Themes: heroism, fate, moral instruction

Timeline of British Literature Themes: reason, harmony, stability

Genres: oral traditions, poetry Genres: poetry, satire, essays, letters
Key Authors: Beowulf poet, Exeter author Key Authors: Pope, Swift, Defoe
Historical Context: Clans ruled themselves. Historical Context: Half of male population is
People first very warrior-like; later became farmers. literate. Factories begin to be built.
Literature’s Effects: Oral tradition unites myths of Literature’s Effects: Emphasis on the individual.
different groups. Roman alphabet is introduced. Human beings seen as basically evil.

Anglo-Saxon Neoclassical

450-1066 1066-1485 1485-1660 1660-1798

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 Key Authors: Shakespeare, Milton
Historical Context: Crusades begin; country forms Historical Context: War of Roses ends. Printing
press invented.
Literature’s Effects: Church uses literature to instruct
population. Illiterate can hear and see stories. Literature’s Effects: Literature accessible to middle
class.
Themes: peace through nature, horror stories
Themes: open-mindedness, interpreting the
Genres: poetry, lyrical ballads, novel (emerges) past
Key Authors: Wordsworth, Coleridge, Austen, Genres: first person fiction, narratives
Byron, M. Shelley, Keats, Blake
Key Authors: Stoppard, Follett, Rowling
Historical Context: Middle class enters politics.
Literature’s Effects: Population critically examines Historical Context: Advances in
society. Human beings seen as basically good. communication make the world seem smaller.

Romanticism Contemporary

1798-1832 1832-1900 1900-1980 1980-Present

Victorian Mod / Post Mod

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.
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.