Major Periods of British and Major Periods of British and

American Literature American Literature

„ Anglo-
Anglo-Saxon Period: c.400-
c.400-1066 „ Medieval Period (1066-
(1066-1400)
„ Epic tradition „ Religious and Philosophical works
„ Poetry is the most heightened form „ Poetry still most heightened form
„ Old English „ Essay just emerges
„ epic similes „ Romance - heroic tales
„ caesura „ allegory, symbolism
„ Subject matter heroic - warfare, carrying the „ a focus on the hereafter
culture, and religion

Major Periods of British and Major Periods of British and

American Literature
„ Renaissance (1400-
(1400-1660)
„ Poetry and Drama are the most important
forms
„ Highly stylized verse
„ Strong verse structure - meter and rhyme
scheme are very important
„ sonnet emerges - Petrarchan,
Petrarchan, Shakespearean,
and Spenserian are the major forms
American Literature
„ Renaissance (contd.)
„ important poetic subject matter is often love
and death
„ pastoral is also an important form
„ the historical and philosophical issues of the
period find their way into the literature:
„ man as measure of all things
„ religioius questions; limitations of man’
man’s
knowledge

Major Periods of British and Major Periods of British and

American Literature American Literature
„ Restoration (1660-
(1660-1700) „ Neo-
Neo-Classical Period: 1700-
1700-1760
„ Re-
Re-emergence of drama after the English Civil „ This period has many names: Augustan,
War Enlightenment, Age of Reason. All mean
„ Poetry of the Restoration Period is a precursor roughly the same thing.
to the Neo-
Neo-Classical Period. „ Reason predominates. Neo-
Neo-classicists denied
„ Major poets: the importance of the senses and feelings.
„ Milton (Paradise Lost) „ Satire!!!
„ Dryden „ Poetry is the major form, but prose is on the
„ Issues are often religious in nature rise

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 Major Periods of British and Major Periods of British and
American Literature American Literature
„ Neo-
Neo-Classical Period (contd.)
„ Poetry of the period is essentially didactic „ Neo-
Neo-Classical Period (contd.)
in nature - designed to instruct. „ The novel is born in this period
Thus the poetry of the period is often
„
„ Major authors: Pope, Defoe, Swift
philosophical.
„ It is very concerned with the Enlightenment „ America -->
--> Colonial Period (1750-
(1750-
ideals of observing and explaining the 1830)
universe through scientific investigation.
„ Characterized by religious works and
„ Prose of the period is often satiric, but diaries
there are romantic elements re-
re-emerging
„ Concerned with recording events of
daily life.

Major Periods of British and Major Periods of British and

American Literature American Literature
„ Romantic Period (1760-
(1760-1820 in England; „ Romantic Period (Contd.)
1830-
1830-1860 in America) „ Poetry is the important genre in Britain
„ Reaction against the Neo-
Neo-Classical Period (almost exclusively)
„ Inspired by the French and American „ Major Poets: Wordsworth, Coleridge, Keats,
Shelley, Byron, Blake
Revolutions
„ Mary Shelley important in development of the
„ Emphasized emotions and feelings novel
„ Worship of NATURE!!
„ Three “I’s”: Imagination, Individual, Intuition

Major Periods of British and Major Periods of British and

American Literature American Literature
„ Realism (Britain: Victorian Period,
„ Romantic Period (Contd
(Contd)) 1830-
1830-1900; America: Realism, 1860-
1860-
„ In America there is the 1890)
Transcendentalist Movement of the 19th „ A fascination with daily life.
century (1840’
(1840’s and 1850’
1850’s) „ An emerging interest in psychology as a
„ Major Authors: way to understand character
Hawthorne, Whitman, Thoreau,
„
„ Prose is the major form, but poetry and
Dickinson, Melville
drama are important.

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 Major Periods of British and Major Periods of British and
American Literature American Literature
„ Realism (contd
(contd)) „ Modernism (1900-
(1900-1930)
„ Major Authors (Britain) „ Characterized by a complete rejection of
„ Dickens, Tennyson, Hopkins, Brownings form
„ Major Authors (America) „ Credo of modernism:
„ Twain, Crane, Howells „ “Make it new”
new” -Ezra Pound
„ This infected all genres and other forms of
the arts, but is most importantly felt in
poetry.

Major Periods of British and Major Periods of British and

American Literature American Literature
„ Modernism (Contd
(Contd)) „ Post-
Post-Modernism (1930-
(1930-present)
„ Major Authors: „ Difficult to characterize because it is
„ Britain: Yeats, Eliot, Woolf,
Woolf, Joyce inclusive of a lot of history and change, and
„ America: Pound, Stevens, W. C. Williams, and because we are too close to it.
lots of others! „ All genres are important.
„ Just think of modern art in poetry! „ Political and historical events inform the
art.