The evolution of English literature
English literature
This article is focused on English-language literature rather than the literature of England, so that it includes writers from Scotland, Wales, the Crown dependencies, and the whole of Ireland, as well as literature in English from countries of the former British Empire, including the United States. However, until the early 19th century, it only deals with the literature of the United Kingdom, the Crown dependencies and Ir…
What are the beginnings of English literature?
English literature - English literature - The Old English period: The Angles, Saxons, and Jutes who invaded Britain in the 5th and 6th centuries brought with them the common Germanic metre; but of their earliest oral poetry, probably used for panegyric, magic, and short narrative, little or none survives. For nearly a century after the conversion of King Aethelberht I of Kent to Christianity ...
What is the future of English literature?
The Cambridge History of the English Novel chronicles an ever-changing and developing body of fiction across three centuries.
What skills does English literature give you?
Your Degree is not Useless: 8 Invaluable Skills You Will Gain From Studying Literature
- Critical Thinking. Increasingly automated machine learning is already causing massive changes in the job market all over the world.
- Creativity. Web-based publishing are quickly bridging the gap between the medium and the message. ...
- Genuine Empathy. ...
- Speedreading. ...
- Reading the Big Picture > Big Data. ...
- Concentration. ...
- ‘Self’-Creation. ...
What do you learn from English literature?
Method 1 Method 1 of 5: Laying the Groundwork Download Article
- Start early. Don’t wait to study until the night before a big exam! ...
- Examine what you already know. Write out all the details you can remember from your first reading of the text, as well as anything you remember from your course ...
- Consider whether there are literary terms you’re unfamiliar with. ...
- Look at sample questions, if you can. ...
What was the literature of the Norman Conquest?
What is the enlightenment?
What was the task of the 19th century realists?
What was the most important period of modernism?
What was the second period of the English Renaissance?
What is the first part of the Anglo-Saxon period?
When did modernism begin?
See more
How was English literature developed?
The story of English literature begins with the Germanic tradition of the Anglo-Saxon settlers. Beowulf stands at its head. This epic poem of the 8th century is in Anglo-Saxon, now more usually described as Old English. It is incomprehensible to a reader familiar only with modern English.
What is evolution in English literature?
In its simplest, crudest forms, evolutionary literary criticism consists only in identifying basic, common human needs—survival, sex, and status, for instance—and using those categories to describe the behavior of characters depicted in literary texts.
How was literature developed?
As with the wheel, cities and law codes, the earliest examples of written literature appear to have originated in ancient Mesopotamia. The Sumerian civilization first developed writing around 3400 B.C., when they began making markings on clay tablets in a script known as cuneiform.
What is history of English literature?
Old English literature, or Anglo-Saxon literature, encompasses the surviving literature written in Old English in Anglo-Saxon England, in the period after the settlement of the Saxons and other Germanic tribes in England (Jutes and the Angles) c. 450, after the withdrawal of the Romans, and "ending soon after the ...
What are the different theories of literary criticism?
There are a variety of schools of literary theory, including feminist theory, post-modernist theory, post-structuralist theory, and more. Literary theory helps readers gain a deeper understanding while reading literature by drawing on a critical theory to gain further insight into literary texts.
What is evolutionism theory?
In biology, evolution is the change in the characteristics of a species over several generations and relies on the process of natural selection. The theory of evolution is based on the idea that all species? are related and gradually change over time.
What is literary development?
literature. In a literary work, development is the movement from one event to another or the changes in the characters' understanding. A development is a recent important event that is the latest in a series of related events: [ C ] There is a new development in the plans to reorganize the fire department.
Who is the father of English literature?
Geoffrey ChaucerGeoffrey Chaucer (/ˈtʃɔːsər/; c. 1340s – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for The Canterbury Tales. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry".
What is English literature?
English Literature refers to the study of texts from around the world, written in the English language. By studying a degree in English Literature, you will learn how to analyze a multitude of texts and write clearly using several different styles.
What is the age of English literature?
