Literary periods are spans of time that share the same intellectual, linguistic, religious, and

artistic thoughts and influences

Periods of British Literature

English Literature from Chaucer to Renaissance

450-1066: Old English (or Anglo-Saxon) Period

 Refers to the literature produced from the invasion of Celtic England by Germanic
tribes in the first half of the fifth century to the conquest of England in 1066 by
William the Conqueror.
 During the Old English Period, written literature began to develop from oral tradition
 One of the most well-known eighth century Old English literature is Beowulf, an epic
poem.
 Another poet of the Old English Period who wrote on biblical and religious themes
was Caedmon

1066-1500: Middle English Period (Mystery and Morality plays)

 It consists of the literature produced in the centuries between the Norman Conquest of
1066 when a standard language, derived from the dialect of the London area came to
be known as "modern English."
 Prior to the second half of the fourteenth century, vernacular literature was popular as
it consisted religious writings.
 A shift from religious to secular literature came with Geoffrey Chaucer's The
Canterbury Tales.

1500-1660: The Renaissance

 The English Renaissance began with the ascent of the House of Tudor to the English
throne in 1485
 Main figures of the movement were English humanists like Sir Thomas More and Sir
Thomas Wyatt
 The most popular idea of the Renaissance was the divine right of kings to rule, and
Another was the development of humanistic ideas, such as the dignity of man.

1558-1603: Elizabethan Age

  It coincides with the reign of Elizabeth I (1558 – 1603). Reigned for forty four years.
 Ushered England in a state of stability.
 Golden period in English Literature.
 During this time, medieval tradition was mixed with Renaissance optimism.
 Lyric poetry, prose, and drama were the major styles of literature that became popular
during the Elizabethan Age.
 Some important writers of the Elizabethan Age include William Shakespeare,
Christopher Marlowe, Edmund Spenser(The Faerie Queene), and Ben Jonson
(Volpone).

1603-1625: Jacobean Age

 The Jacobean Age of English Literature coincides with the reign of James I (1603 –
1625). During this time the literature became sophisticated and questioned unequal
social order.
 The Jacobean Age produced rich prose and drama as well as the King James
translation of the Bible.
 Shakespeare and Jonson wrote during the Jacobean Age and so did John Donne
(Meta- After/ Beyond Physical- Tangible/ Concrete. Term coined by Samuel Johnson
in Lives of the Most Eminent Poets (1779) to describe a group of 17 th century poets.
Gained popularity after T.S Eliot’s wrote an essay titled “The Metaphysical Poets
(1921)

Major Characteristic of Metaphysical Poetry

 Highly intellectual and exploration of complex ideas
 Rational and not intuitive discussion of the phenomena that influence human life
 Abrupt beginning and change of thoughts
 Argumentative structure
 Carpe Diem philosophy
 Use of wit and conceit (Andrew Marvell Richard Crashaw)
 Francis Bacon
 The Jacobean Age was a time of great uncertainty, and many feared an impending
civil war.
1625-1649: Caroline Age

 In 1642 civil war broke out in England between supporters of King Charles I and the
Parliamentarians led by Oliver Cromwell.
 Roundheads or Parliamentarians were the supporters of the Parliament of England
during the English Civil War. They fought against King Charles I of England and his
supporters, known as the Cavaliers or Royalists, who claimed rule by absolute
monarchy and the principle of the divine right of king.
 This period produced the political writings of John Milton,
 Thomas Hobbes' political treatise Leviathan, and the prose of Andrew Marvell.
 In September of 1642, the Puritans closed theatres on moral and religious grounds.
For the next eighteen years the theatres remained closed, accounting for the lack of
drama produced during this time. (1649-1660: Commonwealth Period or Puritan
Age)

1660-1785: The Neoclassical Period

 The Neoclassical Literature was much influenced by contemporary French literature

 The literature of this time is known for philosophy, reason, wit, and refinement.
 Much like the English Literary Renaissance, the Neoclassical Period can be divided
into three subsets: the Restoration, the Augustan Age, and the Age of Sensibility.

1660-1700: The Restoration

 The Restoration (1660–1700), is marked by the restoration of the monarchy and the
triumph of reason and tolerance over religious and political passion.
 The theatrical ban was lifted with the Restoration of King Charles II.
 The Restoration produced an abundance of prose and poetry and the distinctive
Comedy of Manners also known as Restoration comedy (A play that satirises the
behaviour of a particular social group).
 Examples: The Man of Mode, or Sir Fopling Flutter by George Etherege, The Rover
by Aphra Behn (Behn was the first female playwright who had turned to professional
writing for income), The Way of the World, by William Congreve
 It was during the Restoration that John Milton published Paradise Lost (1667) and
Paradise Regained. Other major writers of the era include John Dryden and John
Locke.
1700-1745: The Augustan Age (or Age of Pope)

