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Period: 426 to
Old English or Anglo-Saxon
It is an early form of the English language that was spoken in a good part of what is now England and in the south of Scotland It was an inflectional language with a lot of freedom in its syntax, unlike today's English. The writings that have arrived until our days represent especially the literary register of the Anglo-Saxon. -
500
V century
The Anglo-Saxon migrations gave rise to the birth of England -
600
King Arthur
The first references to Arturo are found in Celtic literatures, in Welsh poems such as Y Gododdin (collection of elegiac poems to the heroes of the kingdom of Gododdin). The first story of the life of the personage is in the History Regum Britanniae (History of the kings of Britania), of Geoffrey de Monmouth, who configured the main features of his legend. Monmouth presents Arthur as a king of Britain who defeated the Saxons and established an empire in the British Isles. -
665
Middle Ages
The first words in English, written in an Anglo-Saxon dialect known as Old English, appeared at the beginning of the Middle Ages. -
Period: 673 to 735
English history
The Venerable Bede, in his monastery at Jarrow, completes his history of the English church and people -
800
Beowulf
The first great work of Germanic literature, mingles the legends of Scandinavia with the experience in England of Angles and Saxons -
950
Eddas
The material of the Eddas, taking shape in Iceland, derives from earlier sources in Norway, Britain and Burgundy.
10th centuryLiteratureLiterature in EnglishPoetryBritish IslesEuropeFranceNorwayBritain -
1130
History of the kings of Brittany
The book chronologically chronicles the lives of the kings of the Britons, beginning with the Trojans who escaped the Trojan War and founded the British nation; and it ends when the Anglo-Saxons occupied the country in the seventh century.
It is a valuable work of medieval literature, containing the oldest known version of the story of King Lear and his three daughters, and helped readers who did not speak Welsh know the legend of King Arthur -
Period: 1200 to 1500
Writing in Romance language, verse and prose.
The poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight shows a great part of the characteristics of the literature of this era: located in the times of the legendary Arturo, the work emphasizes the behavior of knights with religious overtones. -
1340
Ockham's Razor
William of Ockham advocates paring down arguments to their essentials, an approach later known as Ockham's Razor -
1367
Epic poem
A narrator who calls himself Will, and whose name may be Langland, begins the epic poem of Piers Plowman -
1375
The courtly poem
The courtly poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight tells of a mysterious visitor to the round table of King Arthur -
1385
Troilus and Criseyde
Chaucer completes Troilus and Criseyde, his long poem about a legendary love affair in ancient Troy -
1387
Chaucer
Chaucer begins an ambitious scheme for 100 Canterbury Tales, of which he completes only 24 by the time of his death. -
Period: 1430 to 1400
Geoffrey Chaucer
His most famous work is the Canterbury Tales, a collection of disparate genre stories told by a group of pilgrims traveling to Canterbury. -
1469
Thomas Malory
Thomas Malory, in gaol somewhere in England, compiles Morte d'Arthur – an English account of the French tales of King Arthur -
1476
William Caxton
He introduced the printing press in England. From that moment, the vernacular literature began to flourish. -
1484
Tales of Caunterbury
The version of the work that prevails today comes from two different English manuscripts, the Ellesmere and the Hengwrt manuscripts. His greatest contribution to English literature was the popularization of vernacular English in literature, as opposed to French, Italian and Latin. -
1510
Christian humanism
Erasmus and Thomas More take the northern Renaissance in the direction of Christian humanism -
1524
William Tyndale
William Tyndale studies in the university at Wittenberg and plans to translate the Bible into English -
1549
Book of Common Prayer
The first version of the English prayer book, or Book of Common Prayer, is published with text by Thomas Cranmer -
Period: 1558 to
Elizabethan literature
The Elizabethan Era witnessed the flourishing of literature, especially drama: producing the so-called Elizabethan theater.
The Elizabethan era is the era in English history marked by the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558-1603), and until the death of James I in 1625. Historians often portray this period as the golden age of England history.
