ideas were presented metaphorically, symbolically, and in opposition to the liberating force of nature. Writers like E.M. Forster, Joseph Conrad, and H.G. Wells built upon the social conscience of Victorian era (1837-1901), writers such as Charles Dickens and Charlotte Bronte. Their epic Bildungsromans ‘Oliver Twist’ and ‘Jane Eyre’ -
The Georgian Period
Georgian literature, produced primarily in monasteries, was ecclesiastical; hymns and religious biographies and chronicles as well as Biblical and liturgical translations are among the principal works surviving from this period. Prince Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani wrote the outstanding prose Book of Wisdom and Lies and compiled the first Georgian dictionary. -
The Modern Period
The imaginative writing, verses, structure of the verses of Victorian period became obsolete. Writers work started losing the magic they used to have in previous age. Victorian writers were becoming rancid and their works were failing to evoke the spirit of the readers. Art has to be renewed in order to revitalize the readers. But victorian art works were lacking the surprising elements and freshness in the content. -
The Postmodern Period
That is characterized by the use of metafiction, unreliable narration, self-reflexivity, intertextuality, and which often thematizes both historical and political issues. postmodern literature include Miguel de Cervantes’ Don Quixote, Laurence Sterne’s Tristram Shandy, and Jack Kerouac's On the Road. American literature still features a strong current of postmodern writing, like the postironic Dave Eggers’ A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius.
