Periods of English Literature

Name : Citra Rahmi Ramadhani
Student id : 0807345
Class : dik b 08

Literature

Literature is art of written works. Literature comes from the word "littera" which means letter. The forms of literature are poetry, prose, essays, fictions, drama.

Periods of English literature

Old English period (5th-11th century)

Literature produced from the invasion of Celtic England by Germanic tribes in the first half of the fifth century to the conquest of England in 1066 by William the Conqueror.
During the Old English Period, written literature began to develop from oral tradition, and in the eighth century, poetry written in the tribes Anglo-Saxon or Old English appeared. One of the best eighth century Old English pieces of literature is Beowulf, a great Germanic epic poem. Two poets of the Old English Period who wrote on biblical and religious themes were Caedmon and Cynewulf.

Middle English period (12th-15th century)

Literature produced in the four and a half centuries between the Norman conquest of 1066 and about 1500, when the standard literary language derived from the dialect of the London area, and people called it ”modern English” of the fourteenth century, tribes literature consisted of religious writings. The second half of the fourteenth century produced the first great age of secular literature. The best of these writings are Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, the anonymous Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and Thomas Malory's Morte d'Arthur.
While the English Renaissance began with the ascent of the House of Tudor to the English throne in 1485, the English Literary Renaissance began with English humanists such as Sir Thomas More and Sir Thomas Wyatt.

Renaissance (16th-17th century)

While the English Renaissance began with the ascent of the House of Tudor to the English throne in 1485, the English Literary Renaissance began with English humanists such as Sir Thomas More and Sir Thomas Wyatt. In addition, the English Literary Renaissance consists of four subsets: The Elizabethan Age, the Jacobean Age, the Caroline Age, and the Commonwealth Period (which is also known as the Puritan Interregnum).

Augustan age (18th century)

Come from the brilliant literary period of Vergil and Ovid under the Roman emperor Augustus. In English literature, the Augustan Age, 1700 - 1745, refers to literature with the characteristics of refinement, clarity, elegance, and balance of judgment. The best writers of the Augustan Age include Jonathan Swift, Alexander Pope, and Daniel Defoe. A significant contribution of this time period included the release of the first English novels by Defoe, and the "novel of character," Pamela, by Samuel Richardson in 1740.
During the Age of Sensibility, literature reflected the worldview of Enlightenment and began to emphasize instinct and feeling, rather than judgment and restraint. A growing sympathy for the Middle Ages during the Age of Sensibility sparked an interest in medieval ballads and folk literature. Another name for this period is the Age of Johnson because the dominant authors of this period were Samuel Johnson and his literary and intellectual circle. This period also produced some of the greatest early novels of the English language, including Richardson's Clarissa (1748) and Henry Fielding's Tom Jones (1749).


Romantic period (first half of 19th century)

Literature began in 18th century. In general, Romantic literature can be characterized by personal nature, its strong use of feeling, its use many of symbolism, and its exploration of nature and the supernatural. In addition, the writings of the Romantics were considered innovative based on their beliefs that literature should be spontaneous, imaginative, personal, and free. The Romantic Period produced a wealth of authors including Samuel Taylor Coleridge, William Wordsworth, Jane Austen, and Lord Byron.
During the Romantic Period that Gothic literature was born. Gothic literature are dark and gloomy and characters and situations that are fantastic, grotesque, wild, savage, mysterious, and often melodramatic. Two of the most famous Gothic novelists are Anne Radcliffe and Mary Shelley.

Victorian age (second half of 19th century)

Began with the accession of Queen Victoria to the throne in 1837, and until her death in 1901. Because the Victorian Period of English literature spans over six decades, the year 1870 is often used to divide the era into "early Victorian" and "late Victorian." In general, Victorian literature deals with the issues and problems of the day. Some contemporary issues that the Victorians dealt with include the social, economic, religious, and intellectual issues and problems surrounding the Industrial Revolution, growing class tensions, the early feminist movement, pressures toward political and social reform, and the impact of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution on philosophy and religion. Some of the most recognized authors of the Victorian era include Alfred Lord Tennyson, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, her husband Robert, Matthew Arnold, Charles Dickens, Charlotte Brontë, George Eliot, and Thomas Hardy.
Within the Victorian Period, two other literary movements, that of The Pre-Raphaelites (1848-1860) and the movement of Aestheticism and Decadence (1880-1900), gained prominence.
In 1848, a group of English artists, including Dante Gabriel Rossetti, formed the "Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood." It was the aim of this group to return painting to a style of truthfulness, simplicity, and religious devotion that had reigned prior to Raphael and the high Italian Renaissance. Rossetti and his literary circle, which included his sister Christina, incorporated these ideals into their literature, and the result was that of the literary Pre-Raphaelites.

Modernism (first to second world war)

British literature written since the beginning of World War I in 1914. The authors of the Modern Period have experiment with subject matter, form, and style and have produced achievements in all literary genres. Poets of the period include Yeats, T.S. Eliot, Dylan Thomas, and Seamus Heaney. Novelists include James Joyce, D.H. Lawrence, and Virginia Woolf. Dramatists include Noel Coward and Samuel Beckett.

Postmodernism (1960s and 1970s)

Following World War II (1939-1945), the Postmodern Period of British Literature developed. Postmodernism blends literary genres and styles and attempts to break free of modernist forms.
While the British literary scene at the turn of the new millennium is crowded and varied, the authors still stay in the categories of modernism and postmodernism. However, with the passage of time the Modern era may be expanded.
The term Postmodern literature is used to describe certain tendencies in post-World War II literature. It is both a continuation of the experimentation championed by writers of the modernist period and a reaction against Enlightenment ideas implicit in Modernist literature. Postmodern literature, like postmodernism as a whole, is difficult to define and there is little agreement on the exact characteristics, scope, and importance of postmodern literature. Henry Miller, William S. Burroughs, Joseph Heller, Kurt Vonnegut, Hunter S. Thompson, Truman Capote, Thomas Pynchon




Reference:

www.wikipedia.com
Klarer Mario (London: An Introduction to Literary Studies,1998)