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PERIODS IN ENGLISH LITERATURE

1. OLD ENGLISH LITERATURE (450-1066)

2. MIDDLE ENGLISH LITERATURE (1066-1485)

3. THE ELIZABETHAN PERIOD (1485-1603)

4. THE 17th CENTURY PERIOD (1603-1660)

OUTLINE HISTORY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE 5. THE RESTORATION – THE ENLIGHTENMENT – THE CLASSICAL AGE (1660-1798)

6. THE ROMANTIC PERIOD (1798-1832)

WEEK 2
7. THE VICTORIAN PERIOD (1832-1900)

8. THE TWENTIETH CENTURY PERIOD

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THE RESTORATION – THE ENLIGHTENMENT – THE CLASSICAL AGE THE RESTORATION – THE ENLIGHTENMENT – THE CLASSICAL AGE
(1660-1798) (1660-1798)
A. Historical background A. Historical background
 1649  1707
Civil War ended with Charles I beheaded Scotland joined England and the UK was formed
 1660  1751
Charles II came to the throne from exile: restoration of the English monarchy The Enlightenment movement in France
 1665-1666  1775
Great Plague in England American Revolution
 1666  1789
Great Fire in London French Revolution
 1685
James II became king of England

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THE RESTORATION – THE ENLIGHTENMENT – THE NEOCLASSICAL THE RESTORATION – THE ENLIGHTENMENT – THE CLASSICAL AGE
AGE (1660-1798) (1660-1798)
B. Literature B. Literature
 A period of novelty, change and refoundation rather than of  1. Drama
great writing.  Purely tragic - Tragic drama is made up mainly of heroic plays in which
 A literature ‘from the head, not the heart’ men are splendidly brave, and the women are wonderfully beautiful.
 Lyric becoming minor: reason is more important than emotion,
 2. Poetry
 Neoclassicism movement: works are based upon Greek and Roman
form is more important than content.
classics. Rulebooks for rhyme schemes and meters to ensure precision
 The development of the novel and clarity.
 The making of a full English dictionary: the Samuel Johnson’s  3. Novel
Dictionary (1755)  Daniel Defoe – Robinson Crusoe: considered as the 1 st English modern
novel writer.

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THE RESTORATION – THE ENLIGHTENMENT – THE CLASSICAL AGE

(1660-1798) THE ROMANTIC PERIOD (1798-1832)
B. Literature A. Historical background
 4. Prose
- The Industrial Revolution in the late 18th century: the
 The development of satire in prose: Jonathan Swift gap between the rich and the poor, social change.
(1667-1745)’s Gulliver’s Travels.  1793-1815
 Captain Gulliver records his voyages to the lands of
The war between England and France: high taxes and
the tiny people, of the giants, of experimental inflation
scientists and horses.
 1820
The long reign of George III ended

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THE ROMANTIC PERIOD (1798-1832) THE VICTORIAN PERIOD (1832-1900)

B. Literature A. Historical background
The romantics <> the science in the Enlightenment.  1832

❖Concept of poetry: Poetry is to express the poet’s mind and

feeling, emphasizing subjective emotion rather than reason.
❖ Love of nature.
❖ Sympathy of the humble common people.
❖ Imagination toconstruct a fantastic dreaming world, remote in time
and place.
❖ Sense of melancholy and loneliness (e.g. graveyards).
❖ Preferences towards supernatural things (e.g. ghosts, fairies).
The death of Sir Walter Scoot marked the end of romantic age.
Lord Tennyson’s first important volume of poetry marked the beginning of
Victorian age.
 1837
William IV died. Queen Victoria came to the throne.
- Trade, commerce, science, and technology rapidly developed.
- Middle class obtained increased wealth, lower class suffered from poverty.
 1901
Death of Queen Victoria

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THE VICTORIAN PERIOD (1832-1900) THE TWENTIETH CENTURY PERIOD

B. Literature A. Historical background
 The trend shifted from extremely personal expression of  1902
Romanticists to Objective surveying of the problems of human life. Edward VII came to the throne on Aug.9, 1902
 Criticism of the society and social evils: critical socialism.  1914-1918

 A reemphasis of moral and religious beliefs The First World War

 1923-1933
 literature should guide people to comply with moral virtues: love for the
country and conjugal love in family. The Economic Depression mass unemployment
 The development of fancy writing in the second half of the 19th  1939-1945

century: new genres of science fiction, the detective story, ghost The Second World War
stories, utopian writing, and fantasy writing for children. The declining of the British Empire as the world power

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THE TWENTIETH CENTURY PERIOD
B. Literature
 Literatureis becoming pessimistic and experimental.
 Both scientists and writers try to explore human mind
and proposed conflicting theories about it.
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1. Who was king during the Restoration period?
2. Which form of writing became popular for the first time during the 18th
century?
3. Why was the Restoration period also called Augustan Age?
4. When was the first full English dictionary published?
5. What was the favorite kind of literature during the Romantic age? Why?
6. What is the main focus of literature in the Romantic age?
7. Romantics showed more __________ than the previous eras.
• spirituality emotion loyalty love
8. What were the moral virtues of literature in Victorian age?
9. What influenced writers’ ways of thinking in the 20th century?
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