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Period: 439 to 1066
THE OLD ENGLISH PERIOD (439-1066)
(731). The Venerable Bede, in his monastery at Jarrow, completes his history of the English Church and people.
(975-1025). Beowulf, the first great work of Germanic literature, mingles the legends of Scandinavia with the experience in England of Angles and Saxons.
(959). The material of the Eddas. Taking shape in Iceland derives from earlier sources in Norway, Britain, and Burgundy. -
Period: 1066 to 1500
THE MIDDLE ENGLISH PERIOD (1066-1500)
(1367) A Narrator who calls himself Will, and whose name may be Langland, begins the epic poem of Piers Plowman.
(1387) Chaucer begins an ambitious scheme for 100 Canterbury tales, of which he completes only 24 by the time of his death.
(1469) Thomas Malory in gaol somewhere in England, compiles Morte d´ Arthur-an English account of the French tales of King Arthur. -
Period: 1500 to
THE RENAISSANCE PERIOD (1500-1660)
(1510). Erasmus and Thomas More take the northern Renaissance in the direction of Christian humanism.
(1590). English poet Edmund spencer celebrates the protestant Elizabeth I as the Faerie Queene.
(1601). Shakespeare´s central character in Hamlet expresses both the ideals of the renaissance and the disillusion of a less confident age. -
Period: to
THE NEOCLASSIC PERIOD (1660-1785)
(1667) Paradise lost is published, earning its author just E10.
(1726) Jonathan Swift sends a hero on a series of bitterly satirical travels in Gulliver´s travels.
(1755) Samuel Johnson published his magisterial Dictionary of English. -
Period: to
THE ROMANTIC PERIOD (1785-1782)
(1792) English author Mary Wollstonecraft published a passionately feminist work, A Vindication of the Rights of Women.
(1813). Pride and Prejudice, based on a youthful work of 1797 called first impressions, is the second of Jane Austen´s novels to be published. -
Period: to
THE VICTORIAN PERIOD (1832-1901)
(1843). Ebenezer Scrooge mends his ways just in time in Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol
(1895). H.G. Wells published The Time Machine, a story about a time traveler whose first stop in her journey is the year 802701.
(1900). Frank Baum introduces children to Oz in his book. The wonderful wizard of Oz. -
Period: to
THE EDWARDIAN PERIOD (1901-1914)
1901). Beatrix Potter at her own expense The Tale of Peter Rabbit
(1908). Lucy Maud Montgomery´s Anne of Green Gables brings her instant fame and fortune.
(1910). H.G. Wells published The History of Mister Polly, a novel about an escape from drab everyday existence. -
Period: to
THE GEORDIAN PERIOD (1914-1936)
(1915). Rupert Brooke’s 1914 and other poems are published a few months after his death in Greece.
(1925). Virginia Wolf published her novel Mrs. Dalloway, in which the action is limited to a single day.
(1928). Irish author Frank Harris published the fourth and final volume of my life and Lovers. -
Period: to
THE MODERN PERIOD (1936-1950)
(1936). US author Margaret Michell published her one book, which become probably the bestselling novel of all time Gone with the wind.
(1940). Ernest Hemingway published the novel for Whom the bells tolls, set in the Spanish Civil War
(1945). In George Orwell´s fable animal farm a ruthless pig, Napoleon, controls the farmyard using the techniques of Stalin. -
Period: to
THE POSTMODERN PERIOD (1950-2000)
(1950). C.S. Lewis gives the first glimpse of Narnia and the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.
(1979). US author Maya Angelou publishes her autobiographical first novel, I Know Why the Caged Birds Sings.
(1997). A schoolboy wizard performs his first tricks in J.K. Rowing´s Harry Potter and the Philosopher´s stone -
Period: to
THE CONTEMPORARY PERIOD (2000-PRESENT)
(2010). Mockingjay completes Suzanne Collins´ trilogy. The Hunger Games.
(2013-PRESENT). JK. Rowling (under the pseudonym (Robert Galbraith) starts Cormoran Street, a series of crime fiction novels