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1564
Marlowe and Shakespeare
Marlowe and Shakespeare are born in the same year, with Marlowe the older by two months -
1567
The Book of Common Prayer and the New Testamen
Published in Welsh, to be followed by the complete Bible in 1588 -
Romeo and Julieta by William Shakespeare
Tells the story of two young lovers who, despite the opposition of their families, rivals to each other, decide to marry clandestinely and live together; However, the pressure of that rivalry and a series of fatalities lead to the couple choosing suicide rather than living separately. -
Period: to
Renaissance literature
English Renaissance or in England are historiographical designations for the artistic and cultural productions of the Renaissance in England, in the period from the end of the 15th century to the beginning of the 17th century. -
Period: to
Literature of the restoration
Includes works as disparate as John Milton's Paradise Lost, John Wilmot's Sodom, William Wycherley's comedy The Country Wife or John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. The most outstanding poetic form was satire. In general, the satires were published in an anonymous way to avoid serious problems for the author, such as the "defamation law", or the anger of the nobles who were criticized. John Dryden
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Period: to
The King Jacobo Bible
It is one of the most important translation projects in English literature. -
The Knight of the Burning Pestle
A parody of made by John Fletcher and Francis Beaumont which refers to the middle class, especially those new rich who pretend to have a great literary taste when in fact they know very little about literature. -
Baroque poetry of the century VII
This poetry is similar to the artistic style of the same name: elevated, epic and religious. Many of the poets who cultivated this style had a special Catholic sensibility and wrote their poems to support the anti-Catholic reform; They wanted to create a feeling of supremacy and mysticism that would make Protestant readers return to Catholicism. -
Period: to
Georgian era
It was a period of British history that, in its most usual definition, includes the reigns of George I, George II, George III and George IV, extending from 1714 to 1830. It includes the period of the Regency, which coincides with the regency of George IV as Prince of Wales during the illness of his father, George III. Sometimes the reign of William IV (between 1830 and 1837) is also included as part of this period. -
The first English novel
Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, with its detailed realism, can be seen as the first English novel -
Ane Austen
Ane Austen (Steventon, December 16, 1775-Winchester, July 18, 1817) was a British novelist who lived during the Georgian era. The irony that he employs to endow his novels with comedy makes Jane Austen considered among the classics of the English novel. -
The Independence of the USA Inspired by the book Treatises on Government written by John Locke
The war of Independence of the United States was a warlike conflict that faced the Thirteen original British Colonies in North America against the Kingdom of Great Britain. -
The Rights of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft
English author Mary Wollstonecraft publishes a passionately feminist work, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman -
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English writer and novelist, one of the most recognized of universal literature, and the most outstanding of the Victorian era. He was master of the narrative genre, to which he printed certain doses of humor and irony, while practicing a sharp social criticism.
Date of birth: February 7, 1812, Landport, Portsmouth, United Kingdom
Death: June 9, 1870, Gads Hill Place, United Kingdom
Works: History of two cities, The Frozen Deep, Dead end street -
Period: to
Percy Bysshe Shelley
Publishes probably his best-known poem, the sonnet Ozymandias -
Mary Shelley Work The monster of Frankenstein
(He was born in London, August 30, 1797 dies February 1, 1851) It is a fictional character that appeared for the first time in the novel by Mary Shelley, Frankenstein or the modern Prometheus. It is a being created from different parts of corpses, which is granted life by Victor Frankenstein (its creator) during an experiment. The character has become part of popular culture and has been a source for the creation of other characters in novels, comics, television series and films. -
Novel Coningsby Benjamin Disraeli
In his novel Coningsby Benjamin Disraeli develops the theme of Conservatism uniting 'two nations', the rich and the poor -
Novel Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray
English author William Makepeace Thackeray begins publication of his novel Vanity Fair in monthly parts (book form 1848) -
Charles Dickens
Begins the publication in monthly numbers of David Copperfield, his own favourite among his novels -
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
The book is the narration by David, from his birth to his death, and those who surrounded him, for better or for worse -
Theory of evolution in On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin puts forward the theory of evolution in On the Origin of Species, the result of 20 years' research -
Alice in Wonderland Written by the British Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, under the pseudonym of Lewis Carroll
The story tells how a girl named Alice falls through a hole, finding herself in a peculiar world, populated by humans and anthropomorphic creatures. The book plays with logic, giving the novel great popularity in both children and adults. It is considered one of the best novels of the genre of the Sinsentido. His narrative and structure, together with his characters, have been a great influence in popular culture as well as in literature, especially in the fantasy genre. -
Treasure Island pulished by Robert Louis Stevenson
It is an adventure novel that has inspired cinema, television, literature, comics and even video games. The novel adopts a critical tone and a moral reflection of the protagonist towards money and ambition. -
Publication of a new dictionary by the University of Oxford
Oxford University Press publishes the A volume of its New English Dictionary, which will take 37 years to reach Z -
Bram Stoker publishes Dracula
English author Bram Stoker publishes Dracula, his gothic tale of vampirism in Transylvania -
