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Period: 450 to 1066
The Old English
The earliest historical form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages -
658
Hymn Poem
Cædmon's "Hymn" is a short Old English poem originally composed by Cædmon. -
701
Beowulf
Beowulf, es un poema épico anglosajón anónimo que fue escrito en inglés antiguo en verso aliterativo. Cuenta con 3182 versos.
The poem Beowulf, which often begins the traditional canon of English literature, is the most famous work of Old English literature. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle has also proven significant for historical study, preserving a chronology of early English history. -
871
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is a collection of annals in Old English chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The original manuscript of the Chronicle was created late in the 9th century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of Alfred the Great (r. 871–899). -
Period: 1066 to 1500
Middle English
In this period the English underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English period. -
1150
The Soul's Address to the Body
Its found in Worcester Cathedral Library MS F. 174 contains only one word of possible Latinate origin, while also maintaining a corrupt alliterative meter and Old English grammar and syntax, albeit in a degenerative state (hence, early scholars of Old English termed this late form as "Semi-Saxon"). -
1380
The Canterbury Tales
It is a collection of twenty-four stories written in middle English by the English writer Geoffrey Chaucer between 1387 and 1400. They were mostly written in verse, although there are two in prose, and are presented as part of a group storytelling competition of pilgrims during a London trip. -
1400
Geoffrey Chaucer
Geoffrey Chaucer was an English poet and author. Widely seen as the greatest English poet of the Middle Ages, he is best known for The Canterbury Tales. Chaucer has been styled the "Father of English literature". -
Period: 1500 to
English Renaissance
The English Renaissance was a cultural and artistic movement in England dating from the late 15th century to the early 17th century. -
1550
Roger Ascham
Early proponent of literature in the vernacular was Roger Ascham, who was tutor to Princess Elizabeth during her teenage years, and is now often called the "father of English prose." -
1564
William Shakspeare
William Shakespeare,the oldest son of the glove maker John
Shakespeare,is born and baptised in Stratford-upon-Avon, England. Shakespeare's poetry and plays are still among the best of all time, and his work is unmatched throughout the history of the English language. -
Calvinism
Calvinism is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Calvin and other Reformation-era theologians. -
Period: to
Puritans
The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries, who sought to purify the Church of England of Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and needed to become more protestant. -
Period: to
Restoration Age
In general, the term is used to denote roughly homogenous styles of literature that center on a celebration of or reaction to the restored court of Charles II. -
Gondibert
Sir William Davenant was the first Restoration poet to attempt an epic. His unfinished Gondibert was of epic length, and it was admired by Hobbes. However, it also used the ballad form, and other poets, as well as critics, were very quick to condemn this rhyme scheme as unflattering and unheroic. -
Period: to
18th Century
European literature of the 18th century refers to literature (poetry, drama, satire, and novels) produced in Europe during this period. The 18th century saw the development of the modern novel as literary genre, in fact many candidates for the first novel in English date from this period. -
Age of Enlightenment
The Age of Enlightenment (also known as the Age of Reason or simply the Enlightenment) was an intellectual and philosophical movement that dominated the world of ideas in Europe during the 17th to 19th century. -
Gulliver's Travels By Jonathan Swifts
It is a prose satire, at the same time a satire about human nature and the literary subgenre of "travel stories." It is Swift's best known long story work, and a classic of English literature. -
Tristram Shandy
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, also known as just Tristram Shandy, is a novel by Laurence Sterne. It was published in nine volumes, the first two appearing in 1759, and seven others following over the next seven years. It purports to be a biography of the eponymous character. Its style is marked by digression, double entendre, and graphic devices. -
Joseph Warton
Joseph Warton maintained that invention and imagination were the chief qualities of a poet. -
Period: to
Romanticism
Romanticism (also known as the Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical and intellectual movement that originated in Europe toward the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate period from 1800 to 1830. -
Jane Austen
British novelist who lived during the Georgian era. The irony used to endow his novels with humor makes Jane Austen be considered among the classics of the English novel. -
Frankenstein
Frankenstein, a fictional character who first appeared in Mary Shelley's novel, Frankenstein. A being created from different parts of corpses, to which life is granted by Victor Frankenstein (its creator) during an experiment. -
Period: to
Victorian
While in the preceding Romantic period, poetry had been the conquerors, novels were the emperors of the Victorian period. Charles Dickens (1812–1870) dominated the first part of Victoria's reign and most rightly can be called "The King of Victorian Literature". -
Oscar Wilde
In prose, the novel rose from a position of relative neglect during the 1830s to become the leading literary genre by the end of the era. In the 1830s and 1840s, the social novel responded to the social, political and economic upheaval associated with industrialisation. Resurgence of Gothic fiction in the fin de end of the century, by the novella Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891). -
Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes is a character created in 1887 by the Scottish writer Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. He is an English detective of the late nineteenth century who stands out for his intelligence, his skillful use of observation and deductive reasoning to solve difficult cases. -
Period: to
Modern Literature
Literary modernism, or modernist literature, has its origins in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, mainly in Europe and North America, and is characterized by a self-conscious break with traditional ways of writing, in both poetry and prose fiction. Modernists experimented with literary form and expression, as exemplified by Ezra Pound's maxim to "Make it new. -
George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic and polemicist whose influence on Western theater, culture and politics extends from 1880 to the present day. He wrote more than sixty works, some as important as Man and Superman 1902, Pygmalion 1912 or Saint Joan, 1923. -
Period: to
Post Moderns
Postmodernism is a broad movement that developed in the mid- to late 20th century across philosophy, the arts, architecture, and criticism, marking a departure from modernism. The term has been more generally applied to describe what postmodernists believe to be the historical era following modernity and the tendencies of this era. -
The Lord of the Rings By John Ronald Reuel Tolkien
The Lord of the Rings, an epic fantasy novel subdivided into three volumes and published between 1954 and 1955. Tolkien invested more than ten years in the creation of the story and the appendices of the novel, during which time he received constant support from the Inklings, particularly from their closest friend, CS Lewis. -
Harry potter Series
Joanne Rowling, who writes under the pseudonyms J. K. Rowling and Robert Galbraith, is a British writer, film producer and screenwriter, known for being the author of the Harry Potter book series, which has exceeded five hundred million copies sold.
In 1995, Rowling finalized his manuscript for Harry Potter and the philosopher's stone on an old typewriter. -
Seamus Justin Heaney
Seamus Justin Heaney fue un poeta, dramaturgo y traductor irlandés. Recibió el Premio Nobel de Literatura de 1995. Entre sus obras más conocidas se encuentra Death of a Naturalist (1966), su primer gran volumen publicado. Heaney fue reconocido como uno de los principales contribuyentes a la poesía durante su vida. -
Period: to
Contemporary
This period of literature has the general characteristic of being constantly under renovation. It is a period crossed by great changes at the social, cultural and political level. Therefore, the literature will reflect these 3 axes (social, cultural and political) and their constant changes. -
Alan Bennett
Alan Bennett is a British playwright, actor, novelist and screenwriter, winner of a Tony Award for his play The History Boys. The History Boys is a play by Alan Bennett. It narrates the adventures of a brilliant class of bright and fun history students launched to capture a student plaza in Oxford or Cambridge. -
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
Cloud Atlas is a 2004 novel by British writer David Mitchell. It consists of six intertwined stories that take the reader from the nineteenth century in the Pacific to a distant and post-apocalyptic future.
