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450 BCE
OLD ENGLISH PERIOD (450-1066)
It's the ancient English language called Anglo-Saxon because of Germany tribes called Saxons. Old English was spoken in most of Britain from about 450 to 1066, and it was the earliest period of English literature. Thus, middle and moderns English are imitations of this old English.
Example of some words incorporated into English:
• Some Frisian words: miel (meal), laam (lamb),tsiis (cheese).
• Anglo-Saxon words: “-ing” meaning people of (e.g. Worthing, Reading, Hastings), -
Period: 450 BCE to 1066 BCE
SOME OLD ENGLISH EVENTS
• 731. The Venerable Bede, in his monastery at Jarrow, completes his history of the English church and people.
• c800. Beowulf, the first great work of Germanic literature, mingles the legends of Scandinavia with the experience in England of Angles and Saxons.
• c.950. The material of the Eddas, taking shape in Iceland, derives from earlier sources in Norway, Britain, and Burgundy. -
1066
MIDDLE ENGLISH I PERIOD (1066-1500)
MIDDLE ENGLISH I PERIOD
This ancestor language called (Middle English I) was Old English influenced from French, Germanic and Latin languages, it also was called Anglo-Norman language after the Norman invasion. (Middle English I) was spoken from about 1066 AD and 1500 AD.
An example of some bequeathed words into English.
• Some related to matters of crown (e.g. crown, castle, prince), of government and administration (e.g. parliament, government, governor, city). -
Period: 1066 to 1500
SOME MIDDLE ENGLISH I EVENTS
• c.1300. Duns Scotus, known as the Subtle Doctor in medieval times, later provides humanists with the name Dunsman or dunce.
• 1385. Chaucer completes Troilus and Criseyde, his long poem about a legendary love affair in ancient Troy.
• 1387. Chaucer begins an ambitious scheme for 100 Canterbury Tales, of which he completes only 24 by the time of his death. -
1500
ENGLISH RENAISSANCE PERIOD (1500-1660)
English renaissance was a period called Tudor period, or the period of rebirth. It was divided in three periods; the first one was Elizabethan era, the second period Jacobean era, and the last Caroline period. English Renaissance was an artistic and cultural movement influenced from Italian language.
More than 10.000 words added.
• Apothecary, apprentice, basilica, chateau, diplomat, galley, infallable, prior. -
Period: 1558 to
ELIZABETHAN ERA
This was the most brilliant century of all. Queen Elizabethan´s reigns began in 1558 and ended in 1603.
Some events.
• 1587. Marlowe's first play, Tamburlaine the Great, introduces the swaggering blank verse of Elizabethan and Jacobean drama. -
Period: to
JACOBEAN ERA
Stuart King James VI began his reign from 1603 after Elizabethan´s death to 1625; he was called James I of England or Jacobean.
Some events.
• 1609. Shakespeare's sonnets, written ten years previously, are published.
• 1616. William Shakespeare dies at New Place, his home in Stratford-upon-Avon, and is buried in Holy Trinity Church. -
Period: to
CAROLINE ERA
After the demise of James period, Charles I was the king from 1625 to 1660 but he was executed under the leadership of Oliver Cromwell.
Some events.
• 1633. George Herbert's only volume of poems, The Temple, is published posthumously.
• 1550. The poems of Massachusetts author Anne Bradstreet are published in London under the title The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America. -
PURITAN PERIOD (1653-1660)
The Puritan period was also known as John Milton´s era, who was a prominent writer. This short and sad period was from 1653-1660 where Puritans influenced religion, family life, community service, and literature, with Grand and sublime poetry. Finally, the Puritans were included in the political affairs of England and established the first printing presses, free public grammar schools and created Harvard. -
Period: to
SOME IMPORTANT PURITAN EVENTS
• 1653. Devoted fisherman Izaak Walton publishes the classic work on the subject, The Compleat Angler.
• 1660. On the first day of the new year, Samuel Pepys gets up late, eats the remains of the turkey and begins his diary Some words from this era.
• Perceived, predestination, remnant, aegis, reign, migration, emphasis, governance. -
RESTORATION AGE (1660 - 1700)
This period is called the age of Dryden because he was the dominating literary figure in the age, from 1660 to 1700. It is the Restoration period because Charles II restored the monarch in England and they renounced old ideals, and poets and dramatists began to imitate French writers. Restoration writers made great contributions to English literature in the form of realism. -
Period: to
SOME IMPORTANT RESTORATION EVENTS
• 1688. Aphra Behn's novel Oroonoko makes an early protest against the inhumanity of the African slave trade.
• 1690. John Locke publishes his Essay concerning Human Understanding, arguing that all knowledge is based on experience
Some changes in English literature
• Extreme ecstasy in way of life.
• Realism and formalism.