Know Different Ages in History of English LiteratureTime SpanPeriod Name1500-1600 A.D.The Renaissance or the Early Modern Period1558-1603 A.D.The Elizabethan Age1603-1625 A.D.The Jacobean Age1625-1649 A.D.The Caroline Age20 more rows•Jul 9, 2016
What is English literature and its periods?
Old English (Anglo-Saxon) Period (450–1066) Middle English Period (1066–1500) The Renaissance (1500–1660) The Neoclassical Period (1600–1785) The Romantic Period (1785–1832)
What are the 5 types of literature?
Today, Vista Higher Learning is breaking down the differences to give you a crash course on the five main genres of literature.#1 Fiction. One of the most popular genres of literature, fiction, features imaginary characters and events. ... #2 Nonfiction. ... #3 Drama. ... #4 Poetry. ... #5 Folktale.
When did the English literature start?
What is the history of English Literature? The history of English Literature starts with the Anglo-Saxons and Germanic settlers in Anglo-Saxon England in the 5th century, c.450. The oldest English literature was in Old English which is the earliest form of English and is a set of Anglo-Frisian dialects.
How many periods are there in the history of English literature?
Looking for history of English Literature notes? We have summarized the long history of English Literature in its important 8 periods. Let’s explore some of these major periods of the English Literature in further detail:
What is the most famous work in English literature?
The history of English Literature begins with the Germanic tradition of the Anglo-Saxon settlers. Beowulf is the earliest and most popular work in Old English Literature. As the Normans conquested England, Middle English replaced the Old English and was used by the father of English Literature, Geoffrey Chaucer in his famous work, The Canterbury Tales. William Shakespeare came to be considered as the most iconic and greatest writer in the history of English Literature as he is revered for his legendary plays and sonnets.
What is the Elizabethan age?
Elizabethan Age a.k.a. The Golden Age of English Literature: 16th Century to Early 17th Century) Courtesy: Nolsey. Bringing a distinctive paradigm shift in the history of English Literature, the Elizabethan Age represents the brilliant century of all the periods and is also known as the Golden Age.
What were the most important works of medieval literature?
During the era of Medival English Literature, the most esteemed works also include morality plays, miracle plays and interludes. ‘Everyman’ was a noted Morality play of the time and Miracle plays were taken from the Bible and were frequently performed in churches.
What was the Middle English period?
Also referred to as the Later Middle English Literary Period , the Medieval English Literature comprises of a diverse range of works as the population of England during this time was literate and a considerable portion was also bilingual and trilingual. Geoffrey Chaucer is amongst the highly regarded poets within the period of 1342 to 1400 and was renowned for his courtly love poetry including the famous “ Canterbury Tales” though it was left incomplete; “The House of Fame”, and ‘ The Book of the Duchess’. He became one of the core political servants in Britains’s court. William Langland’s famous religious works including “Piers Plowman” also deserves a crucial mention as it represents another popular genre of this period of English Literature which was secular and religious prose.
How did Indian writers bring out their own version of English?
Writers like R.K. Narayan and Salman Rushdie brought out their own version of English by incorporating certain Indian words into their otherwise English texts. Later this came to be known as “chutnification”. And this is how Indian writers made a foreign language into their own.
What is English literature?
Full Article. English literature, the body of written works produced in the English language by inhabitants of the British Isles (including Ireland) from the 7th century to the present day . The major literatures written in English outside the British Isles are treated separately under American literature, Australian literature, Canadian literature, ...
What is the juxtaposition of royalty in one scene with Plebeians in the next?
Shakespeare’s frequent juxtaposition of royalty in one scene with plebeians in the next reflects a very British way of looking at society. This awareness of differences between high life and low, a state of affairs fertile in creative tensions, is observable throughout the history of English literature.
Is English literature a second language?
Finally, English literature has enjoyed a certain diffusion abroad, not only in predominantly English-speaking countries but also in all those others where English is the first choice of study as a second language.
Is English literature insular?
