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Period: 450 to 1066
Anglo Saxon
The term Anglo-Saxon comes from two Germanic tribes, the Angles and the Saxons. This period of literature dates back to their invasion (along with the Jutes) of Celtic England circa 450. The era ends in 1066, when Norman France, under William, conquered England. A lot of the prose during this time was a translation of something else or legal, medical, or religious in nature; however, some works, such as "Beowulf," and those by period poets Caedmon and Cynewulf, are important. -
Period: 1066 to 1500
Middle English Period.
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” English. Much of the Middle English writings were religious in nature; however, from about 1350 onward, secular literature began to rise. This period is home to the likes of Chaucer, Thomas Malory, and Robert Henryson. Notable works include "Piers Plowman" and "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight." -
Period: 1500 to
The Renaissance.
The “Renaissance.” This period is subdivided into four parts, including the Elizabethan Age (1558–1603), the Jacobean Age (1603–1625), the Caroline Age (1625–1649), and the Commonwealth Period (1649–1660). Some of its noteworthy figures include Christopher Marlowe, Francis Bacon, Walter Raleigh, and, of course, William Shakespeare.John Milton and Thomas Hobbes’ political writings appeared and, while drama suffered, writers such as Thomas Fuller, and Andrew Marvell published prolifically. -
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The Neoclassical Period.
The Neoclassical period is also subdivided into ages; The Restoration (1660–1700), The Augustan Age (1700–1745), and The Age of Sensibility (1745–1785). The Restoration period sees some response to the puritanical age, especially in the theater. The notable writers of the age include Behn, Bunyan, and Locke. The Augustan Age was the time of Pope and Swift, who imitated those first Augustans. The Age of Sensibility was the time of Burke, Gibbon, Thrale, Boswell, and, of course, Johnson. -
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The Romantic Period.
"Lyrical Ballads," is its true beginning. The time period ends with the passage of the Reform Bill (which signaled the Victorian Era) and with the death of Sir Scott. 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. Too the Gothic era. Writers of note for this period include Matthew Lewis, Anne Radcliffe, and William Beckford. -
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The Victorian Period.
This period is named for the reign of Queen Victoria.This period is the most popular, influential, and prolific period in all of English literature. Poets of this time include Robert and Elizabeth,Browning, Rossetti, and Arnold, among others. The prose fiction found its place under the auspices of Charles Dickens, Charlotte and Emily Bronte, Elizabeth Gaskell, George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans), Anthony Trollope, Thomas Hardy, William Makepeace Thackeray, and Samuel Butler. -
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The Edwardian Period.
This period is named for King Edward VII and covers the period between Victoria’s death and the outbreak of World War I. Although a short period 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, as well as dramatists such as James Barrie, George Bernard Shaw, and John Galsworthy. -
Period: to
The Georgian Period
The Georgian period refers to the reign of George V (1910–1936). Covers 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 rather than with passion or with experimentation. -
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The Modern Period
The modern period traditionally applies to works written after the start of World War .Some of the most notable writers of this period, among many, include the novelists James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, Aldous Huxley, D.H. Lawrence, Joseph Conrad, Dorothy Richardson, Graham Greene, E.M. Forster, and Doris Lessing; the poets W.B. Yeats, T.S. Eliot, W.H. Auden, Seamus Heaney, Wilfred Owens. -
Period: to
The Postmodern Period
The postmodern period begins about the time that World War II ended. Some say the period ended about 1990, but it is likely too soon to declare this period closed. 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.