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450
Old English or "Anglo-Saxon"
Main characteristics:
Heroic poetry elements, Christian ideals, Synecdoche, Metonymy and Irony.
The Anglo-Saxons first introduced Old English literature in the years between 450 and 1066.
One of the first examples of the Old English period was a poem by a man named Caedmon, a cattle herder around from around 680. As well as a famous known poem called Beowulf the most famous literary work of this period; some other commonly known writings of this specific time are The Wanderer and The Seafarer. -
1066
Middle English
The Middle English period features a significative change in the language, culture, and lifestyle in England which results in what we see today as a form of “modern” English. This period extends to around 1500, and as with the Old English period, many of the Middle English writings had a religious nature; however, from about 1350, secular literature began to rise. Notable works from this period include "Piers Plowman" and "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight." -
1500
The Renaissance
This period is divided into four smaller time periods, which are: the Elizabethan Age, the Jacobean Age, the Caroline Age and the Commonwealth Age. -
Period: 1558 to
Elizabethan Age
Great creativity and prolific writing, very strong nationalism, patriotism, religious tolerance and social and intellectual progress.
An age of notorious poetry, fresh and with a young and romantic feeling. -
Neo-Classical
The Neo-Classical, is, as well divided into three smaller periods of time, which are: the Restoration, the Augustan Age and the Age of Sensibility. -
Period: to
Jacobean Age
An age of dark writings, with a constant questioning on the stability of the social order. A time with great satires and the often preoccupation on the problem of evil. Some of William Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies date from the beginning of this period. -
Period: to
Caroline Age
A period of poetry on political, economic, social milieu and love aspects, with high creativity and different styles of writing and narrative. The most emblematic characteristic on this age’s poetry is romance. -
Period: to
Commonwealth Period
Some political writings appeared, and, while dramatic literature had a downfall; the prose writers of the likes of Thomas Fuller, Abraham Cowley, and Andrew Marvell published prolifically. -
Period: to
The Restoration
Many different literary forms of the modern world, like the novel, the journalism, biographies and travel writing gained ground during the Restoration, due to new scientific discoveries and philosophical concepts that came into play with new social an economical conditions. Above all an age of Drama and Heroic plays. -
Period: to
Augustan Age
A literary time that marked great development for the novel, as well as an increase in the satire centered writings, a shift in drama from political satire, into what we know today as melodrama and a step forward into self-centered poetry. Philosophy was dominated by empiricism. -
Period: to
Age of Sensibility
This is the era in which many writers started to explore the feelings and emotions in the literature and other arts, celebrating the emotional and intellectual concepts of their writings, and as well the stories relied on emotional response from both the characters and the readers -
Romantic
The most notable characteristic in the poetry on this period is the important role of the individual thought and personal feeling, which began to receive high emphasis on the literature of England at the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century. Writers of the time expressed their experiences as filtered through imagination and personal emotion -
Victorian
This was a time of great social, intellectual, economic and religious problems. It is known to be the most popular and influential period of English literature. This was as well the time when fiction prose found it's place -
Edwardian
In this period, literature experimented with topics of insensitivity, repression and a lack of humility in the English people, resulting in a more intense, social, and political style of writing, always questioning the norms of society, without any hope or apprehension , but by the thought that the new century would be the apocalypse. -
Modern
In the modern era the principles that guided the Victorian age writers were rejected completely up to the point of causing a rebellious attitude in the writers of the time. A generation of literature came with a more critical thinking, that opposing the Victorian beliefs, were constantly raising questions against the decisions made by the authorities. The most important years, were the first three decades of the twentieth century, which became known as the golden period of modernist literature.
