Short History of English Literature

Brief History of English Literature

Lesson 1:

The name of the periods & the timeline

450-1066 

Old English (or Anglo-Saxon) Period

⬇️

1066-1500 

Middle English Period

⬇️

1500-1660 

The Renaissance (or Early Modern)

↪️(Sub period)

1558-1603 

Elizabethan Age (Queen Elizabeth)

⬇️

1603-1625  

Jacobean Age (James I)

⬇️

1625-1649 

Caroline Age (Charles I)

⬇️

1649-1660

Commonwealth Period or Puritan Interregnum (Oliver Cromwell)

⬇️

1660-1785

The Neoclassical Period 

↪️(Sub period)

1660-1700 

The Restoration (Age of Dryden)

⬇️

 1700-1745

 The Augustan Age (Age of Pope)

⬇️

1745-1785

The Age of Sensibility (or Age of Johnson) 

⬇️

1785-1832 

The Romantic Period

⬇️

1832-1901

The Victorian Period

↪️(Sub period)

 1848-1860 

The Pre-Raphaelites 

⬇️

1880-1901 

Aestheticism and Decadence

⬇️

1901-1914 

The Edwardian Period

⬇️

1910-1936 

The Georgian Period

⬇️

1914- 

The Modern Period

⬇️

    1945-Till date 

Postmodernism

Periods wise brief description

Lesson 2:

450-1066 

Old English (or Anglo-Saxon) Period

Invasion of the German tribes to England

Time: 

Fifth century (450) to The Norman Conquest (1066) but it continues to 1150.

Features: 

Pagan origin, anonymous origin & the manuscripts of this period.

Famous works:

Four manuscripts are -

• The Beowulf (The greatest Germanic Epic poem)- It contains Beowulf & Judith.
• The Junius Ms- It contains so called Caedmonian poems.
• The Exeter Book - It contains two of the signed poems of Cynewulf.
• The Vercelli Book- It contains two of the signed poems of Cynewulf including "Elene and Andreas" & The Dream of the Rood"

The Old English Period or The Anglo-Saxon Period's Literature can be divided into two main categories:

Poetry: 

Beowulf is the example of Old English Poetry under epic category. 

Then comes the Pagan Poetry--> 'Christian'. 'Widsith', 'The Far Traveller', 'Waldere', 'The Fight at Finnsburh', 'The Fight of Brunanburh', 'The Battle of Maldon'.

We also get to know about the elegies which are also called as lyric laments like "The Wanderer", "The Seafarer" and "Deor" all of which although composed by the Christian writers , reflect the conditions of life in the pagan past.

"Wife's Lament" "Husband's Message" appear in the Exeter Book.

Prose:

Alfred is the father of  English Prose. He translated "The Pastoral Care of Pope Gregory", "The History of  the World of Orosius", Bede's Ecclesiastical History", Boethius' "Consolation of Philosophy" and the soliloquies of St. Augustine.

*Aelfric was known for his grammar : "Catholic Homilies", The Lives of the Saints"

*Wulfstan wrote Sermo Lupi and Anglos

Lesson 3:

1066-1500 

Middle English Period

Time: 

1100-1500, it started with The Norman Conquest (1066).

Features: 

This period is about transition and experiment. Many of the works are anonymously done. The domination of poetry- authors are clergies.

Famous works:

Chronicles during this period is an unusual number of verse. Layamon's Brut was written by Layament, a monk of Arley Kings.

Poetry:

• Religious Poetry:       

The Ormulum

The Cursor Mundi

Poema Morale

• Metrical Romances

The Matter of Britain

The Matter of France

The Matter of Rome

• Secular Poetry

The Owl & The Nightingale

• Chronicles

Layamon's Brut

Cadwallader

• Alternative Poetry

Purity

Pearl

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

The Age of Chaucer (sub period)

Time: 

135-1450, it includes the reign of Edward III and the long French Wars.

