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Period: 450 to 1066
Old English
Literature is ever-changing and because of that, it has gone through many different periods that reflect the shifting social and economic values over time. -
Period: 1500 to
Renaissance
English dramas like Shakespear's work began to emerge. The King James translation of the bible was also edited at this time. -
Period: to
Neoclassical
Theaters began to reopen , and playwrights like William Congreve and John Dryden began producing work. Satire was a popular genre at this time, making Samuel Butler quite successful. -
Period: to
Romantic Period
Some of the most notable classic authors such as Wordsworth, Coleridge, Jane Austen, and Mary Shelley wrote during this period. -
Period: to
Victorian Period
This was a time of great social, religious, intellectual, and economic issues, heralded by the passage of the Reform Bill, which expanded voting rights.
This period is argued to be the most popular and influential in all literature. -
Period: to
Modern/Post-Modern
It is unclear the exact dates of these periods as they overlapped and blended into one another. Poststructuralist literary theory and criticism began to develop during this time.