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479
PRE-MODERN LITERATURE: MEDIEVAL
It covers all the works written in Europe, from the year 479 (fall of the Western Roman Empire), until the beginning of the Florentine revival at the end of the 15th century.
Literature at this time was called by religious writings, poetry, theology, the life of saints were included. at the same time it also saw scientific and secular works. -
731
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 -
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
advocates paring down arguments to their essentials, an approach later known as Ockham's Razor -
1469
Thomas Malory
in gaol somewhere in England, compiles Morte d'Arthur – an English account of the French tales of King Arthur -
1501
EARLY MODERN LITERATURE: RENAISSANCE
The Renaissance was a cultural movement present throughout Europe, so England was not absent. It began in the 16th century until the middle of the 17th century, and is known as "The Shakespearean Years" -
1510
Erasmus and Thomas More
take the northern Renaissance in the direction of Christian humanism -
1524
William Tyndale
studies in the university at Wittenberg and plans to translate the Bible into English -
1564
Marlowe and Shakespeare
are born in the same year, with Marlowe the older by two months -
1578
ISABELINE LITERATURE
The Elizabethan era had a thriving literary production, especially in the field of theater. William Shakespeare was an outstanding author of poetry and plays, surely the most relevant figure that English literature has had in its history, but also other figures have had a relevant weight in the theater such as Christopher Marlowe, Thomas Dekker, John Fletcher and Francis Beaumont The urban comedy genre was also developed very often and admired. -
Marlowe's first play
Tamburlaine the Great, introduces the swaggering blank verse of Elizabethan and Jacobean drama -
Edmund Spenser
English poet Edmund Spenser celebrates the Protestant Elizabeth I as The Faerie Queene -
Shakespeare
After tentative beginnings in the three parts of Henry VI, Shakespeare achieves his first masterpiece on stage with Richard III -
Shakespeare's central character in Hamlet
expresses both the ideals of the Renaissance and the disillusion of a less confident age -
William Shakespeare's
William Shakespeare's name appears among the actors in a list of the King's Men -
Ben Jonson
writes The Masque of Blackness, the first of his many masques for the court of James I -
Ben Jonson
The satirical voice of the English playwright Ben Jonson is heard to powerful effect in Volpone -
Shakespeare's
Shakespeare's sonnets, written ten years previously, are published -
Shakespeare's
Shakespeare's last completed play, The Tempest, is performed -
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare dies at New Place, his home in Stratford-upon-Avon, and is buried in Holy Trinity Church -
LITERATURE JACOBEA
The poet and playwright Ben Jonson led the Jacobean literature, after Shakespeare's death. Several authors followed his style as Beaumont and Fletcher -
LITERATURE OF THE "RESTAURACION"
The reopening of the theaters provided the opportunity to represent satirical works about the new nobility and the growing bourgeoisie. The mobility of society that followed the social upheavals of the previous generation provided the material for the comedy of manners. Aphra Behn was the first female professional novelist and playwright. The allegory of John Bunyan, The Pilgrim, is one of the most read works of this period. -
Aphra Behn's
Aphra Behn's novel Oroonoko makes an early protest against the inhumanity of the African slave trade -
LITERATURE OF THE ERA OF "AUGUSTO OR NEOCLÁSICA"
The Augustan Age begins in English literature, claiming comparison with the equivalent flowering under Augustus Caesar
The poetry of these years was very formal as evidenced by the works of Alexander Pope. -
Alexander Pope's
Alexander Pope's Rape of the Lock introduces a delicate vein of mock-heroic in English poetry -
Daniel Defoe's
Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, with its detailed realism, can be seen as the first English novel -
Henry Fielding
introduces a character of lasting appeal in the lusty but good-hearted Tom Jones -
Laurence Sterne
publishes the first two volumes of Tristram Shandy, beginning with the scene at the hero's conception -
ROMANTICISM
The reaction to industrialization and urbanism pushed poets to explore nature, such as the "Lake Poets" group in which we included William Wordsworth. These romantic poets brought to English literature a new degree of sentimentality and introspection. Among the most important authors of the second generation of romantic poets are Lord Byron, Percy Bysse Shelley and John Keats -
William Blake
publishes Songs of Innocence, a volume of his poems with every page etched and illustrated by himself -
Wordsworth and Coleridge
English poets Wordsworth and Coleridge jointly publish Lyrical Ballads, a milestone in the Romantic movement. Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner' is published in Lyrical Ballads -
Percy Bysshe Shelley
is expelled from Oxford university for circulating a pamphlet with the title The Necessity of Atheism.
English author Jane Austen publishes her first work in print, Sense and Sensibility, at her own expense -
Lord Byron
The first two cantos are published of Byron's largely autobiographical poem Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, bringing him immediate fame -
POEMS, NOVELS AND GOTICO TALE
Percy Bysshe Shelley publishes probably his best-known poem, the sonnet Ozymandias.
