Periods of English Literature (Norton Anthology)

1
An Overview of English and American Literature
2
What is English literature? Literature? English?
American literature?
3
Periods of English Literature(Norton Anthology
Periodization)

• 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

4
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• 410 Last Roman legion withdrawn from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.

5
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.

6
The Middle Ages ( -1485)The Norman-French
Period (1066-1340)

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

7
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.

8
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.

9
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.

10
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.

11
The Romantic Period (1798-1832)

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

12
The Victorian Age (1832-1901)

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

13
The Twentieth Century (1901- ) Modern Period
(1914-1945)

• 1914-18 World War I.
• 1922 T.S. Eliots The Waste Land James
  Joyces Ulysses.
• 1930 Period of depression begins.
• 1939-45 World War II breaks out.

14
The Twentieth Century (1901- ) Postmodern
Period (1945- )
15
Periods of American Literature(Norton Anthology
Periodization)

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

16
Early American Literature 1620-1820

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

17
American Literature 1820-1865

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

18
American Literature 1865-1914

• 1867 Reconstruction Acts.
• 1871 Great Chicago Fire.

19
American Literature between the Wars1910-1945

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

20
American Literature Since 1945

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