-
Period: 500 to 1500
Medieval
The Medieval period runs from the end of Late Antiquity in the fourth century to the English Renaissance of the late fifteenth century. The country was dominated by Anglo-Saxons. That early portion is known as the Old English period.
Link -
975
Beowulf
It is an Old English epic story consisting of 3,182 alliterative lines. It may be the oldest surviving long story in Old English and is commonly cited as one of the most important works of Old English literature.
Link -
Period: 1500 to
English Renaissance
These years produced a gallery of authors of genius, some of whom have never been surpassed, and conferred on scores of lesser talents the enviable ability to write with fluency, imagination, and verve.
Link -
Apr 26, 1564
Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet, playwright and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's greatest dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon".
Link -
Period: to
Enlightment
Sometimes referred to as the Age of Reason, was a confluence of ideas and activities that took place throughout the eighteenth century. Scientific rationalism, exemplified by the scientific method, was related to the Enlightenment.
Link -
Jonathan Swift
Swift is remembered for works such as A Tale of a Tub (1704), An Argument Against Abolishing Christianity (1712), Gulliver's Travels (1726), and A Modest Proposal (1729). He is regarded by the Encyclopædia Britannica as the foremost prose satirist in the English language, and is less well known for his poetry.
Link -
Period: to
Romanticism
The most notable feature of the poetry of the time is the new role of individual thought and personal feeling. Where the main trend of 18th-century poetics had been to praise the general, to see the poet as a spokesman of society addressing a cultivated and homogeneous audience and having as his end the conveyance of “truth,” the Romantics found the source of poetry in the particular, unique experience.
Link -
Lord Byron
George Gordon Byron, known simply as Lord Byron, was a British poet, peer, politician, and leading figure in the Romantic movement. He is regarded as one of the greatest British poets and remains widely read and influential. Among his best-known works are the lengthy narrative poems Don Juan and Childe Harold's Pilgrimage: many of his shorter lyrics in Hebrew Melodies also became popular.
Link -
Period: to
Realism (Victorian Period)
In general, realism in art and literature refers to the attempt to represent familiar and everyday people and situations in an accurate, unidealized manner. More specifically, the term "realism" refers to a literary and artistic movement of the late 1800's and early 1900's. This movement was a reaction against romanticism. Romanticism was an earlier movement that presented the world in much more idealized terms.
Link -
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era. His works enjoyed unprecedented popularity during his lifetime, and by the 20th century critics and scholars had recognised him as a literary genius. His novels and short stories are still widely read today.
