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450
Old English Anglo-Saxo 450-1066
Most of the prose during this period was translations of something legal, medical or religious nature. Masterpieces: The epic poem "Beowulf" and "The Canterbury Tales". Authors: Geoffrey Chaucer, Caedmon and Cynewulf. -
1066
Middle English period 1066-1500
This period underwent a strong transition in language, lifestyle and culture of England, it is also recognized as modern English, llike old English period, many of the writings of this period were of a religious nature, however, from 1350 onwards a secular literature arose. Masterpieces: "Piers Plowman", "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight." Authors: Chaucer, Thomas Malory, and Robert Henryson. -
1500
The Renaissance 1500-1660
this period is called "Early Modern Period", and is divided into four parts:The Elizabethan Age (1558-1603),The Jacobean Age (1603-1625),The Caroline Age (1625-1649),The Commonwealth Period (1649-1660).
The elizabethan Age was considered the golden age of English drama, however, political writings arose as well as prose too place in this period.
Authors:Christopher Marlowe, Francis Bacon, Sir Walter Raleigh, William Shakespeare. Masterpieces: The King James translation of the Bible -
Neoclassical Period 1600-1785
This period is subdivided into ages:
The Restoration 1660–1700, The Augustan Age 1700–1745, and The Age of Sensibility 1745–1785.
Restoration period is a response to the puritanical age particularly in the theater. Both comedies and satire were so popular.
The Augustan Age was noted to some extent for challenging female stereotypes,Sensibility Ideas arose about neoclassicism.
William Congreve, Samuel Butler, Aphra Behn, John Bunyan, Alexander Pope, Jonathan Swift,Edmund Burke, Edward Gibbon -
The Romantic Period 1785–1832
In this period the authors mostly wrote about nature, life and love. Masterpieces: "The world is too much with us, late and soon,""The Rime of the Ancient Mariner." Authors:John Keats, William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge -
The Victorian Period 1832–1901
It was a period of great religious, social, intellectual and economic issues, essay and prose fiction were promoted in this period, most of the authors dealt with disturbing themes of death and disillusionment. Masterpieces and Authors:
the love poems of Elizabeth and Robert Browning, Robert Louis Stevenson's adventure stories and novels "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde." Modernist English literature include:
William Butler Yeats, Virginia Woolfe, James Joyce and D. H. Lawrence -
The Edwardian period 1901–1914
It is a relatively short period where literary figures such as the novel, poetry and drama can be highlighted. novelists such as: Joseph Conrad, Ford Madox Ford, Rudyard
Kipling, H.G. Wells, and Henry James.
poets such as Alfred Noyes and William Butler Yeats, and playwrights such as: James Barrie, George Bernard Shaw, and John Galsworthy. -
The Georgian Period 1910–1936
In this period, poetry with rural and pastoral content in nature is highlighted, relevant authors of this period such as: Ralph Hodgson, John Masefield, W.H. Davies, and Rupert Brooke -
The Modern Period 1936-1950
this period refers to writing after the First World War,however, it's difficult to say whether modernism has ended yet, the characteristics of this period are experimentation with theme, style, and form found in narrative, verse, and drama.
Masterpieces:
Margaret Mitchell "gone with the wind"
Ernest hemingway "For whom the Bell Toll"
George Orwell's fable animal Farm a ruthless Pig -
The Postmodern Period 1945-2000
The period begins after the second world war, it is considered a response to modernism, post-structuralist literary theory and criticism developed during this time, it has been said that this period ended in 2000, it has also been indicated that it is early to consider this literary period closed.
Masterpieces:
Maya Angelou " I know why the caged Bird sings"
C.S. Lewis "The witch and the wardrobe"
J.K. Rowling "harry potter and the philosopher's stone" -
The Comtenporary Period 2000-Present
It began after the world war II refers to what literature is now , however, contemporary literature reflects the social or political points of a society, related to current events and socioeconomic messages, seeking the authors to illuminate the strengths and weaknesses of society, the authors have a tendency to write of genocide and corruption as paths towards this type of literature.
Masterpieces:
Mockingjay "The Hunger games"
J.K. Rowling "a series of crime fiction novels".