An Overview of English and American Literature

What is English literature?

Literature?

English?

American literature?

• The Middle Ages (  -1485) • The Sixteenth Century (1485-1603) • The Seventeenth Century (1603-1660) • The Restoration and the Eighteenth Century (1660-1798) • The Romantic Period (1798-1832) • The Victorian Age (1832-1901) • The Twentieth Century (1901-present)          1914-1945 : The Modern Period                                  1945-     : Postmodern Period

Periods of English Literature(Norton Anthology Periodization)

Before the Middle Ages ( -1485)The Roman Period (43 A.D. – 410)

• 56 BC: Caesar visited Britain.• 40 AD: Roman colony founded.• 410: Last Roman legion withdrawn from England.

The Middle Ages ( -1485)The Anglo-Saxon Period (450-1066)

• ca. 450: Anglo-Saxon Conquest.• 597: Christianity introduced to England by St. Augustine..• 1066: England conquered by the Normans.

The Middle Ages ( -1485)The Norman-French Period (1066-1340)

• ca. 1200: Beginnings of Middle English literature.• 1095: The First Crusade begins.

The Middle Ages ( -1485)The Late Middle Ages (1340-1485)

• 1387: Geoffrey Chaucer begins to write The Canterbury Tales.• 1474: First book in English printed by Caxton.

The Sixteenth Century (1485-1603)

• 1485: Henry VII starts the Tudor sovereigns.• 1509: Henry VIII becomes king.• 1558: Elizabeth I becomes queen.• 1576: The Theatre built.• 1588: Spanish Armada defeated.• 1603: Elizabeth I dies.

The Seventeenth Century (1603-1660)

• 1603: James I starts the Stuart line.• 1620: Plymouth colony founded.• 1641: Civil War breaks out. All theatres closed.• 1649: Charles I executed; The commonwealth established.• 1660: Charles II restored to throne.

The Restoration and Eighteenth Century (1660-1798)

• 1660: Charles II restored to throne.• 1668: The Glorious Revolution.• 1776: The American colonies united for freedom.• 1789: The French Revolution begin.

The Romantic Period (1798-1832)

• 1798: Lyrical Ballads published.• 1842: The Reform Bill carried in Parliament.

The Victorian Age (1832-1901)

• 1837: Victoria becomes queen.• 1851: The Great Exhibition in London.• 1859: Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species published.• 1901: Queen Victoria dies.

The Twentieth Century (1901- ) Modern Period (1914-1945)

• 1914-18: World War I.• 1922: T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land; James Joyce’s Ulysses.• 1930: Period of depression begins.• 1939-45: World War II breaks out.

The Twentieth Century (1901- ) Postmodern Period (1945- )

• Early American Literature 1620-1820 • American Literature 1820-1865 • American Literature 1865-1914• American Literature between the Wars 1914-1945 • American Literature Since 1945

Periods of American Literature(Norton Anthology Periodization)

Early American Literature 1620-1820

• 1492: Columbus arrives at one of the Bahamas Islands.• 1620: Mayflower Compact signed.• 1776: Declaration of Independence.

American Literature 1820-1865

• 1831: Nat Turner’s revolt.• 1838-39: The Trail of Tears.• 1849: California Gold Rush begins.• 1861-65: American Civil War.

American Literature 1865-1914

• 1867: Reconstruction Acts.• 1871: Great Chicago Fire.

American Literature between the Wars1910-1945

• 1917: U.S. enters World War I.• 1929: Great Depression begins.• 1941: U.S. enters World War II.

American Literature Since 1945

• 1950: McCarthyism begins.• 1961: Vietnam War begins.• 1968: Martin Luther King Jr. assassinated.• 1975: Vietnam War ends.