English literature is therefore not so much insular as detached from the continental European tradition across the Channel. It is strong in all the conventional categories of the bookseller’s list: in Shakespeare it has a dramatist of world renown; in poetry, a genre notoriously resistant to adequate translation and therefore difficult to compare with the poetry of other literatures, it is so peculiarly rich as to merit inclusion in the front rank; English literature’s humour has been found as hard to convey to foreigners as poetry, if not more so—a fact at any rate permitting bestowal of the label “idiosyncratic”; English literature’s remarkable body of travel writings constitutes another counterthrust to the charge of insularity; in autobiography, biography, and historical writing, English literature compares with the best of any culture; and children’s literature, fantasy, essays, and journals, which tend to be considered minor genres, are all fields of exceptional achievement as regards English literature. Even in philosophical writings, popularly thought of as hard to combine with literary value, thinkers such as Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, David Hume, John Stuart Mill, and Bertrand Russell stand comparison for lucidity and grace with the best of the French philosophers and the masters of Classical antiquity.
Where did the English language originate?
English, as we know it, descends from the language spoken by the north Germanic tribes who settled in England from the 5th century A.D. onwards. They had no writing (except runes, used as charms) until they learned the Latin alphabet from Roman missionaries. The earliest written works in Old English (as their language is now known to scholars) were probably composed orally at first, and may have been passed on from speaker to speaker before being written. We know the names of some of the later writers (Cædmon, Ælfric and King Alfred) but most writing is anonymous. Old English literature is mostly chronicle and poetry - lyric, descriptive but chiefly narrative or epic.
What was the medium of narrative writing in the 16th century?
The popular and very contemporary medium for narrative in the 16th century is the theatre. The earliest novels reflect a bourgeois view of the world because this is the world of the authors and their readers (working people are depicted, but patronizingly, not from inside knowledge).
What is romanticism in literature?
movement in philosophy but especially in literature, romanticism is the revolt of the senses or passions against the intellect and of the individual against the consensus. Its first stirrings may be seen in the work of William Blake (1757-1827), and in continental writers such as the Swiss philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau and the German playwrights Johann Christoph Friedrich Schiller and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. The publication, in 1798, by the poets William Wordsworth (1770-1850) and Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834) of a volume entitled Lyrical Ballads is a significant event in English literary history, though the poems were poorly received and few books sold. The elegant latinisms of Gray are dropped in favour of a kind of English closer to that spoken by real people (supposedly). Actually, the attempts to render the speech of ordinary people are not wholly convincing. Robert Burns (1759 1796) writes lyric verse in the dialect of lowland Scots (a variety of English). After Shakespeare, Burns is perhaps the most often quoted of writers in English. His Auld Lang Syne is sung every New Year's Eve.
Who were the two novelists of the late Victorian and early modern era?
The late Victorian and early modern periods are spanned by two novelists of foreign birth: the American Henry James (1843-1916) and the Pole Joseph Conrad (Josef Korzeniowski; 1857-1924). James relates character to issues of culture and ethics, but his style can be opaque; Conrad's narratives may resemble adventure stories in incident and setting, but his real concern is with issues of character and morality. The best of their work would include James's The Portrait of a Lady and Conrad's Heart of Darkness, Nostromo and The Secret Agent. We should also includeR.L. Stevenson (1850-94) writer of Kidnappe, Treasure Island, and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Oscar Wilde (1854-1900), author of The Importance of Being Earnest, and The Portrait of Dorian Gray.
Who is the most famous poet of the Elizabethan era?
The greatest of Elizabethan lyric poets is John Donne (1572-1631), whose short love poems are characterized by wit and irony, as he seeks to wrest meaning from experience. The preoccupation with the big questions of love, death and religious faith marks out Donne and his successors who are often called metaphysical poets. (This name, coined by Dr. Samuel Johnson in an essay of 1779, was revived and popularized by T.S. Eliot, in an essay of 1921. It can be unhelpful to modern students who are unfamiliar with this adjective, and who are led to think that these poets belonged to some kind of school or group - which is not the case.) After his wife's death, Donne underwent a serious religious conversion, and wrote much fine devotional verse. The best known of the other metaphysicals are George Herbert (1593-1633), Andrew Marvell (1621-1678) and Henry Vaughan (1621-1695).
