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450
Old English 450-1066
This period is also called anglo-saxon and is the earliest historical form of the English language.
Old English was already a fully developed poetic language by this time, with a particular emphasis on alliteration and percussive effects, this period was a very complex language, at least in comparison with modern because old English had three genders. (masculine, feminine, neuter). The oldest surviving text of Old English literature is “Cædmon's Hymn”, which was composed between 658 and 680. -
650
Old English
The most famous example of Old English literature is the anonymous epic "Beowulf." -
1066
Middle English 1066-1500
This period is better known as the language of Geoffrey Chauser, it gave way to modern English during the Middle Ages, this period was developed from Old English, changing its grammar, pronunciation, and spelling. During the Middle English period, many Old English grammatical features either became simplified or disappeared altogether. Noun, adjective and verb inflections were simplified by the reduction (and eventual elimination) of most grammatical case distinctions -
1400
Middle English
The most famous work in Middle English is "The Canterbury Tales" by Chaucer. -
1500
English renaissance 1500-1660. - Elizabeth era - Jacobean era - Caroline era.
It was a cultural and artistic movement in England dating from the late 15th century to the early 17th century. The movement had its origin in Italy and it gradually spread throughout Europe with significant influence over the English Literature.
The beginning of the English Renaissance is often taken, as a convenience, furthermore, this period marks the high watermark of English literary accomplishment. It is the age of William Shakespeare, John Milton, John Donne, and Katherine Philips. -
1558
Elizabethan era 1558-1603
This era is considered by many historians to be the golden age in English History.
During this era, England experienced peace and prosperity while the arts flourished.
The Elizabethan Era is perhaps most famous for its theatre and the works of William Shakespeare. -
Jacobean era 1602-1625
The Jacobean era succeed the Elizabethan era and precedes the Caroline era. The term "Jacobean" is often used for the distinctive styles of Jacobean architecture, visual arts, decorative arts, and literature which characterized that period. This era coincides with the reign of James VI of Scotland, which also inherited the crown of England with the name of James, During this period, painting and sculpture lagged. -
Caroline era 1625- 1653
The Caroline era was dominated by the growing religious, political, and social conflict between the King and his supporters, this period are very fruitful in terms of its creative writings.
The most famous writers of this period is John Milton that started his writing in this period. -
Puritan 1653-1660
This is known as puritan period because of Puritan standards prevailed in England, and also because the greatest literary figure John Milton (1608-1674) was a Puritan, moreover the writing style of the Puritan Age was predominantly plain with simple sentences and language.
Puritanism became a great national movement which included English Churchman as well as extreme Separatists, moreover, the Puritan movement was one for very literal expression and teaching. -
Restoration period 1660- 1700
The Restoration Period begins in 1660 A.D., the year in which King Charles-II was restored to the English Throne, which marks the restoring of the traditional English monarchical form of government.
The greatest literary figure of the Restoration period is John Dryden (1631-1700) whose book provides an excellent reflection of both good and evil tendencies of the age.
One of the most significant aspects of restoration literature is the return of the theatre. -
18th century 1700-1798
This period is also known as the "century of lights" or the "century of reason" This period is famous for the growth of the essay and the satire and the earliest examples of the novel, a long prose narrative with a realistic setting and three-dimensional characters. In this period philosophers dreamed of a brighter age.
This age is known as the Augustan age and sensibility age in the early and middle of the eighteenth century and was one of the most illustrious periods. -
Romanticism 1798-1837 romantic poetry and romantic novel
This period is also known as the Romantic era and it was an artistic, literary, musical and intellectual movement that originated in Europe toward the end of the 18th century. The poets of this period accordingly placed great emphasis on the workings of the unconscious mind, on dreams and reveries, on the supernatural, and on the childlike or primitive view of the world,
This period produced authors who wrote about life, love, and nature. John Keats is the most famous author of this period. -
Victorian period 1837-1901
This was the great age of the English novel—realistic, thickly plotted, crowded with characters, and long. It was the ideal form to describe contemporary life and to entertain the middle class, the literature was mainly written in English, during the reign of Queen Victoria.
The poetry of this period was heavily influenced by the Romantics, and the preeminent poet of the Victorian age was Alfred, Lord Tennyson, this age can also be called a fusion of romantic and realist style of writing. -
20th century or modern literature 1901-1940
This century has its origins in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, mainly in Europe and North America, and is characterized by a very self-conscious break with traditional ways of writing, in both poetry and prose fiction. The 20th century was marked by sudden and unexpected breaks with traditional ways of viewing and interacting with the world.
in the Modernist literary, writers who adopted the Modern point of view often did so quite deliberately and self-consciously. -
Post moderns 1940-2000
Postmodernism is a broad movement developed in the mid- to late 20th century across philosophy, the arts, architecture, and criticism, It is characterized by an attitude of skepticism, irony, or rejection toward the grand narratives and ideologies of modernism, often denying or challenging the validity of scientific inquiry.
this literature is characterized by reliance on narrative techniques such as fragmentation, paradox, and the unreliable narrator; including several Nobel laureates. -
Contemporary
Contemporary literature is defined as literature written after World War II through the current day. emerged confident and economically strong, entered the Cold War in the late 1940s. furthermore, it refers to all the Literature of the XXI century, and it has been used to discuss socio-politico, economic, and religious topics. Besides, Literature is developed as a genre because of the development of hypertext and then for the World Wide Web.