• Simple way/style in writing. -
18TH CENTURY PERIOD (1700-1798)
It is also called Neoclassical period, it was influenced by contemporary French literature, being divided into two ages, Augustan Age and Sensibility Age. It was a period of reason, classicism, skepticism, wit, refinement, and elegance.
Some important events
• 1702. The Augustan Age begins in English literature, claiming comparison with the equivalent flowering under Augustus Caesar.
• 1712. Alexander Pope's Rape of the Lock introduces a delicate vein of mock-heroic in English poetry. -
Period: to
AUGUSTAN AGE 1700-1750
Augustan Age or Age of Pope (1700-1750). It was an age of heroic couplets with one of the most important writers in that time; Augustan was derived from Augusto Caesar a Roman emperor. -
Period: to
AGE OF SENSIBILITY 1750-1798
Age of sensibility or Age of Johnson (1750-1798). It was a reaction to the Augustan Age´s rationalism with sentimental novel, prose, and poetry as an emotional response. Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), was a poet, essayist, moralist, literary critic, biographer, editor, and lexicographer. -
ROMANTICISM PERIOD (1798-1837)
This Romantic Era was about people´s ancient connection and reverence with nature. It was a movement in art, literature, and music. Romantic refers to a freely imaginative fiction taking in mind imagination, emotion and, the value of rules.
Some bequeathed words.
• Miserly, forlorn, precarious, prostrate, venerable, ponderous. -
Period: to
SOME ROMANTICISM IMPORTANT EVENTS
• 1798. English poets Wordsworth and Coleridge jointly publish Lyrical Ballads, a milestone in the Romantic Movement.
• 1810. Walter Scott's poem Lady of the Lake brings tourists in unprecedented numbers to Scotland's Loch Katrine.
• 1836. 24-year-old Charles Dickens begins monthly publication of his first work of fiction, Pickwick Papers (published in book form in 1837). -
VICTORIAN (1837-1901)
The Victorian period was significant for Britain because it was the most powerful nation in that era. This period was too hard for several writers, who were sentenced for engaging in homosexual activities and the novelists of this period responded to industrial and political scenes. Thus, the empress Victoria brought peace repressing sexuality creating a time of rigid morals.
Some slangs of the Victorian era
• Afternoonified.
• Back slang it.
• Bang up to the elephant. -
Period: to
SOME IMPORTANT VICORIAN EVENTS
• 1847. English author William Makepeace Thackeray begins publication of his novel Vanity Fair in monthly parts (book form 1848).
• 1859. Charles Darwin puts forward the theory of evolution in On the Origin of Species, the result of 20 years' research.
• 1887. Sherlock Holmes features in Conan Doyle's first novel, A Study in Scarlet. -
MODERN LITERATURE (1901-1940)
This period was from 1901 to 1940 and it broke with tradition, rejecting romanticism and presented experimentation. First World War made to react about values and appeared new literary genres (poetry, free verse, epiphanies begin to appear in literature, speeches, memoir, and, novels) and styles (stream of consciousness, detached, unemotional, and humorless. -
Period: to
SOME IMPORTANT MODERN LITERATURE EVENTS
• 1911. Rupert Brooke publishes Poems, the only collection to appear before his early death in World War I.
• 1931. Virginia Woolf publishes the most fluid of her novels, The Waves, in which she tells the story through six interior monologues. -
POST MODERN PERIOD (1940-2000)
Postmodernism was a period of change after world war two. So, a heavy reliance on techniques appeared, such as fragmentation, paradox, and questionable narrators. Those authors tended to reject outright meaning in their novels, stories, and poems making a mix of fantasy with nonfiction. E.g.
• Many Latin and Greek words were involved in English literature.
• Postmodernism blends literary genres and styles.
• Reaction against enlightenment thinking. -
Period: to
SOME IMPORTANT POSTMODERNISM EVENTS
• 1945. English author Nancy Mitford has her first success with the novel The Pursuit of Love.
• 1964. Roald Dahl publishes a fantasy treat for a starving child, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
• 1993. English novelist Sebastian Faulks publishes Birdsong, set partly in the trenches of World War I. -
CONTEMPORARY PERIOD (2000-2019)
This current literature era began around the year 2000, since then, literature has been used to discuss socio-politico, economic, and religious topics, taking in mind personal thoughts. Besides, Literature is developed as a genre because of the development of hypertext and then for the World Wide Web. Nowadays, England is invaded by a lot of different people who influence the English language.
Some new English words.
• Scrumptious
• Textrovert
• Eunoia -
Period: to
SOME IMPORTANT CONTEMPORARY EVENTS
• 2010. The little-known author Paul Harding wins the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for his debut novel Tinkers (2009) published by tiny Bellevue Literary Press.
• 2018. Writer V. S. Naipaul, on his deathbed in London, is read Tennyson's poem "Crossing the Bar" by newspaper editor Geordie Greig.