Why is it so hard to read old English literature?
The difficulty encountered in reading Old English Literature lies in the fact that the language is very different from that of today. There was no rhyme in Old English poems. Instead they used alliteration.
What is the earliest form of English?
The Old English language or Anglo-Saxon is the earliest form of English. The period is a long one and it is generally considered that Old English was spoken from about A.D. 600 to about 1100. Many of the poems of the period are pagan, in particular Widsith and Beowulf. The greatest English poem, Beowulf is the first English epic.
What was the first English drama?
The English dramas have gone through great transformation in Elizabethan period. The chief literary glory of the Elizabethan age was its drama. The first regular English comedy was Ralph Roister Doister written by Nicholas Udall. Another comedy Gammar Gurton’s Needle is about the loss and the finding of a needle with which the old woman Gammar Gurton mends clothes.
What was the purpose of the early plays?
Their great work was to train actors, to keep alive the dramatic spirit, and to prepare the way for the true drama.
How many books did E.M. Forster write?
E.M Forster wrote five novels in his life time. Where Angels Fear to Tread has well-drawn characters. Other novels are The Longest Journey, A Room with a View, Howards End, and A Passage to India. A Passage to India is unequal in English in its presentation of the complex problems which were to be found in the relationship between English and native people in India. E.M Forster portrayed the Indian scene in all its magic and all its wretchedness.
Who wrote the first tragedy?
The first English tragedy was Gorboduc, in blank verse. The first three acts of Gorboduc writtern by Thomas Norton and the other two by Thomas Sackville.
Who wrote the first blank verse in English?
Even though there are many differences in their work, Sir Thomas Wyatt and the Earl of Surrey are often mentioned together. Sir Thomas Wyatt introduced the Sonnet in England whereas Surrey wrote the first blank verse in English.
What is the history of English literature?
History of English Literature starts with the emergence of English language. English Language has gone through different periods of evolution
What was the first literary work of the Elizabethan era?
The first publication, which marked the start of this golden age, was Shepheardes Calenderby EdmundSpenserin 1579. In the first half of the Elizabeth era, there was composition of little verses of any value. Spenser was the most celebrated poet of this era and he was called thepoet’s poet. He had a remarkable influence on the poetry that followed after him. Elizabethan literature was also the golden age of drama too as Shakespeare was present there. Shakespeare plays were in a range of different genres. Those included tragedies like Hamletor Othelloetc, comedies like As You Like It, historic plays like Richard IIIetc. Other writers of Elizabethan literature include Sir Philip Sidney, Thomas Campion, Sackville, Norton, Thomas Kyd,etc. Famous literary works of this era include The Faerie Queene, Astrophel and Stella, The Defence of Poetry, Gorboduc, The Spanish Tragedy etc.
What is the Anglo-Norman period?
Anglo-Norman literature is the literature written at the time of Anglo-Norman period. It is in the Anglo-Norman language. This language took form during the time 1066–1204, when the England and Duchy of Normandy came together to make the Anglo-Norman empire. The literature of this time was rich in writing the legends and lives of saints. It also included epic poetry, romance poetry, lyric poetry, fables, Fabliaux, writings on history, hagiography, religious tales, Didactic literature, drama, satire etc. The most famous manuscripts from this period include Brut, The Owl and the Nightingale, The Ormulum, Arthur and Merlin, Tristan and Iseult, La gageure, Anglo-Norman Sermon, Voyage de Saint Brandan, Piers Plowman, Roman de Renart, etc. Prominent writers from this literary period include; Layamon, Robert Biket, Geoffrey of Monmouth, Béroul, Thomas, Nicole Bozon, etc. The Age of Chaucer (1340-1400)
What is the pre-Chaucerian period?
Pre-Chaucerian Period (500-1340) Pre-Chaucerian literature is the literature written before the period of Chaucer. This period has a significant place in history of English literature. The two major periods, the literature of this time comprises of are, Anglo Saxon and Anglo Norman.
What was the second name of the Restoration Age?
