BritishLiteratureTimeline.doc

British Literature Timeline

Old English Period
Medieval Period

The Renaissance

Neoclassical Period
Romantic Period

Modern Period

The Old English/Anglo-Saxon Period
Years: 449-1066
Content: 
· strong belief in fate
· juxtaposition of church and pagan worlds
· admiration of heroic warriors who prevail in battle
· express religious faith and give moral instruction through literature    
Style/Genres:
· oral tradition of  literature
· poetry dominant genre
· unique verse form
o caesura
o alliteration
o repetition
o four-beat rhythm
Effect:
· Christianity helps literacy to spread
· introduces Roman alphabet to Britain
· oral tradition helps unite diverse peoples and their myths
Historical Context:
· life centered around ancestral tribes or clans that ruled themselves
· at first the people were warriors from invading outlying areas: Angles, Saxons, Jutes, and  Danes
· later they were agricultural
A Sampling of Key Literature & Authors:
· Beowulf
· The Venerable Bede
· Exeter Book
The Norman Conquest ended this period. The Bayeux Tapestry, a 20 inch by 23 foot-long embroidered cloth depicting scenes commemorating the Battle of Hastings in 1066, was probably commissioned ca 1070 to tell the story of William the Conqueror and Harold, Earl of Wessex, the men who led the Norman and Saxon armies in 1066. William's defeat of Harold at the Battle of Hastings ensured the success of the Norman invasion of England.  Follow this link to read the story and to see sections of the tapestry.

The Middle English Period (Medieval Period)
Years:  1066-1485 (roughly)
Content:
· plays that instruct the illiterate masses in morals and religioun
· chivalric code of honor/romances
· religious devotion
Style/Genres:
· oral tradition continues
· folk ballads
· mystery and miracle plays
· morality plays
· tock epithets
· kennings     
· frame stories
· moral tales
Effect:
· church instructs its people through the morality and miracle plays
· an illiterate population is able to hear and see the literature
Historical Context:
· Crusades bring the development of a money economy for the first time in Britain
· trading increases dramatically as a result of the Crusades
· William the Conqueror crowned king in 1066
· Henry III crowned king in 1154 brings a judicial system, royal courts, juries, and chivalry to Britain
A Sampling of Key Literature & Authors:
· Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Pearl
· Domesday Book
· L’Morte de Arthur
· Geoffrey Chaucer

The Renaissance
Years: 1485-1660
The Elizabethan Period: the reign of Elizabeth I, 1586-1603
Jacobean Period: he reign of James I of England, 1603-1625
Content:
· world view shifts from religion and after life to one stressing the  human life on earth
· popular theme: development of human potential
· popular theme: many aspects of love explored
· unrequited love
· constant love
· timeless love
· courtly love
· love subject to change
Style/Genres:
· poetry
o the sonnet
o metaphysical poetry
§ elaborate and unexpected metaphors called conceits
· drama
o written in verse
o supported by royalty
o tragedies, comedies, histories
Effect:  
· commoners welcomed at some play productions (like ones at the Globe) while conservatives try to close the theaters on grounds that they promote brazen behaviors
· not all middle-class embrace the metaphysical poets and their abstract conceits
Historical Context:
· War of Roses ends in 1485 and political stability arrives
· Printing press helps stabilize English as a language and allows more people to read a variety of literature
· Economy changes from farm-based to one of international trade
A Sampling of Key Literature & Authors:
· William Shakespeare
· Thomas Wyatt
· Ben Jonson
· Cavalier Poets
· Metaphysical Poets  
· John Donne
· Christopher Marlowe
· Andrew Marvell
· Robert Herrick
· Katherine Phillips

The Neoclassical Period ;
Years: 1660-1798
The Restoration: the reign of Charles II, 1630 - 1660 (after his restoration to the thrown in 1630 following the English Civil War and Cromwell)
The Age of Enlightenment (the Eighteenth Century)
Content:
· emphasis on reason and logic
· stresses harmony, stability, wisdom
· Locke: a social contract exists between the government and the people. The government governs guaranteeing “natural rights” of life, liberty, and property
Style/Genres:
· satire
· poetry
· essays
· letters, diaries, biographies
· novels
Effect:
· emphasis on the individual
· belief that humanity is basically evil
· approach to life: “the world as it should be”
Historical Context:
· 50% of males are functionally literate (a dramatic rise)
· Fenced enclosures of land cause demise of traditional village life
· Factories begin to spring up as industrial revolution begins
· Impoverished masses begin to grow as farming life declines and factories build
· Coffee houses—where educated men spend evenings with literary and political associates
A Sampling of Key Literature & Authors:
· Alexander Pope
· Daniel Defoe
· Jonathan Swift,
· Samuel Johnson
· John Bunyan
· John Milton

The Romantic Period
Years:  1798 – 1832
Content:
· human knowledge consists of impressions and ideas formed in the  individual’s mind    
· introduction of Gothic elements and terror/horror stories and novels  
· in nature one can find comfort and peace that the man-made urbanized towns and factory environments  cannot offer
Style/Genres:
· poetry
o lyrical ballads
Effects:
· evil attributed to society not to human nature  
· human beings are basically good
· movement of protest: a desire for personal freedom
· children seen as hapless victims of  poverty and exploitation
Historical Context:
· Napoleon rises to power in France and opposes England militarily and economically
· gas lamps developed
· Tory philosophy that government should NOT interfere with private enterprise
· middle class gains representation in the British parliament
· railroads begin to run
Key Literature/Authors:
· Novelists
o Jane Austen
o Mary Shelley
· Poets
o Robert Burns
o William Blake
o William Wordsworth
o Samuel Taylor Coleridge
o Lord Byron
o Percy Shelley
o John Keats

The Victorian Period
Years:  1832-1900
Content:
· conflict between those in power and the common masses of laborers and the poor  
· shocking life of sweatshops and urban poor is highlighted in literature to insist on reform  
· country versus city life
· sexual discretion (or lack of it)  
· strained coincidences
· romantic triangles
· heroines in physical danger
· aristocratic villains
· misdirected letters
· bigamous marriages
Genres/Styles:
· novel becomes popular for first time; mass produced for the first time
o bildungsroman
o political novels
o detective novels (Sherlock Holmes)
o serialized novels (Charles Dickens)
· elegies
· poetry: easier to understand  
o dramatic monologues
· drama: comedies of manners
· magazines offer stories to the masses
Effect:
· literature begins to reach the masses
Historical Context:
· paper becomes cheap; magazines and novels cheap to mass produce  
unprecedented growth of industry and business in Britain
unparalleled dominance of  nations, economies and trade abroad
Key Literature/Authors:
· Charles Dickens
· Thomas Hardy
· Rudyard Kipling
· Robert Louis Stevenson
· George Eliot
· Oscar Wilde
· Alfred Lord Tennyson
· Charles Darwin
· Charlotte Bronte
· Robert Browning

The Modern Period

Years: 1900-(subject to debate)
Content:
Genres/Styles:
· poetry: free verse
· epiphanies begin to appear in literature  
· speeches  
· memoirs  
· novels  
o stream of consciousness
Effect:
·
Historical Context:
· British Empire loses 1 million soldiers to World War I
· Winston Churchill leads Britain through WW II, and the Germans bomb England directly
· British colonies  demand independence
A Sampling of Key Literature and Authors:
· James Joyce
· Virginia Woolf
· T. S. Eliot
· Joseph Conrad
· D. H. Lawrence
· Graham Greene
· Dylan Thomas
· George Orwell
· William Butler Yeats
· Bernard Shaw