History of English Literature

Anglo-Saxon era

450

was characterized by oral tradition with epic poems, songs, poetry, this literature was well established by pre-Columbian Germanic settlers, one of his best known works was "Beowulf"

constant evolution

730

The texts were written in Old English

Medieval

1060

Middle English was driven by the Norman invasion of Britain, his famous works tell of the life of the kings of Great Britain, including King Arthur, The Canterbury Tales, which also influenced the Catholic Church.

Renaissance

1480

At this time saw the rise of the merchant class in Great Britain, mathematics, science, technology, education and exploration became more accessible to the public, The feudal system was dissolving. Notable playwrights include William Shakespeare.

Neoclassic

1660

Neoclassical authors tried to imitate the Romans, they focused on people's appearances instead of their true feelings or intentions, this literature considered man as defective.
On the first day of the new year Samuel Pepys gets up late, eats the remains of the Turkey and begins his diary
Paradise Lost is published, earning its author John Milton just £ 10
Samuel Pepys ends his diary, after only writing it for nine years

Romanticism

1790

This change of reason, logic and science in the senses, feelings, imagination and experiences were valued above all, his works were extremely personal touching the mysterious world of infinity with his work Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.
Scottish poet Robert Burns publishes Tam o 'Shanter, in which a drunken farmer has an alarming encounter with witches English poets Wordsworth and Coleridge jointly publish Lyrical Ballads, a milestone in the Romantic movement

Victorian

1830

This era saw a battle between romantic / gothic and neoclassical / enlightenment ideas, its characters with crowded, hypocritical and narrow stereotypes in mind, Charles Dickens a well-known Victorian car.
English author Frances Trollope ruffles transatlantic feathers with her Domestic Manners of the Americans, based on a 3-year stay
Charles Dickens' first novel, Oliver Twist, begins monthly publication (in book form, 1838)

Modernism

1900

Modernist authors were devastated by the world wars, they did not see governments or religions as reliable means seeking answers for themselves, seeking fantasies and allegories to do so.
Virginia Woolf publishes her novel Mrs Dalloway, in which the action is limited to a single day
William Golding gives a chilling account of schoolboy savagery in his first novel, Lord of the Flies
Benjamin Britten's War Requiem, setting poems by Wilfred Owen, is first performed in the rebuilt Coventry Cathedral

POST-MODERN LITERATURE

1960

It gives rise to a rejection of the traditional position of literature
the taste for humor and lyrical and nostalgic tones, and literary themes such as:
black or police novel, historical, culturalist, intimist.
their representatives:
Kurt Vonnegut , Thomas Pynchon y John Barth, John Hawkes,