The second name of Age of Dryden is the Restoration Age because of the restoration of monarchy in England. This era started when Charles II returned to the throne. Because people had spent a lot of time restricted in Puritan period, after it there was an immense reaction against it. Moderation and decency started dissipating. Faithlessness, betrayal and recklessness became fashionable, and the people who still had some goodness were laughed at. All of this had a definite impact on literature of the Restoration era. Literature became intellectual rather than imaginative or emotional. Though it was often brilliant, it was a bit hard and insensitive. Even poetry became prosaic and was lacking imagination. Examples of which include Sodom from Earl of Rochester, The Country Wife by William Wycherley, Two Treatises on Government by Locke, etc.
How many manuscripts are there in Old English literature?
Old English Literature includes works of diverse genres like chronicles, sermons, heroic poetry, translations of Bible, hagiography, legal writings, riddles, and many more. 400 total manuscripts that have survived from this period and are of special interest.
When was Shakespeare's era?
The Age of Shakespeare (1577-1625) or The Renaissance in History of English Literature
What is the meaning of the word "literature"?
It mirrors the society in which it is generated. The word literature comes from the Latin word ‘litaritura’ meaning “writing organized with letters”. We classify literature according to language, origin, historical period, genre, and subject matter.
What were the achievements of the Middle English period?
Another remarkable achievement of the Middle English Period, however, was religious or didactic writings. Under this category came the Mystery and Miracle plays. The Mystery plays were based on subjects taken from the Bible while the Miracle plays depicted the lives of saints. Since only the clergymen of the church had the authority to write and perform these plays, they chose Latin as the medium of writing and performing these plays.
What is the 18th century called?
The 18th century in English literature is called the Classical Age or the Augustan Age. We also call it the Age of Reason or the Age of Good Sense. The writers of the age produced works of great significance and merit. The major characteristics of the Restoration period—precision and realism—were carried to further perfection. It was during the 18th century that for the first time in the history of English literature prose occupied the front position.
What was the Norman period?
With the Norman conquest began a new era in the history of England literature. The Normans brought with them their rich French culture and language. The literature of this period comes under the category of Norman-French Literature or Anglo-French Literature. Since the Anglo-Norman period belonged to the Middle Ages or Medieval times in Britain History, we also call it the Middle English period in the history of English literature.
What is Elif Notes?
Elif Notes is here to help you in your search for ‘Introduction and History of English Literature’. You can find more topics related to English literature at elifnotes.com
What are the major works of Shakespeare's period?
The major works of this period are: Macbeth, Hamlet, Othello, Julius Caesar, King Lear, All’s Well that Ends Well, Measure for Measure, Coriolanus, Anthony and Cleopatra, Troilus and Cressida, and Timon of Athens.
What was the purpose of chronicles in the Anglo-Norman period?
Though written in the Anglo-Norman language, these chronicles, however, became the major source of historical knowledge for medieval people. Additionally, they contained historical events, and legendary material without any interpretation or comment by the author.
What is the influence of the English novel?
The English novel, from its disparate origins to its development in the eighteenth century, from its rise in the nineteenth century to its present state, has been strongly influenced by the social, political, economic, scientific, and cultural histories of England.
What is a brief history of English novels?
By NASRULLAH MAMBROL on July 2, 2020 • ( 0 ) To a greater extent than any other literary form, the novel is consistently and directly engaged with the society in which the writer lives and feels compelled to explain, extol, or criticize. The English novel, from its disparate origins to its development in ...
What were the conditions for novelists in the nineteenth century?
As the eighteenth century marked the end of patronage as the primary support of artists and writers, so the explosion of periodicals, the multiplication of newspapers, the growth of publishing firms, and the extension of consumerism to literary works in the nineteenth century made it possible for more writers to try to live by and from the pen. “Grub Street” had meant, since the mid-eighteenth century, hard times for writers such as Samuel Johnson and Oliver Goldsmith, and in the eighteenth century the supply of writers far exceeded the demand. This, too, was the case in the nineteenth century, but less severely so, and it would remain the case despite the paperback, magazine, and other media revolutions of the twentieth century. It has often been suggested that Dickens,William Makepeace Thackeray, and most popular novelists of the century whose novels were first serialized in journals and magazines wrote at such length because they were paid by the line of print; while padding is one possible consequence of such a method of publication and payment, the leisurely pace of the novel, its descriptiveness and its length, date from the eighteenth century and grew without regard to such payment schedules. Serial publication no doubt influenced how authors arranged their plot developments. Authors provided rising action toward the end of each installment rather than solely toward the end of the entire novel. These suspenseful moments became known as “cliffhangers” for their ability to tease readers into purchasing the next issue.
