Timeline of British Literature

Anglo-Saxon Period

• 449-1066• Strong belief in fate• Juxtaposition of the church and

pagan worlds• Admiration of heroic warriors

who prevail in battle• Express religious faith and give

moral instruction through literature

Anglo-Saxon Period

• Christianity helps literacy spread• Introduces Roman alphabet to

Britain• Oral tradition helps unite diverse

people and their myths• Styles / Genres–Oral tradition of literature– Poetry is the dominant genre

Anglo-Saxon Period

• Historical Context– Life centered around ancestral

tribes/clans that ruled themselves– At first, tribes/clans were warriors

from invading outlying areas• Angles, Saxons, Jutes, and Danes

– Later, they became primarily agricultural

Medieval Period

• 1066-1485• Plays that instruct the illiterate

masses in morals and religion– “Morality Plays”

• Chivalric code of honor– Knights, their ladies fair

• Religious devotion• Romances

Medieval Period

• Style / Genre–Oral tradition continues– Folk Ballads• A song that is traditionally sung by the

common people of a region and forms part of their culture

Medieval Period– Mystery plays

• Focused on the representation of Bible stories in churches

– Miracle plays• Specifically re-enact miraculous

interventions by the saints into the lives of ordinary people

– Morality Plays• A kind of drama with personified abstract

qualities (think: sin, charity, Christian) as the main characters. Presented a lesson about good conduct and character.

Medieval Period

– Stock epithets• Any word or phrase applied to a person

or thing to describe an actual or attributed quality• Ex: Richard the Lion-Hearted

– Kenning• A poetic phrase used for in an addition

to the usual name of a person or thing• Ex: “A wave traveler” for “A boat”

Medieval Period

• Church instructs its people through the morality and miracle plays

• An illiterate population is able to hear and see the literature

Medieval Period

• The Crusades bring the development of a money economy for the first time in Britain

• Trading increases dramatically• Henry III crowned king in 1154– Brings a judicial system, royal

courts, juries, and chivalry to Britain

The Renaissance

• 1485-1660• Worldview shifts from religion

and afterlife to the human life on earth

• Popular Themes–Development of human potential– Love (unrequited, constant, timeless,

courtly, Love subject to change)

The Renaissance

• Styles / Genres– Poetry• Sonnets

–Drama• Written in verse• Supported by royalty• Tragedies, comedies, histories

–Metaphysical poetry• Elaborate, unexpected metaphors

called “conceits”

The Renaissance

• Historical Context–War of Roses ends in 1485 and

political stability arrives– The printing press helps stabilize

English as a language and allows more people to read a variety of literature

– Economy changes from farm-based to international trade

The Restoration

• 1660-1785– 1660-1700: emphasis on decorum– 1700-1745: emphasis on satire and on a

wide public readership– 1745-1785: emphasis on revolutionary

ideas

• Literacy has expanded to include the middle classes and even some of the poor

• Emphasis on rules, reason, and logic– The Age of Enlightenment

The Restoration

• Styles / Genre– Satire• Uses irony and exaggeration to poke

fun at human faults and foolishness in order to correct human behavior

–Novels becoming better known than poetry

– Essays– Letters, diaries, biographies–Notes

The Restoration

• Historical Context– 50% of men are functionally literate– Factories begin to spring up as the

industrial revolution starts– Impoverished masses begin to grow

as farming life declines and factories build

– Coffee houses: educated men spend evening with literary and political associates

Romanticism

• 1785-1830• A literary, artistic, and intellectual

movement• Partly a reaction to the Industrial

Revolution– It was a revolt against the aristocratic

social and political norms of Enlightenment

• Celebrated emotion, spontaneity, imagination, subjectivity, and the purity of nature

Romanticism

• Validated intense emotion as an authentic source of experience–New emphasis on• Apprehension• Horror and terror• Awe

• Romantics wanted to escape the confines of population growth, urban sprawl, and industrialism

Romanticism

• Historical Context– The Industrial Revolution– Laissez Faire• “Let (people) do (as they please)”• The rich grew richer, the poor suffered

even more

Realism /Naturalism

• 1830-1901• Realism– Aimed for an honest portrayal over

sensationalism, exaggeration, or melodrama

–Desired an accurate and detailed portrayal of ordinary, contemporary life

Realism /Naturalism

• Naturalism– An offshoot of the realism

movement– An intensification of realism– Used detailed realism to suggest

that social conditions, heredity, and environment had inescapable force in shaping human character

Realism /Naturalism

• The novel begins to rise in popularity

• Historical context– Great Reform Act– Slavery banned in British colonies– Irish potato famine– Ten Hour Act

Modern/Post-Modern

• 1900-1980• The loss of the hero in literature• Major theme: technology’s

destruction of society• Free verse poetry• Novelists begin writing in

“stream of consciousness”

Modern/Post-Modern

• Increasing role of science and technology

• Mass literacy and proliferation of mass media

• Spread of social movements• Individualism• Industrialization• Urbanization

Modern/Post-Modern

• Historical Context–World War I–World War II