Thew Curtis

Dr. Cutchins and Dr. Thorne-Murphy

ENGL 294
Timeline Commentary
The Colonial/Puritan literary movement was characterized by sensational captivity
narratives along with the writers showing a deep abiding trust in God. This was done through
typology at times (relating one's life to scriptures). A sense of Providence is also a generally
common thread. I chose the dates 1607-1693 because these dates best capture the feeling of the
time. 1607 is when Jamestown was settled and 1693 is when Cotton Mather wrote The Wonders
of the Invisible World which largely put an end to the Puritan spirit of the time (it being an
account of the Salem witch trials). John Smith's General History portrays a captivity narrative
that has become a part of American mythology; Mary Rowlandson did the same and also
incorporated typology into her account.
The Romantic literary movement of Britain was characterized by trying to capture a
feeling of the sublime along with an honesty that replaces the satire of neoclassicism. I chose
1798-1837 as the dates because 1798 is when Lyrical Ballads was published which is pretty
much the manifesto of romanticism and 1837 is when Queen Victoria comes to the throne,
ushering in the Victorian movement. John Keats was the other writer I chose to include because
of his concept of "Negative Capability" which really brings out the sincerity which Romanticism
is going for.
The American Romantic literary movement is characterized by the same honesty and
spans between 1844 and 1879. It is full of dreams and high hopes for the country. In 1844 Ralph
Waldo Emerson gave his talk "The Poet" calling for an American poet to emerge and in 1879

William Dean Howells began the Realistic movement. Walt Whitman became the poet which
Emerson was calling for.
The Victorian movement spanned Queen Victoria's reign, thus the dates for it are 18371901. The literature of the period manifests a certain earnestness to do one's duty and to help one
another. Elizabeth Barrett Browning showed this in her poetry, which was very politically
charged. George Eliot also advocated for this in her works.
The Realistic movement went from 1879, when William Dean Howells ushered in the
movement, to 1913 when the Armory show came out. The Realistic movement was concerned
with getting everything portrayed correctly. Both William Dean Howells and Henry James did
this in their writings (with Henry James doing it a bit more psychologically). They believed that
romanticism caused a lot of problems in people's lives.
The Naturalistic movement was characterized by a sense that nature was out to get you. It
was very Darwinistic. The dates I chose for it were from 1861 (when Origin of Species was
published) to 1914 (when Hardy wrote the poem about the Titanic). In all honesty, I'm sure there
are still strains of this style of writing still out there today (like with every other movement).
Joseph Conrad and Thomas Hardy both had elements of Naturalism throughout their work, using
them to an ironic end, showing that our efforts against nature are futile.
The Modernistic Literary movement in America was characterized by a fragmented
narrative mainly and in Britain it was characterized by a stream of consciousness. Wallace
Stevens did the fragmented narrative quite well in "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird".
Virginia Woolf wrote about using stream of consciousness and James Joyce executed it in his

works. The timeline for the movement comes from its inception at "the Armory Show" and ends
with the end of WWII. These two events motivated its beginning and its end.
The Postmodernistic movement of both countries goes from WWII until the present day,
but has manifested itself in different ways. In Britain, being heavily influenced by French
"theater of the absurd" it is characterized by a portrayal of our inability to communicate. This is
represented by Samuel Beckett in Waiting for Godot. In America, we have these themes as well,
but we also have had bursts of spiritual longing as found in Allen Ginsberg's revolutionary poem
"Howl".