 The age derives its name from the literary period of Virgil and Ovid under the Roman
emperor Augustus (27 B.C. - A.D. 14).
 In English literature, the Augustan Age refers to literature with characteristics like
refinement, clarity, sophistication and balanced judgment.
 Jonathan Swift, Alexander Pope, and Daniel Defoe are the most important names of
the Augustan Period.
 A significant contribution of this time comes from the release of the first English
novel Robinson Crusoe by Defoe in 1719, and Pamela by Samuel Richardson in
1740

1745-1785: The Age of Sensibility (or Age of Johnson)

 During the Age of Sensibility, literature seems to go back to the worldview of

Enlightenment.
 It began to emphasize instinct and feeling, rather than judgment and restraint.
 A growing sympathy for the Middle Ages during the Age of Sensibility led to a
renewed interest in medieval ballads and folk literature.
 Another name for this period is the Age of Johnson because the dominant authors of
this period was Samuel Johnson.
 This period also produced some of the greatest early novels of the English language,
including Richardson's Clarissa (1748) and Henry Fielding's Tom Jones (1749).

1785-1830: The Romantic Period

 Romantic literature can be characterized by its personal nature, strong use of feeling,
symbolism, and exploration of nature and the supernatural.
 The writings of the Romantics were considered innovative based on their belief that
literature should be spontaneous, imaginative, personal, and free.
 The Romantic Period produced poets like Samuel Taylor Coleridge, William
Wordsworth.
 It was during the Romantic Period that Gothic literature was also born.
 Traits of Gothic literature are dark and gloomy settings and characters and situations
that are fantastic, grotesque, wild, savage, mysterious, and often melodramatic.
 Two of the most famous Gothic novelists are Anne Radcliffe (The Mysteries of
Udolpho) and Mary Shelley (Frankenstein)
1832-1901: The Victorian Period

 This period is named after the reign of Queen Victoria, who ascended the throne in
1837 till 1901.
 It was a time of social, religious, intellectual, and economic activity, initiated by the
Reform Bill (Expansion of voting rights/transfer of voting privileges from the small
group controlled by the nobility and gentry to the populated industrial towns)
 The period has often been divided into Early (1832–1848), Mid (1848–1870) and Late
(1870–1901) periods. (The Pre-Raphaelites (1848–1860) and that of Aestheticism and
Decadence (1880–1901).
 Enrichment of knowledge in science, expansion of empire and growth of economy,
conflict between the science and religion, conflict between aristocracy and
democracy etc.
 The Victorian period is in strong competition with the Romantic period for being the
most popular, influential, and prolific period in all English literature.
 Poets of this time include Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Christina
Rossetti, Alfred Lord Tennyson, and Matthew Arnold, among others.
 John Ruskin, and Walter Pater were advancing the essay form at this time. Finally,
prose fiction found its place under the writing of Charles Dickens, Charlotte and
Emily Bronte, Elizabeth Gaskell, George Eliot, Thomas Hardy, William Makepeace
Thackeray and Samuel Butler.

1901-1914: The Edwardian Period

 The Edwardian period, named after King Edward VII and spans the time from Queen
Victoria's death (1901) to the beginning of World War I (1914).
 During this time, the British Empire was at its wealthy height and materialistic luxury.
 However, much of the English population lived in underprivileged condition. The
writings of the Edwardian Period reflect and comment on these social conditions.
 For example, writers such as George Bernard Shaw and H.G. Wells attacked social
injustice and the selfishness of the upper classes.
 Other writers of the time include William Butler Yeats (The poem “The Second
Coming” was written in 1919 after the First World War and the beginning of the Irish
War of Independence in January 1919, which followed the Easter Rising in April
1916) Joseph Conrad, Rudyard Kipling, Henry James, and E.M. Forster.
1910-1936: The Georgian Period

 The Georgian Period refers to the period of British Literature that is named for the
reign of George V (1910-36).
 Many writers of the Edwardian Period continued to write during the Georgian Period.
This era also produced a group of poets known as the Georgian poets. These writers,
now regarded as minor poets, were published in four anthologies entitled Georgian
Poetry, published by Edward Marsh between 1912 and 1922. Georgian poetry tends to
focus on rural subject matter and is traditional in technique and form.

1914-1945: The Modern Period

 Applies to British literature written since the beginning of World War I in 1914.
 The authors of the Modern Period have experimented with subject matter, and style.
Poets of the period include Yeats, T.S. Eliot, Dylan Thomas, and Seamus Heaney.
Novelists include James Joyce, D.H. Lawrence, and Virginia Woolf. Dramatists
include Noel Coward and Samuel Beckett.

1945-present : Postmodern Period

 Following World War II (1939-1945), the Postmodern Period of British Literature

developed.
 Postmodernism blends literary genres and styles and attempts to break free of
modernist forms. Believes that it is no longer possible to rely on previous modes of
reality representation.
 While the British literary scene at the turn of the new millennium is crowded and
varied, the authors still fall into the categories of modernism and postmodernism.
 Poststructuralist literary theory and criticism developed during this time. Some
notable writers of the period include Samuel Beckett, Joseph Heller, Anthony
Burgess, John Fowles.