Period: to
20th and 21st century contemporary literature
In this period are personages with very important works that continue contributing to the literary richness of the English language -
Peter pan by James Matthew Barrie
Peter Pan is a child who never grows up, is ten years old and hates the world of adults. He is always accompanied by his fairy (Campanilla). The dust it gives off makes Peter able to fly indefinitely. He lives in the land of Neverland, an island populated by pirates as well as Indians, fairies and sirens, where he lives numerous adventures with his friends, the Lost Boys. -
Man Superman by Bernard shaw
Bernard Shaw has two new plays opening in London in the same year, Major Barbara and Man and Superman -
Rupert Brooke publishes Poems
Rupert Brooke publishes Poems, the only collection to appear before his early death in World War I -
James Joyce's novel Portrait
James Joyce's novel Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man begins serial publication in a London journal, The Egoist -
Sapper's patriotic hero makes his first appearance
Sapper's patriotic hero makes his first appearance, taking on the villainous Carl Peterson in Bull-dog Drummond -
The Forsyte Saga published John Galsworthy
John Galsworthy publishes his novels about the Forsyte family as a joint collection under the title The Forsyte Saga -
Ulysses Written by James Joyce
It is considered by much of the critic the best novel in English language of the twentieth century
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John Galsworthy
American-born poet T.S. Eliot publishes The Waste Land, an extremely influential poem in five fragmented sections -
Elizabeth Bowen
Anglo-Irish author publishes her first novel, The Hotel -
The play Journey's
Set in a World War I trench, the play Journey's End reflects the wartime experiences of its British author, R.C. Sherriff -
Richard Hughes
Publishes his first novel, A High Wind in Jamaica -
Swallows and Amazons
Swallows and Amazons is the first of Arthur Ransome's adventure stories for children -
Virginia Woolf
Publishes the most fluid of her novels, The Waves, in which she tells the story through six interior monologues -
John Maynard Keynes
John Maynard Keynes defines his economics in The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money -
The Hobbit Of J.R. Tolkien
It was written in parts from the late 1920s to the early 1930s and, initially, was only intended to amuse Tolkien's young children.1 However, the manuscript of the work still unfinished was lent by the writer to several people and finally ended up in the hands of the publisher George Allen & Unwin. Willing to publish it, the editors asked Tolkien to complete the work and The Hobbit was published on September 21, 1937 in the United Kingdom. -
W.H. Auden and Christopher Isherwood
W.H. Auden and Christopher Isherwood emigrate together to the USA, later becoming US citizens -
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien
JRR Tolkien or JRRT, was a writer, poet, military servant, philologist, linguist and British university professor born in the late Orange in southern Africa, known mainly for being the author of the classic heroic fantasy novels The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.
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English author L.P. Hartley
English author L.P. Hartley sets his novel The Go-Between in the summer of 1900 -
Graham Greene's
Graham Greene's novel The Quiet American is set in contemporary Vietnam and foresees troubles ahead -
Edmund Spenser
English poet, author of the famous work The Faerie Queene ("The Fairy Queen"), an epic poem with a fantastic allegory that honored the house of Tudor and Elizabeth I of England. He is recognized as one of the first architects of modern English verse and is considered one of the best poets in the English language. -
Roald Dahl
British author Roald Dahl publishes a novel for children, James and the Giant Peach -
Caryl Churchill's
English dramatist Caryl Churchill's first play, Owners, is produced in London -
George Orwell 1903-1950
Eric Arthur Blair (Motihari, British Raj, June 25, 19031 2 -London, United Kingdom, January 21, 1950), better known by the pseudonym George Orwell, was a British writer and journalist, whose work carries the mark of the personal experiences lived by the author in three stages of his life
In addition to chronicler, literature critic and novelist, Orwell is one of the most outstanding essayists in English language of the thirties and forties of the twentieth century. -
Benjamin Zephaniah
British Rasta poet Benjamin Zephaniah publishes his second collection as The Dread Affair -
British physicist Stephen Hawking
Explains the cosmos for the general reader in A Brief History of Time: from the Big Bang to Black Holes -
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
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Michael Frayn's play Copenhagen
Michael Frayn's play Copenhagen dramatizes the visit of Werner Heisenberg to Niels Bohr in wartime Denmark -
Amber Spyglass
The Amber Spyglass completes Philip Pullman's trilogy, His Dark Materials -
Doris Lessin Nobel Prize for Literature
Canta la Hierba: In this work he tells the most somber aspects of 20th century colonial Africa. In this portrait of the gradual disintegration of the human being and its consequent destruction, the English author, who grew up in Southern Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, describes with deep lyricism the oppressive atmosphere of racial tension in which men live and that will lead to revenge marked by blood and fire by hatred and fear.
This work was published in 1950 -
The Casual Vacancy and Harry Potter by Joanne Rowling
Born on July 31, 1965 is a writer, British film producer and screenwriter, known for being the author of the book series Harry Potter, Fantastic Animals and where to find them, Quidditch through the ages and The Tales of Beedle the Bard , that together have surpassed the five hundred million copies sold. -
Martin Amis with his work the night train
He is the most controversial English writer of today, born in 1943, he collaborates in literary and general magazines. He made his brilliant debut as a novelist with El libro de Rachel, awarded in 1973 with the Somerset Maugham Prize, published in Spain by Anagrama, his most recognized works are; Money, Fields of London, The arrow of time, The information, Night train, Dead children, Stray dog, The House of Encounters, The pregnant widow and Lionel Asbo. The state of England.