What was the Victorian era?
The Victorian novelists—Charles Dickens was arguably the greatest of them—mark a new era in the novel, an era in which the primary middle-class emphasis on its own place in society and the reformation of society in its own image came to the fore. Society itself expanded in the Victorian Age to include not only England and the United Kingdom but also an empire upon which, proverbially, the sun never set. In consequence, novelists, in their characters, backgrounds, and plots, often surveyed an empire that extended geographically to all continents, covering fully one-tenth of the earth’s surface, and financially to the entire populated world. Trade and tradesmen literally moved the empire, opened Australia and Canada to colonization, brought India into the fold (first via the East India Company and then, in 1857, under the Crown), and brought about the foundation of the corporate world with the Companies’ Act of 1862.
What is detective fiction?
The phenomenon of detective fiction captured the interest and imagination of the Victorian public at all levels of society. Organized police forces were first created in the nineteenth century, the science of criminology was born, and ingenious threats to life and, especially, property from the criminal classes grew apace with the unremitting urbanization of England. The steady progress of the fictional criminal, from the endearing rogues of sentimental fiction to the personification of social evil created by Conan Doyle in his Napoleon of Crime, Professor Moriarty, is directly related to the growth of the propertied middle class, to the swelling population of the “undeserving poor” (in George Bernard Shaw’s phrase), to the ample opportunities for anonymity which urban centers and clear class divisions afforded, to the inevitable lure of easy money, and to the multiple examples of corrupt politicians on a national scale. Crime fiction kept pace with developments in crime and in criminal investigation, and in some cases the fiction anticipated developments in criminal science. The crime thriller, mystery story, and detective novel are still staple items of English fiction and have been so for more than a century, thanks to the efforts of Conan Doyle and the prodigious work of such writers as Agatha Christie (1890-1976) and John Creasey (1908-1973).
What was the impact of the war with France on England?
A war with France (1689-1697) saw the beginning of the national debt, but the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries (especially during the reign of Queen Anne, 1702-1714) were marked by material progress, increased mercantilism, drastically increased population, and a rapid and irreversible shift of population from the country to the city. Apart from two major trade monopolies (the Hudson Bay Company in Canada and the East India Company in the Indian subcontinent), trade was open to all after 1689. Free enterprise flourished and with it the middle class, as early eighteenth century England became a mercantile society teetering on the brink of the Industrial Revolution and the concurrent scientific revolution that abetted it. While the governance of England still rested with a relatively small number of families, the hereditary landowners of England had to share power with the new merchant princes of the era.
What were the major events that influenced the development of the Merchant Class?
The novel was influenced by historic events and societal developments, especially tidal changes that involved the class structure of English society. The merchant class had existed for centuries and had steadily grown in the Age of Discovery and during colonization in the seventeenth century. In that century, a number of events conspired to begin the disestablishment of the feudal, medieval world, a disestablishment that would become final in the early nineteenth century. The beginning of the English Civil War (1642) marked the most noteworthy outbreak of religious and class strife England had yet seen. The subsequent regicide of Charles I in 1649 and the abolition of monarchy and the House of Lords by the House of Commons in that year signaled the formation of the Puritan Commonwealth (1649- 1660) and the first rise to political dominance of the middle class, a much-contested context. In the Glorious Revolution of 1688, Parliament invited William of Orange and his wife, Mary, the Protestant daughter of the Catholic James II, to rule England. James II (the “Old Pretender”) fled to France with his son Charles (the “Young Pretender” or Bonnie Prince Charlie), established himself in exile, and began plotting a return to power that would eventuate in the Scottish rebellions of 1715, 1719, and 1745-1746 on behalf of the Stuart monarchy. The Glorious Revolution may, in part, be seen as establishing the principle that the English middle class, through Parliament, could choose their own ruler; it may also be seen as another phase in the growth of power of that middle class.
