BRITISH LITERATURE
TIMELINE
OLD
ENGLISH
Old English (450-1066)
Example: "Beowulf" - An
epic poem that is one of the
earliest and most
significant works in Old
English literature, depicting
the heroism of Beowulf in
battling monsters.
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MIDDLE
ENGLISH
Middle English
(1066-1500)
Example: "The Canterbury
Tales" by Geoffrey Chaucer
- A collection of stories told
by a group of pilgrims on
their way to Canterbury,
providing a snapshot of
medieval English society
EDWARDIA
VICTORIAN
REINASSANC N
E
PERIOD PERIOD
Renaissance (1500- Victorian Period Edwardian Period
1660) (1837-1901) (1901-1914)
Example: "Hamlet" by
William Shakespeare - One Example: "Great Example: "Howards End"
of Shakespeare's most Expectations" by Charles
by E.M. Forster - A novel
famous plays, exploring Dickens - A novel that
themes of revenge, that examines social and
madness, and existentialism explores social class, class issues in Edwardian
during the Renaissance. morality, and the impact England, addressing the
of one's upbringing on changing landscape of
character development British society.
 BRITISH LITERATURE
TIMELINE

MODERNIST POSTWAR
PERIOD PERIOD

Modernist Period Post-war and

(1914-1945) Contemporary
(1945-present)

Example: "The Waste Example: "1984" by

Land" by T.S. Eliot - A George Orwell - A
complex and influential dystopian novel that
modernist poem that explores the dangers of
reflects the disillusionment totalitarianism and the
and fragmentation of post- erosion of individual
World War I society freedoms.
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