Two of Jane Austen's novels, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, are published in the year after her death.
Mary Shelley publishes Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus, a Gothic tale about giving life to an artificial man -
Byron POEM
Byron begins publication in parts of his longest poem, Don Juan an epic satirical comment on contemporary life -
John Keats
English poet John Keats publishes Ode to a Nightingale, inspired by the bird's song in his Hampstead garden -
Percy Bysshe Shelley
English poet Percy Bysshe Shelley publishes Ode to the West Wind, written mainly in a wood near Florence -
VICTORIAN LITERATURE
The form of literature that gained more importance at this time was the novel. Most authors were more concerned with knowing the tastes of the middle class they read, than in satisfying aristocrats. -
John Keats death
English poet John Keats dies in Rome at the age of twenty-five -
Trollope
English author Frances Trollope ruffles transatlantic feathers with her Domestic Manners of the Americans, based on a 3-year stay -
Charles Dickens
24-year-old Charles Dickens begins monthly publication of his first work of fiction, Pickwick Papers (published in book form in 1837) -
Charles Dickens' novel Oliver Twist
Charles Dickens' first novel, Oliver Twist, begins monthly publication (in book form, 1838 -
Brontë sisters
The three Brontë sisters jointly publish a volume of their poems and sell just two copies -
William Makepeace Thackeray
English author William Makepeace Thackeray begins publication of his novel Vanity Fair in monthly parts (book form 1848) -
Charlotte — Jane Eyre
Charlotte becomes the first of the Brontë sisters to have a novel published — Jane Eyre -
Emily Brontë's novel Wuthering Heights
Emily Brontë's novel Wuthering Heights follows just two months after her sister Charlotte's Jane Eyre -
Brontë sisters
Branwell, Emily and Anne Brontë die within a period of eight months -
Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens begins the publication in monthly numbers of David Copperfield, his own favourite among his novels -
Anthony Trollope-The Warden
English author Anthony Trollope publishes The Warden, the first in his series of six Barsetshire novels -
George Eliot
English author George Eliot wins fame with her first full-length novel, Adam Bede -
Charles Dickens-A Tale of Two Cities
Charles Dickens publishes his French Revolution novel, A Tale of Two Cities -
Charles Dickens novel "Great Expectations"
Charles Dickens begins serial publication of his novel "Great Expectations" (in book form 1861) -
George Eliot-The Mill on the Floss
George Eliot publishes The Mill on the Floss, her novel about the childhood of Maggie and Tom Tulliver -
George Eliot-Middlemarch
George Eliot publishes Middlemarch, in which Dorothea makes a disastrous marriage to the pedantic Edward Casaubon -
MODERN LITERATURE
The most prominent novelists of the period between wars were D.H. Lawrence and Virginia Woolf, this last member of the Bloomsbury group. The Sitwells also gained strength between literary and artistic movements, but with less influence. The most important popular literature writers were P.G. Wodehouse and Agatha Christie. -
D.H. Lawrence
D.H. Lawrence's career as a writer is launched with the publication of his first novel, The White Peacock -
D.H. Lawrence novel sons and Lovers
D.H. Lawrence publishes a semi-autobiographical novel about the Morel family, Sons and Lovers -
Virginia Woolf
The English writer Virginia Woolf publishes her first novel, The Voyage Out -
D.H. Lawrence's novel The Rainbow
D.H. Lawrence's novel about the Brangwen family, The Rainbow, is seized by the police as an obscene work -
D.H. Lawrence's -Women in Love
D.H. Lawrence's Women in Love, a continuation of the family story in The Rainbow, is published first in the USA -
Virginia Woolf novel Mrs Dalloway
Virginia Woolf publishes her novel Mrs Dalloway, in which the action is limited to a single day -
Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore-in A.A. Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh
Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore and the others make their first appearance in A.A. Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh -
Virginia Woolf-To The Lighthouse
Virginia Woolf uses a Hebridean holiday as the setting for her narrative in To The Lighthouse -
D.H. Lawrence's new novel,
D.H. Lawrence's new novel, in which Lady Chatterley is in love with her husband's gamekeeper, is privately printed in Florence -
Agatha Christie's
Agatha Christie's Miss Marple makes her first appearance, in Murder at the Vicarage -
Virginia Woolf novels, The Waves
Virginia Woolf publishes the most fluid of her novels, The Waves, in which she tells the story through six interior monologues -
Postmodern literature
Two examples of English postmodern literature are: John Fowles and Julian Barnes. Some important writers of the early 21st century are: Martin Amis, Ian McEwan, Will Self, Andrew Motion and Salman Rushdie.
