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Sep 1, 670
Major Work- Caedmon's Hymn By Caedmon
Caedmon's Hymn by Caedmon is a short Old English poem originally composed by Caedmon, in honour of God the Creator. It survives in a Latin traslation by Bede in his Historia ecclesiastica genris Anglorum and in vernacular versions written down in several manuscripts of Bede's Historia. -
Mar 15, 700
Characteristics of this period
Old English poetry included long epic poems, which drew on the Bible as well as on pagan sources for their content. Some poetry was also based on historical events. -
Oct 14, 1066
Major Event- Battle of Hastings
The Battle of Hastings was fought on 14 October 1066 between the Norman-French army of Duke William II of Normandy and an English army under the Anglo-Saxon King Harold II, beginning the Norman conquest of England
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-battle-of-hastings -
Period: Jan 1, 1100 to Dec 31, 1484
Middle English (Medieval)
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Mar 26, 1150
Characteristics of this period
The term Middle English literature refers to the literature written in the form of the English language known as Middle English, from the 12th century until the 1470s. During this time the Chancery Standard , a form of London-based English became widespread and the printing press regularized the language. There are three main categories of Middle English Literauture: Religious, Courtly love, and Arthurian, though much of Geoffrey Chaucer's work stands outside these. -
Sep 1, 1295
Major Event-Marco Polo releases his tales of China
Marco Polo was not the first European to reach China, but he was the first to leave a detailed chronicle of his experience. There is a substantial literature based on Polo's writings. -
Mar 25, 1317
Major Work- Dante's Inferno by Dante Alighieri
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Mar 24, 1375
Major Work- The Canterbury Tales by Geoffery Chaucer
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Mar 25, 1393
Major Work- Piers Plowman by William Langland
Piers Plowman or Visio Willelmi de Piers Plowman is a Middle English allegorical narrative poem by William Langland. It is written in unrhymed alliterative verse divided into sections called "passus".
http://www.medieval-life-and-times.info/medieval-life/medieval-literature.htm -
Mar 25, 1484
Major Event- End of the War of Roses
The beginning of the English Renaissance is often taken, as a convenience, ti ve 1485, when the Battle of Bosworth ended the Wars of the Roses and inagurated the Tudor Dynasty. Renaissance style and ideas, however, were slow to penetrate England, and the Elizabethan era in the second half of the 16th century is usually regarded as the height of the English Renaissance. -
Period: Jan 1, 1500 to
Renaissance
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Oct 31, 1517
Major Event- Martin Luther posts his 95 thesis
The Ninety-Five Thesis on the Power and Efficency of Indulgences were written by Martin Luther in 1517 and are widely regarded as the initial catalyst for the Protestant Reformation. The disputation protests against clerical abuses, especially nepotism, simony, usury, pluralism, and the sale of indulgences. -
Mar 26, 1540
Characteristics of the time period
The movement actually began in Italy and spread to England, and the English Renaissance from 1500-1688. Characteristics of the Renaissance was the idea of the 'Divine Right' of kings to rule. Another was the development of humanistic ideas, such as the 'dignity of man'. It was a time of scientific inquiry and exploration. This was also the time of the Protestant Reformation, and the invention of the printing press.
http://study.com/academy/lesson/renaissance-literature-characteristics -
Major Work- Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe
The Tragical History of the Life and Death of DOCTOR Faustus, commonly referred to simply as DOCTOR Faustus, is a playby Christopher Marlowe, based on the German story Faust, in which a man sells his soulto the devil for power, experience, pleasure and knowledge.
http://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/renaissance-literature -
Major Work- Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare early in his career about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately reconcile their feuding families. -
Major Work- Hamlet by William Shakespeare
The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, often shortened to Hamlet is a tragedy written by William Shakespeareat an uncertain date between 1599 and 1602. Set in the Kingdom of Denmark, the play dramatises the revenge Prince Hamlet is instructed to enact on his deceased brother's widow, Hamlet's mother Gertrude.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamlet -
Major Event- Charles II restored monarchy in England
In 1660 the monarchy was restored the kingdoms of England, Ireland and Scotland in the person of Charles II. The period that followed the Wars of the Three Kingdoms was officially declared an Interregnum.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restoration_(1660) -
Period: to
Neo-Classicism
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The Great Fire of London
The Great Fire of London in 1666 enabled Londoners to remake their city. -
The Act of Settlement
The Act of Settlement prohibted a Catholic from being king or queen. -
Alexander Pope
Alexander Pope was an English essayist, critic, translator, and one of the greatest poets of Neoclassicism, famous for his moral and critical essays, often ironical and biting satires and aggressive quarrels with other writers. One major work was An Essay on Criticism. -
Samuel Johnson
Johnson wrote the Dictionary of the English Language. -
Voltaire(21 November 1694-May 1778)
A French writer and philosopher whose intelligence, wit, ironic style, and simple vocabulary made him one of France's greatest writers and philosophers. Voltaire's criticism was based on his ironic view of human nature. So, in his "Micrommegas," he introduces ambassadors from outer space who, during their visiti to Earth, witness follies of human thought and behaviour. -
Period: to
Romanticism
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Neo-Classicism
characterized by order, accuracy, and structure. In direct opposition to Renaissance attitudes, where man was seen as basically good, the Neoclassical writers portrayed man as inherently flawed -
Napoleon
Napoleon defeated at Toulouse; exiled to Elba -
Mary Shelly
In 1814, she fell in love with the poet Percy Bysshe Shelly, accompanied him abroad, and after the death of his first wife in 1816 was married to him. Her most notable contribution to literature is her novel of terror, Frankenstein, published in 1818 -
Edgar Allan Poe
Poe was an American writer, considered part of the Romantic Movement, and became an accomplished poet, short story writer, editor, and literary critic, and gained worldwide fame for his dark, macabre tales of horror. Edgar Allan Poe's epic poem The Raven, was published when he was in Baltimore in 1835, and became an instant success. -
Period: to
VIctorian
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Charles Dickens
A Christmas Carol was the most successful book of the 1843 holiday season. By Christmas it sold six thousand copies and it continued to be popular into the new year. Eight stage adaptations were in production within two months of the book's publication.