When did secular literature start to rise?
The era extends to around 1500. As with the Old English period, much of the Middle English writings were religious in nature; however, from about 1350 onward, secular literature began to rise. This period is home to the likes of Chaucer, Thomas Malory, and Robert Henryson.
What is the Middle English period?
Middle English Period (1066–1500 ) The Middle English period sees a huge transition in the language, culture, and lifestyle of England and results in what we can recognize today as a form of “modern” (recognizable) English. The era extends to around 1500. As with the Old English period, much of the Middle English writings were religious in nature;
What is the Neoclassical period?
The Neoclassical Period (1600–1785) The Neoclassical period is also subdivided into ages, including The Restoration (1660–1700), The Augustan Age (1700–1745), and The Age of Sensibility (1745–1785). The Restoration period sees some response to the puritanical age, especially in the theater. Restoration comedies (comedies of manner) ...
What was the Victorian period?
The Victorian Period (1832–1901) This period is named for the reign of Queen Victoria, who ascended to the throne in 1837, and it lasts until her death in 1901. It was a time of great social, religious, intellectual, and economic issues, heralded by the passage of the Reform Bill, which expanded voting rights.
What was the end of the Romantic period?
The time period ends with the passage of the Reform Bill (which signaled the Victorian Era) and with the death of Sir Walter Scott. American literature has its own Romantic period, but typically when one speaks of Romanticism, one is referring to this great and diverse age of British literature, perhaps the most popular and well-known of all literary ages.
When did the postmodern period end?
The postmodern period begins about the time that World War II ended. Many believe it is a direct response to modernism. Some say the period ended about 1990, but it is likely too soon to declare this period closed. Poststructuralist literary theory and criticism developed during this time.
When did the romantic period start?
The beginning date for the Romantic period is often debated. Some claim it is 1785, immediately following the Age of Sensibility. Others say it began in 1789 with the start of the French Revolution, and still others believe that 1798, the publication year for William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s book Lyrical Ballads is its true beginning.
What was the literature of the Norman Conquest?
The literature of this period is greatly influenced by the Norman Conquest.After the conquest, the customs and ideals known as chivalry was introduced by the Normans into England and can be reflected in literature, such as the knightly code, the romantic interest in women , tenderness and reverence paid to Virgin Mary etc..
What is the enlightenment?
The 18th c. is called the Age of Enlightenment, which, on the whole, was an expression of struggle of the then progressive class of bourgeoisie against feudalism . In literature, Classicism, or Neoclassicism, dominated this century. The middle of this century in England sees the inception of a new literary current– sentimentalism. At the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries, Pre-Romanticism emerged. Romanticism in England came into being in the latter half of the 18th century with William Blake and Robert Burns representing the spirit of what is called Pre-Romanticism.With the publication of Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge in 1798, Romanticism began to bloom in the history of English literature.
What was the task of the 19th century realists?
The task of the realists is criticizing capitalist society from a democratic viewpoint. In the fifties and sixties the realistic novel enters a stage of decline.
What was the most important period of modernism?
The movement has come to be called Modernism. The most important period for Modernism was between 1910 and 1925. After WWII , it faded into what has been termed Post-Modernism (Contemporary Literature ).
What was the second period of the English Renaissance?
The second period is the English Renaissance. The 16th century in England was a period of the breaking up of feudal relations and the establishing of the foundations of capitalism.
What is the first part of the Anglo-Saxon period?
And this period can be divided into two parts. The first part is Anglo-Saxon Period (449-1066). The main literary contribution of this period is the Epic, and its masterpiece is the national epic The Song of Beowulf. It is the oldest poem in the English language and the oldest surviving epic in Anglo-Saxon literature.
When did modernism begin?
The movement has come to be called Modernism. The most important period for Modernism was between 1910 and 1925.