THE EIGHT PERIODS OF ENGLISH LITERATURE

English literature has been influenced by different heritage and traditions. The English language spread throughout the world with the development of different literary pieces. In the last hundred plus years, numerous writers from other countries like Great Britain, the island of Ireland, the USA, and members of other former British colonies have received the Nobel Prize for works in the English language, more than in any other language. Poet and playwright William Shakespeare (1564 – 1616) is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and one of the world’s greatest dramatists. There had been several religious and political changes in the history of English and its literature has also changed by many scientific discoveries and inventions. So historians have divided English literature into periods for convenience. Here are the eight periods of English Literature:

  A. Anglo– Saxon (449-1066 AD)

– Brought a rich tradition of oral lit. Steeped in their customs, beliefs, etc.

•  Anglo– Saxon Chronicle by Alfred the Great
•  The Wonderer
•  A Dream of the Road
•  Beowulf

Significant Literary Genres:

• Chronicle
• Formulaic Poetry
• Epic Poem

B. Medieval Period (1066-1485)

Some Significant Literary Words:

• Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
• Morte D’ Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory
• Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chancer

Significant Literary Genres:

• Elegy
• Religious Liturgy
• Narrative Romance
• Arthurian Romance

C. Elizabethan Period (1485-1625)

~ At the dusk of the middle Ages and the dawn of the modern world comes the Renaissance~ Songwriters. Dramatist, Poets and Sonneteers flourished in~

The most splendid in the History of Literature.

• Some Significant Literary Words:
• Faerie Queene
• The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd
• William Shakespeare’s Works

 Significant Literary Genres:

• Sonnet
• Elizabethan Lyric
• Elizabethan Drama
• Historical Play

D. Puritan Period (1625– 1700)

Some Significant Literary Words:

• Devotions
• History of Henry VII
• The Garden

Significant Literary Genres:

• Restoration Comedy and Tragedy
• Metaphysical Poetry
• Light Prose
• Ode and Elegy

E. Classicism Period (1700–1800)

Some Significant Literary Works:

• The London Merchant
• Conscious Lovers
• The Fair Pertinent The Tragedy of Jane Shore
• The Tragedy of Lacy Grey

Significant Literary Genres:

• Opera
• Ballad Opera
• Pantomime
• Prose Tragedy

F. The Romantic Period (1800-1839)

~ The golden age of the lyric poetry belongs to the youth~ Early 19th century Britain was stirred by new feelings about the world of nature, about both personal and political liberty, and about the common name.

Significant Literary Works:

• Song of Innocence and Experience by William Blake
• Lyrical Ballads by William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge
• Sense and Sensibility; Pride and Prejudice; Mansfield Park; Persuasion by Jane Austen

Significant Literary Genres:

• Heroic Couplet
• Historical Novel

G. The Victorian Period (1837- 1900)

~ named after Queen Victoria I of England in 1817

 ~ Similar to the Elizabethan Period; Victorian Age was one of the energetic expansion, imperial ambition and  profound optism about future of England and Mankind

Significant Literary Works:

• The Pickwick Papers; Oliver Twist; David Copperfield; A tale of 2 Cities; Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
• Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brente
• The Cry of the Children by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Significant Literary Genres:

• Novels
• Magazine Serials
• Dramatic Monologue

H. The 20th Century or The Modern Period

~ The literature of this period exemplifies the improved crafts of masters

Significant Literary Works:

• The Egoist by George Meredith
• To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf

Significant Literary Genres:

• Novel
• Blank verse

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