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450
ANGLO-SAXON / OLD ENGLISH AGE 450-1066
The Anglo-Saxons first introduced Old English literature. Heroic poetry elements, Christian ideals, Synecdoche, Metonymy and Irony. EXAMPLES: 800 AC BEOWULF the first great work of Germanic literature, mingles the legends of Scandinavia with the experience in England of Angles and Saxons. Some other commonly known writings of this specific time are The Wanderer and The Seafarer. -
1064
MIDDLE ENGLISH 10674 - 1500
Normans of normandy (France) defeated the anglo saxon king in 1066 and conquered england. The Middle English writings had a religious nature; however, from about 1350, secular literature began to rise. EXAMPLES:
1367. A narrator who calls himself Will, and whose name may be Langland, begins the epic poem of Piers Plowman.
1387 Chaucer begins an ambitious scheme for 100 Canterbury Tales, of which he completes only 24 by the time of his death) -
1558
ENGLISH RENAISSANCE - ELIZABETHAN 1558 - 1603
Elizabeth I's reign. Influence of Italian renaissance. An age of notorious poetry, fresh and with a young and romantic feeling. EXAMPLES:
Pre shakespeare: 1590 English poet Edmund Spenser celebrates the Protestant Elizabeth I as The Faerie Queene.
1601 Shakespeare's central character in Hamlet expresses both the ideals of the Renaissance and the disillusion of a less confident age. -
ENGLISH RENAISSANCE - JACOBEAN and CAROLINE 1603 - 1653
JACOBEAN 1603-1625
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. CAROLINE 1625-1653
King Charles I's execution.
A period of poetry on political, economic, social milieu and love aspects, with high creativity and different styles of writing and narrative. -
PURITAN 1653 - 1660
Oliver Cromwell took England.
Puritan govt. Excessive morality. EXAMPLES:
- John Bunyan (1628-1688), who writes "The Pilgrim's Path", a rustic allegory of the Puritan path to salvation.
- Richard Baxter with "The Reformed Pastor" (1656) -
RESTORATION AGE 1660 - 1700
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. EXAMPLES:
"The Lost Paradise" by John Milton
"Sodom" by John Wilmot,
William Wycherley's comedy "The Field Wife"
Part I of The Pilgrim's Progress, written during John Bunyan's two spells in Bedford Gaol, is published and is immediately popular (1678 ) -
18th CENTURY AUGUSTAN and SENSIBILIY AGES 1700 - 1798
AGUSTAN AGE 1700-1750
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 AGE OF SENSIBILITY 1750-1798
the stories relied on emotional response from both the characters and the readers EXAMPLES:
1789 William Blake publishes Songs of Innocence, a volume of his poems with every page etched and illustrated by himself. -
ROMANTICISM 1798-1837
Poetry and romantic novel. Idealization of women. EXAMPLES
1798 English poets Wordsworth and Coleridge jointly publish Lyrical Ballads, a milestone in the Romantic
movement
English author Jane Austen publishes her first work in print, Sense and Sensibility, at her own expense -
VICTORIAN PERIOD 1837-1901
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 EXAMPLES:
-Emily Brontë "Wuthering Heights" (1847)
-Charles Dickens "Oliver Twist" (1837)
1850 Alfred Tennyson's elegy for a friend, In Memoriam, captures perfectly the Victorian mood of heightened sensibility.
-Arthur Conan Doyle "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" (1891-92) -
20th CENTURY - MODERN LITERATURE 1901 - 1940
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. EXAMPLES:
-British philosopher G.E. Moore publishes Principia Ethica, an attempt to apply logic to ethics (1903 )
-Agatha Christie "Murder on the Orient Express" (1934)
-D. H. Lawrence "The Lost Girl" (1920)
-Virginia Woolf "To the lighthouse" (1927) -
POST MODERN 1940 - 2000
It emerged in the post-World War II era with 3 important variants: Magical realism, the theater of the absurd and political protest literature.
Among the authors:
-Julian Barnes "Flaubert's Parrot" (1984)
-Peter Ackroyd "Chatterton" (1987)
- Ian McEwan "The Innocent" (1990) -
CONTEMPORARY 2000 - Nowadays
English literature is one of the most sold and translated worldwide, rich and abundant of Western literature. Among the most prominent authors:
- Zadie Smith with "White teeth"
- Mark Haddon with "The curious incident of the dog at midnight"
- Hilary Mantel with "In the court of the wolf"
- J. R. Tolkien with "The Lord of the Rings"
- J. K. Rowling with "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone"
- David Mitchell with "Cloud Atlas"
- Ian McEwan with "Atonement"
- Neil Gaiman with "American Gods"
