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The language of the Anglo-Saxons. Old English is now known as foreighn and dead.
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In Middle English ideas and themes from French and Celtic literature appeared. Chaucer was the first great name in this period of English literature. He introduces the iambic pentameter line, rhyming couplet and other rhymes.
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Books were rare and expensive because they had to be copied out by hand, usually by monks. The main genre of this period was poetry, such as The Canterbury Tales.
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Lyric poetry in English begins in the 16th century with the work the great poets such as Sir Thomas Wyatt and Henry Howard,
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Epic Poetry were long poems that told about heroic events. These poets include Homer and John Milton.
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America was established as an independent nation and authors such as Phyllis Wheatley, Benjamin Franklin, Edgar Allen Poe, and Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote throughout the early period.
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Writers and artists pulled away from the logical, intellectual notions of the Enlightenment era and began writing with a focus on emotion and the beauty of nature.
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Many writers examined and responded to the social and economic issues of the Victorian Era. Examples include Oscar Wilde's "An Ideal Husband," Charles Dickens' "Oliver Twist," and Charlotte Bronte's "Jane Eyre."
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Beginning in the 19th century, Realism focuses on the actual rather than the abstract.
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The literature of this era encompasses both the Jazz Age and the Great Depression, and is a blend of both British and American. Because travel was far easier, authors from both countries were easily friends and contemporaries. Both art and literature include fragmentation and meanings that can be difficult to decipher.
