Themes: heroism, fate, moral instruction
Genres: oral traditions, poetry
Themes: reason, harmony, stability
Timeline of British Literature
Genres: poetry, satire, essays, letters
Key Authors: Beowulf poet, Exeter author
Key Authors: Pope, Swift, Defoe
Historical Context: Clans ruled themselves.
People first very warrior-like; later became farmers.
Historical Context: Half of male population is
literate. Factories begin to be built.
Literature’s Effects: Oral tradition unites myths of
different groups. Roman alphabet is introduced.
Literature’s Effects: Emphasis on the individual.
Human beings seen as basically evil.
Anglo-Saxon
Neoclassical
450-1066
1066-1485
1485-1660
Medieval
Renaissance
Themes: honor, religious devotion, chivalry
Themes: human potential, love
Genres: oral traditions, frame stories, plays
Genres: drama, poetry (metaphysical)
Key Authors: Chaucer, Arthurian legends
Historical Context: Crusades begin; country forms
Literature’s Effects: Church uses literature to instruct
population. Illiterate can hear and see stories.
Themes: peace through nature, horror stories
1660-1798
Key Authors: Shakespeare, Milton
Historical Context: War of Roses ends. Printing
press invented.
Literature’s Effects: Literature accessible to middle
class.
Themes: open-mindedness, interpreting the
past
Genres: poetry, lyrical ballads, novel (emerges)
Key Authors: Wordsworth, Coleridge, Austen,
Byron, M. Shelley, Keats, Blake
Genres: first person fiction, narratives
Key Authors: Stoppard, Follett, Rowling
Historical Context: Middle class enters politics.
Literature’s Effects: Population critically examines
society. Human beings seen as basically good.
Historical Context: Advances in
communication make the world seem smaller.
Romanticism
1798-1832
Contemporary
1832-1900
Victorian
Themes: unfortunate life, city -vs- country, sexual
promiscuity, aristocratic villains
Genres: novel, elegies, poetry, monologues
Key Authors: Dickens, Tennyson, Rossetti, Bronte
Historical Context: Immense industrial growth. Raise
of countries and trade. Paper becomes inexpensive.
Literature’s Effects: Literature accessible to all.
1900-1980
Mod / Post Mod
Themes: loneliness, societal loss of values
Genres: fantasy, free verse poetry, speeches, novels
Key Authors: Joyce, Yeats, Conrad, Orwell, Elliot
Historical Context: One million soldiers lost in WWI.
Germany bombs England in WWII.
Literature’s Effects: Belief that one must seize the
moment before its gone.
1980-Present