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460
5th century. Beginning of English literature
Beginning of ancient English or Anglo-Saxon era, the year of the Norman conquest of England.
European Germanic tribes invaded England in the 5th century after the defeat brought with them old English or Anglo-Saxon language. -
800
13th century Anglo-Saxon Literature
The hymn of Caedmon, at this time, oral tradition was very important and much of the literary works were written to be able to be represented.
The first words in English were written in an Anglo-Saxon dialect, known as ancient English and appeared in the early middle ages. The hymn of Caedmon, at this time, oral tradition was very -
1066
Intermediate English
The French and Latin languages maintained their category of scholarly language. Towards the fourteenth century, when English was used again when it had undergone profound transformations and had acquired the characteristic it still possesses of freely incorporating numerous foreign terms, at this time of Latin and French.
Middle English literature of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries is much more diversified than earlier literature in ancient English. -
1300
Century 14th
In the medieval period, there was a first author who wrote in English the famous work Canterbury Tales Geoffrey Chaucer (1340-1400)
He was known for being an English writer and poet, something important in the Middle Ages -
1476
15th century. The Renaissance
The use of the vernacular (English) as a literary language (formerly Latin and French) was increasing as the printing press developed in England until it became widespread in the mid-16th century. -
1578
16th Century Elizabethan literature
Refers to literature produced in England, the Elizabethan era saw a great flowering of literature, especially in the theater.
Shakespeare also appears that stands out at this time as a poet and playwright, Shakespeare was not a lawyer or an aristocrat, like the "university mills" that had monopolized the English scene until he began writing. -
17th century Jacobean Literature
After the death of Shakespeare, a poet became the most prominent figure in Ben Jonson literature, his characters incorporate the theory of the four moods of the body. -
17th century Dryden's time
John Dryden's poetry has greatness, strength, and tone that was very well received by readers who still had things in common with the "Elizabethans."
He also marked the new era by clearly achieving a limitation of moderation and good taste.
Absalon and Ajitófel (1681-1682) are some of the best most of Dryden's work went to the theater. -
18th century The restoration
Literature was characterized by good taste, moderation, great philosophers and politicians of the time, promoted racism as a sample of John Locke.
The good taste that went through the literary stages of the restoration period is usually called from the three great literary figures that perpetuated the classical tradition at this time,
Dryden, Pope, Johnson. -
18th century Pope's time
This time is when Dryden dies, where classical literature reaches a maximum height by the English poet Pope. It is based on his satires, but often inclined to didacticism, as in his essay on criticism (1711). -
19th English Romanticism
It was the first important manifestation of romanticism the Lyrical Ballads (1798) by William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, two young people who were driven to creative activity by the French Revolution, some of whose ideals were the affirmation of freedom, spirit and The sincere unity of the human race. -
19th century Victorian era
Romantic forms of expression continued to dominate English literature throughout the century,
The questioning of certain religious beliefs that led to new scientific advances, the theory of evolution and the historical study of the Bible, prompted some writers to abandon traditionally literary issues and reflect on questions of faith and truth. -
20th century literature
Two world wars explain the various directions that English literature has followed in the twentieth century.
The values of Western civilization were seriously questioned by many of the young writers. Traditional literary forms are often left aside, and writers look for other ways of expressing what they consider to be new types of experience, or experiences seen from new perspectives -
20th century Modern poetry
The Irish writer William Butler Yeats was the most traditional. His romantic poetry before the turn of the century developed an honest and deep poetic.
The second poet was T. Eliot, he achieved consecration in vacant land (1922) The most famous poem of the beginning of the century. -
20th century modern theater
The most important theater in English of the first quarter of the 20th century was written by another Irishman, Sean O'Casey.
In the 1960s, with the so-called 'angry young people', they started
A new force in English theater.
John Osborne, Arnold Wesker, Shelagh Delaney and John Arden, focused on the working classes, portraying the monotony, mediocrity and injustice of their lives.