http://www.charlesdickensinfo.com/christmas-carol/ -
Ireland
Irish potato famine begins. -
William Makepeace Thackerary
William Makepeace Thackeray was an English novelist of the 19th century. He was famous for his satirical works, particularly Vanity Fair, a panoramic portrait of English society.
Wikipedia -
California
California admitted to the Union -
Nathaniel Hawthorne
In The Scarlet Letter like many of Hawthorne's works, the setting in New England and protagonist Hester Prynne's adultery in a Puriutanical 17th century town provides the backdrop for a psychological exploration of the themes of sin, repentence, and morality -
Technology
First telegraph cable laid across the English Channel. -
George Elliot
George Eliot was the pen name of Mary Ann Evans, one of the leading English novelists of the 19th century. Her novels, most famously 'Middlemarch', are celebrated for their realism and psychological insights. -
Modern Lit Characteristics
displays a sense of unity and similarity across genres and locales; experimentation and individualism became popular compared to past periods. Modernism covers the artistic movement of symbolism and expressionism -
Period: to
Modern
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World War 1
WW1 marked the end of whatever chance the Victorian period had at progressing. It was then known as the "Great War" as it decimated the landscape and produced death at a record breaking level -
Major Modern Authors
F. Scott Fitzgerald- The Great Gatsby (1925)
Robert Frost- The Lone Striker (1933)
T.S. Eliot- "The Waste Land" (1922) -
Major Event- Great Depression
Stock market crash, and the Depression, till 1941 -
Characteristics of Post-Modern Lit
this period relied on techniques of fragmentation, paradox, and the unreliable narrator often defined as a style/trend which emerged in the post–World War II era. Works are seen as response against Enlightenment thinking and Modernist approaches to literature -
Period: to
Post-Modern
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Major Event- World War II
Involved a greater amount of the world's nations which would form into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II -
Major Post-Modern Authors/Works
Albert Camus- The Stranger (1942)
Joseph Heller- Catch-22 (1961)
William S. Burroughs- Naked Lunch (1959) -
Major Event: Cold War
A time of tension between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. during the second-half of the 20th century due to Soviet association with Communism and spread of ideology over the West -
Period: to
Contemporary
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Characteristics of Contemporary Lit
A contiuation of the Post-Modern era
narratives: both fiction and nonfiction
anti-heroes
concern with connections between people
emotion-provoking
humorous irony
storytelling emphasized
autobiographical essays
(http://www.studyguide.org/am_lit_timeline_contemporary.htm) -
Major Contemporary Authors/Works
Alice Walker- The Color Purple (1982)
Harper Lee-To Kill a Mockingbird (1960)
Amy Tan-The Joy Luck Club (1989)
Yann Martel- The Life Of Pi (2001) -
Major Event- Fall of The Berlin Wall
"In the evening of November 9, 1989, East German government official Günter Schabowski stated during a press conference that travel through the border to the West was open"
http://history1900s.about.com/od/1980s/qt/berlinwallfalls.htm -
Terrorist Attacks On The U.S.
Planes controlled by Terroists were crashed into the Trade Center -
Major Event
Invasion of England by the Anglo's and the Saxon's -
Major Work- Beowulf
Beowulf is an Old English epic poem consisting of 3182 alliterative long lines. It isa possibly the oldest surviving long poem in Old English and is commonly cited as one of the most important works of Old English literature -
Major Work- Vercelli Book
The Vercelli Book is one of the oldest of the four Old English Poetic Codices. It is an anthology of Old English prose and verse that dates back to the late 10th century. The manuscript is housed in the Capitulary Library of Vercelli, in northern Italy
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/625892/Vercelli-Book -
Period: to Dec 31, 1077
Old English (Anglo-Saxon)
