Literary periods

I. 17th century Metaphyscal poetry

A. Primary writers
1. John Donne George Herbert andrew marvell
B. Wit , irony , paradox , conceits and shifts
1. Conceit : violently yoking together of dissimilar objects
C. Elaborate , stylisistc maneuvers
D. Archaic language
E. Themes
1. Deep ,philoshical issues
2. Human frailty
3. Uncertainty
4. Love
a) Uneasy relationship between human beings to each other and god
5. Death
II. 18TH Century Augstan poetry / literary
A. Primary writers
1. John dragon Alexander pope , jonathan swift
B. Devices
1. Wit , irony , paradoc , biblical allusions ; \
2. greek and roman references
3. brevity (short pitahy lines)
4. Often mocks human behavior
5. Trivial
6. Mundane , plots in fancy , witty language
C. Heoric Couplet Satire
D. Themes
1. Religion versus science controversy in 18th century
2. Poltical debates
3. Current events
4. Greek gods / roman epics
E. Often refferd to as neo classical movement
III. 19th century romantic poetry
A. Written in the real language of common people about common life
B. Sublime
1. Beauty and terror together
C. Oversoul
1. In which all souls participate and that therefore transcends individual
consciousness
D. Transcendetalism
1. 19th century movement of writers in New england
2. The belif in the essential unity of all creation the innate doodness of humanity
and the supremacy of insight over logic and experince for the revelation
E. Byronic Hero
 F.
1. Deepy psychologically tortured
2. Tend to exhibit many of the following traits
a) ntelligence, nihilism, dark
b) humor, self-destructive impulses, mysteriousness, sexual
c) attractiveness, world weariness, hyper-sensitivity, social and
d) intellectual sophistication,
e)
G. Themes
1. Love of nature/nature as god
2. Human imagination (Primary = perception or soul ; Secondary = creative)
3. Transcendence is goal
IV. 19th century romantic poetry literary
A. Primary writer
1. William wordsworth
2. Percy shelley
3. John keats
4. William blake
5. Ralph waldo
6. Emerson
7. Walt whiteman
8. Nathaniel hawrhtorne
9. Samuel colergidge
B. Written in the real language of common people about common life
C. Sublime
1. Beauty and terror together the alphs in frankestien hurricane
D. Oversoul
1. In the tracdentalism of ralph waldo emerson a sprittual essence or vital force in
the universe in which all sourls participate
E. Trancendentalism
1. 19th century movement of writers
2. Loseley bound together by adherence to an idealistic system of though based on a
belif in creation
F. Themes
1. Love of nature as God
2. Human imagination
3. Transcendence is goal
V. Realism and Naturalism
A. Relaseim
1. Objective ; free will ; features middle class oftentime apolitical
2. Ordinary events ;everday characters ; henry james
B. Naturalism
1. Objective ; determisinstc ; pessimitsitc ; coldness ; setting in ordinary
VI. Late 19th /early 2oth century smbolist poetry
 A. Primary writers
1. Charles baudelaire
2. Stephance Mallarme
3. Paul verlaine
4. Aurthru Rimbaud
B. Link between romanticism and modernism
C. The Decadent Movement is closely associated with the symbolic Movement
D. Synesthesia
1. One sense describes the other “the loud twilight”
E. Symbols often function on multiple levels with multiple possible interpreataions , making
it unlike traditional symbolism in which one object represents another objec
F. Themes
1. Dusk dawn
2. Dreams or dreams
3. Synesthesia
4. Arts for arts skae
5. Painting and painters are often a focus of the poets
6. Simultaneous effects and melliflurous words
VII. Late 19th early century vicotnaism
A. Primary writers
1. Charles dickson
2. Thomas hardy
B. Elaborate nad ornate prose (charactrizses everything)
C. Focus on details (entire paragraphs dedicated to descriptions of interior settings
D. Daily life of aristocracy (but can be focused on lower class such as Charles dickens)
VIII. 20th century Modernism
A. Primary writers
1. Wallace stevens
2. William carlos
3. Williams
B. Modernsim is an umbrella term for a variety of smaller movements
1. Pre-raphaelites
2. Decadence movement
3. Aesthetic movement
4. Impressionism
5. Post impressions
6. Expressisonsm
7. Surrealism
8. Futurism
9. Vorticism
10. Fauvism
11. Cuvism
C. Consequence of WWI
D. Enstien space and time ; freud - unconscious/ conscious
 E. Techniques
1. Stream of consciousnes sinterior
2. Fragmentation
3. Alienation
4. Juxatopostion
5. Borrowing fro other cultures languages
6. Myth
7. Mylitple perspectives
8. Technology
9. Absurdity
10. Form over content
11. High low modernism
IX. 20th century post modernism
A. Primary writers
1. John barth
2. Thomas phnchon
3. Gaddis
4. Kurt vonnegut
5. Samuel beckett
6. David wallace
7. Jorge Borges
B. Includes the Beats ; the confessional poet ; the new york school of poets , the black arts
movement ; the black mountain school;
C. Ressult of WWII
D. Parody , irony and narrative instability
E. Allusions
F. Collapse of binaries