INTRODUCTION TO AGES OF ENGLISH

LITERATURE

WEEK 3
 English literature is one of the richest literatures in the world. It has vitality, rich variety
and continuity. As literature is the reflection of society, the various changes which have come
about in the English society from the earliest to the modern times have left their stamp on
English literature. When we study the history of English literature, we find that it has
passed through certain definite phases, each having marked characteristics. These phases
may be termed as ‘Ages’ or ‘Periods’, which are named either after the central literary
figures or the important rulers of England, literary movements, or termed by literary
historians.
Ages of Literature
● Classical Period (1200 BCE - 455 CE)
Ages of English Literature
● Old English (Anglo-Saxon) Period (455–799)
● Middle English Period (1066–1500)
● The Renaissance (1500–1660)
● The Neoclassical Period (1660–1790)
● The Romantic Period (1790-1830)
● The Victorian Period (1832–1901)
● The Modern Period (1914–1945)
● The Postmodern Period (1945–?)
CLASSICAL PERIOD: 1200 BCE to 455 CE
● The classical period was a golden age for literature and the arts.
● The big writers from this period include all those Greek and Roman writers who
wrote epics, like Homer and the Roman poet Virgil.
● The Greek philosophers Plato, Socrates, and Aristotle called this period home.
● The three major genres of literature that were produced during this time were epic
poetry, lyric poetry and drama.

• The epic stories of Homer, the Iliad and the Odyssey, played a role in the

development of Greek civilization.
CLASSICAL PERIOD: 1200 BCE to 455 CE
● Greek comedy and tragedy developed out of choral performances in celebration of
Dionysus, the God of wine and spiritual bliss.

● Aristotle's Poetics was super important in defining the features for drama.

● Horace, poetry was supposed to be "sweet and useful."

THE MEDIEVAL PERIOD (455 -1485 CE)

The Medieval period sees a huge transition in the language, culture, and lifestyle
of England and results in the 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.
THE MEDIEVAL PERIOD (455 -1485 CE)

THE OLD ENGLISH

(455 - 799 CE) ‘ The Dark Ages’ Rome falls and
barbarian tribes move into Europe.
THE MIDDLE ENGLISH
(1066-1450 CE) In 1066, Norman French armies invade
and conquer England.
HIGH MEDIEVAL PERIOD
(1200-1485 CE): This often chaotic period is marked by
the Middle English writings of Geoffrey Chaucer.
THE OLD ENGLISH (450-1066)

● The first half of this period—prior to the seventh century, had oral literature.

● The prose during this time was a translation of something else or otherwise legal,
medical, or religious in nature; however, some works, such as Beowulf and those by
period poets Caedmon and Cynewulf, are important.
 THE MIDDLE ENGLISH :
● THE EMERGENCE OF THE TWELFTH CENTURY RENAISSANCE (1100-1200 CE)

French fables by Marie de

French chivalric romances Works by France and Jeun de Meun
Chretien
de Troyes

Also known as the emergence of “Twelfth Century Renaissance” (1100-1200 CE)

• Abelard and other humanists produce great scholastic and theological works.
THE HIGH MEDIEVAL PERIOD (1200-1485 CE)

• This era marked by the rise of secular literature. This period is home to Chaucer,
Thomas Malory, and Robert Henryson. Notable works include "Piers Plowman" and
"Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.“
 
• Other writers include Italian and French authors like Boccaccio, Petrarch, Dante,
and Christine de Pisan.
THE RENAISSANCE (1500–1660)
● This period is often subdivided into four parts, including the Elizabethan Age
(1558–1603), the Jacobean Age (1603–1625), the Caroline Age (1625–1649), and
the Commonwealth Period (1649–1660). 

● The Elizabethan Age was the golden age of English drama. Some of its noteworthy
figures include Christopher Marlowe, Francis Bacon, Edmund Spenser, Sir Walter
Raleigh, and William Shakespeare. The Jacobean Age is named for the supremacy
of James I. It includes the works of John Donne, Shakespeare, Michael Drayton,
John Webster, Elizabeth Cary, Ben Jonson, and Lady Mary Wroth. The King James
translation of the Bible also appeared during the Jacobean Age. 
THE RENAISSANCE (1500–1660)
● The Caroline Age covers the supremacy of Charles I (“Carolus”). John Milton,
Robert Burton, and George Herbert are some of the notable figures.

● Finally, the Commonwealth Period was named for the period between the end of the
English Civil War and the restoration of the Stuart monarchy. At this time, public
theaters were closed (for nearly two decades).

● John Milton and Thomas Hobbes’ political writings appeared and, while drama
suffered, prose writers such as Thomas Fuller, Abraham Cowley, and Andrew
Marvell published prolifically.
THE ENLIGHTENMENT (NEOCLASSICAL) PERIOD
(1660-1790)
• 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) developed during this time
under the talent of playwrights like William Congreve and John Dryden. Satire, too,
became quite popular, as evidenced by the success of Samuel Butler.
THE ENLIGHTENMENT PERIOD
● The Augustan Age was the time of Alexander Pope and Jonathan Swift.

● The Age of Sensibility was the time of Edmund Burke, Edward Gibbon, Hester

Lynch Thrale, James Boswell, and Samuel Johnson. Ideas such as neoclassicism, a
critical and literary mode, and the Enlightenment, a particular worldview shared by
many intellectuals, were championed during this age.
 ROMANTIC PERIOD (1790-1830)
• Romantic Age 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. This great and diverse age of British
literature, perhaps the most popular and well-known of all literary ages.

•Romantic poets write about nature, imagination, and individuality in England. Some
Romantics include Coleridge, Blake, Keats, and Shelley in Britain. Whereas, in Germany
Johann von Goethe is famous for his contribution to the romantic age.
•Gothic writings, (1790-1890) overlap with the Romantic and Victorian periods.
The Victorian Period (1832–1901)
● This period is named after the supremacy of Queen Victoria.

● It was a time of great social, religious, intellectual, and economic issues, indicated
by the development of Reform Bill, which expanded voting rights.

● Famous British poets include Elizabeth Browning, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Matthew
Arnold, Robert Browning among others.

● Prose fiction and sentimental novels truly found its place under the patronage of 
Charles Dickens,  Charlotte and Emily Bronte, and Thomas Hardy.
MODERN PERIOD (1914-1945)
•The modern period traditionally applies to works written after the start of World War I.
Common features include bold experimentation with subject matter, style, and form,
encompassing narrative, verse, and drama. W.B. Yeats’ words, “Things fall apart; the
center cannot hold,” are often referred to when describing the core tenet or “feeling” of
modernist concerns.

•Some of the most notable writers of this period include the novelists James Joyce,
Virginia Woolf, Aldous Huxley, D.H. Lawrence, Joseph Conrad, Dorothy Richardson,
Graham Greene, E.M. Forster, and Doris Lessing.
The Postmodern Period (1945- ?)
● 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. In

addition, experiments with meta-fiction and fragmented poetry was done in this
period.

● Some notable writers of the period include Samuel Beckett, Joseph Heller, Anthony
Burgess, John Fowles, Penelope M. Lively, and Iain Banks. Many postmodern
authors wrote during the modern period as well. 
REFERENCES
Burgess, A. (2020, February 3). A Brief Overview of British Literary Periods.
Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/british-literary-periods-739034

Desk, M. (2015, May 5). English literature through the ages. The News.

Gilbuena, M. (n.d.). World Literature Periods Early Periods of Literature. Retrieved

May 6, 2020, from
https://www.academia.edu/34787815/World_Literature_Periods_Early_Periods_of_
Literature