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Period: 450 to 1066
OLD ENGLISH
Old English literature consists of sermons and saints' lives; biblical translations; translated Latin works of the early Church Fathers; Anglo-Saxon chronicles and narrative history works; laws, wills and other legal works; practical works on grammar, medicine, geography and poetry. There are over 400 surviving manuscripts from the period, of which about 189 are considered "major". -
731
The Venerable Bede
The Venerable Bede, in his monastery at Jarrow, completes his history of the English church and people -
800
BEOWULF
Beowulf, the first great work of Germanic literature, mingles the legends of Scandinavia with the experience in England of Angles and Saxons -
Period: 1066 to
MIDDLE ENGLISH
https://www.britannica.com/art/Middle-English-literature/media/381308/68305 From one point of view, the second stage of the single continuously developing ENGLISH language; from another, a distinct language that evolved from OLD ENGLISH (OE). ME began when the linguistic effects of the Norman Conquest were complete (c.1150) and came to an end at the start of the period that scholars generally call EARLY MODERN ENGLISH (c.1450). -
1300
Duns Scotus
Duns Scotus, known as the Subtle Doctor in medieval times, later provides humanists with the name Dunsman or dunce -
1340
WILLIAM OF OCKHAM
William of Ockham advocates paring down arguments to their essentials, an approach later known as Ockham's Razor -
1367
Piers Plowman
A narrator who calls himself Will, and whose name may be Langland, begins the epic poem of Piers Plowman -
Period: 1500 to
ENGLISH RENAISSANCE
https://www.britannica.com/art/English-literature/The-Renaissance-period-1550-1660/media/188217/202585 English use of the printing press became common during the mid 16th century. By the time of Elizabethan literature a vigorous literary culture in both drama and poetry included poets such as Edmund Spenser, whose verse epic The Faerie Queene had a strong influence on English literature but was eventually overshadowed by the lyrics of William Shakespeare, Thomas Wyatt and others. -
1510
Erasmus and Thomas More
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 -
1567
BOOKS
The Book of Common Prayer and the New Testament are published in Welsh, to be followed by the complete Bible in 1588 -
Shakespeare
Shakespeare's central character in Hamlet expresses both the ideals of the Renaissance and the disillusion of a less confident age -
zaak Walton
Devoted fisherman Izaak Walton publishes the classic work on the subject, The Compleat Angler -
Period: to
PURITAN
Puritan literature relied on a religiousthem, they thought of writing as a tool to reach people with the story of God. Works focused on realistic messages illustrating the idea that everyone was born a sinner and that his or her salvation had been pre-determined, a concept known as predestination. Puritan literature also relied on specific genres and most Puritan literature took the form of a sermon, poem, letter, or historical narrative. -
Period: to
RESTAURATION AGE
At the heart of this literature is the attempt to come to terms with the political events that had occurred in previous decades. The writings of this time are both innovative and varied; the style and subject matter of the literature produced during the Restoration period spanned the spectrum from definitively religious to satirical and risqué. In 1688, James II, Charles II's brother, was removed from the throne, which many scholars use to mark the end of Restoration literature. -
Pilgrim's Progress
Part I of The Pilgrim's Progress, written during John Bunyan's two spells in Bedford Gaol, is published and is immediately popular -
Period: to
18TH CENTURY
European literature of the 18th century refers to literature (poetry, drama, satire, and novels) produced in Europe during this period. The 18th century saw the development of the modern novel as literary genre, in fact many candidates for the first novel in English date from this period, of which Daniel Defoe's 1719 Robinson Crusoe is probably the best known. -
William Blake
William Blake publishes Songs of Innocence, a volume of his poems with every page etched and illustrated by himself -
Lyrical Ballads
English poets Wordsworth and Coleridge jointly publish Lyrical Ballads, a milestone in the Romantic movement -
Period: to
ROMANTICISM
Romanticism, initiated by the English poets such as Coleridge and Wordsworth, Blake, Keats, Shelley. The philosophy and sentiment characteristic of the Romanticism movement would spread throughout Europe and would ultimately impact not only the arts and humanities, but the society at large, permanently changing the ways in which human emotions, relationships, and institutions were viewed, understood, and artistically and otherwise reflected. -
Period: to
VICTORIAN
Victorian literature is the body of poetry, fiction, essays, and letters produced during the reign of Queen Victoria (1837–1901) and during the era which bears her name. It forms a link and transition between the writers of the romantic period and the modernist literature of the twentieth century. -
Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens begins the publication in monthly numbers of David Copperfield, his own favourite among his novels -
Beatrix Potter
Beatrix Potter publishes at her own expense The Tale of Peter Rabbit -
Period: to
MODERN LITERATURE
Modernist literature was a predominantly English genre of fiction writing, popular from roughly the 1910s into the 1960s. Modernist literature came into its own due to increasing industrialization and globalization. -
Flann O'Brien
Flann O'Brien's The Third Policeman is rejected by numerous publishers before becoming, decades later, his best-known nove -
Period: to
POST MODER
Postmodern literature is literature characterized by reliance on narrative techniques such as fragmentation, paradox, and the unreliable narrator; and is often (though not exclusively) defined as a style or a trend which emerged in the post–World War II era. Postmodern works are seen as a response against dogmatic following of Enlightenment thinking and Modernist approaches to literature. -
Philip Pullman
2000 The Amber Spyglass completes Philip Pullman's trilogy, His Dark Materials -
Period: to
CONTEMPORARY
Contemporary literature reflects current trends in life and culture and because these things change often, contemporary literature changes often as well. Contemporary literature most often reflects the author's perspective and can come across as cynical. It questions facts, historical perspectives and often presents two contradictory arguments side by side.