Features: 

Edward III and his grandson Richard II and the revolution 1399, the deposition of Richard II, the foundation of Lancastrian Dynasty. The terrible plague: Black Death

Famous works:

Geoffrey Chaucer: (Is also called the Father of English Poetry, a  great modern poet.

• French Period: "The Romaunt of the Rose", "The Compleynte Unto Pite" etc.
• Italian Period: "Triolus and Criseyde", "The House of Fame"
• English Period: "The Canterbury Tales"

Scottish Poets: 

• James I--> "The King's Quair"
• Sir David Lyndsay--> "The Dreme" in royal stanza, "The Testament of Cresseid of Squyer Meldrum"
• Robert Henryson--> "Moral Fabillis of Esope", "The Testament of Cresseid"- a tragic conclusion of that of the Chaucer.
• William Dunbar--> (The chief of the Chaucerian Scottish Poets) --> "Golden Targe",  "The Thrissil and the Rois" celebrating the marriage of James IV, "The Lament for the Makaris"  when Robert Henryson died.
• Gawin Douglas--> "The Police of Honour", "King Hart", Conscience", The Aeneid"

Other Poets:

• William Langland--> Piers Plowman
• John Gower--> "Confessio Amantis", "Vox Clamantis"
• John Barbour--> Bruce

Prose Writers:

• Reginald Peacock--> "The Repressor of over- much Blaming of the Clergy", " The Book of Faith"
• William Caxton-->  Printed in English and translated many from Latin, French and Dutch- "The Game Play of the Chesse"
• John Fisher--> "The Ways to Perfect Religion" - a rhetorical Religious book
• Sir Thomas More--> Utopia", The Life of John Picus ", The Historie of Richard III"

Middle English Prose: 

• Ancrene Riwle, Ayenbite of Inwit - important works
• Sir John Mandeville, Sir Thomas Malory, Wycliffe- writers

Origin of Drama:

• Miracle Plays
• Morality Plays--> Every Man
• Interlude

*Age of Chaucer covers the reign of three English Monarchs namely Edward III, Richard II and Henry IV

*Black Death--> 1348-49 {1362, 67, 70}

Lesson 4:

1500-1660 

The Renaissance (or Early Modern)

Time: 

1500-1660, it includes the reign Queen Elizabeth, King James I, Charles I and Oliver Cromwell.

Features: 

"Intellectual Rebirth" or Reawakening --> The discovery of mankind of himself and the world.

The revival of the classical learning.

The Turks (Ottoman Army) conquered the Eastern Empire and captured Constantinopole in 1453. It began in Italy. In England began the rise of the Tudor Dynasty (King Henry VII).

Famous works:

This was the time of rapid development in English. All the great works are born in this era which we will discuss further through sub periods.

1558-1603 

Elizabethan Age (Queen Elizabeth)

The Period refers to the reign of Queen Elizabeth. Though It continues even after the death the queen. 

This era can be divided into two sections:

Poetry: There major poets in this era are:

• Edmund Spencer: Faerie Queene
• Sir Thomas Wyatt (Earl of Surrey): Tottel's Miscellany 
• Sir Philip Sidney: Astrophel and Stella. 
• John Donne: Songs And Sonnets

More Poets: Thomas Sackville, Drayton, George Gascoigne

Drama: It was the golden period for drama. We can divided this into three sections.

• Pre Shakespearean: University Wits: Christopher Marelowe, Thomas Kyd, Robert Greene, George Peele.
• Shakespearean &
• Post Shakespearean: (Revenge Tragedy) 

1. Drama: Ben Jonson, john Marston
2. Prose: Francis Bacon (essays), John Lyly

1603-1625  

Jacobean Age (James I)

The period started with the establishment of king James I.

Major writers: 

• Robert burton: Sermons, The Anatomy of Melacholy
• King James: Translation of Bible.
• Elizabeth Cary: The Tragedy of Mariam, The Faire Queene of Jewry.
• Samuel Daniel: The Vission of Twelve Goddess, Letter from Octavia the Anatomy.
• Shakespearean Tragedies: Macbeth, King Lear, Othello etc.