The Old English Period (7th-12th century): The Old English Period extends

from AD 450 to AD 1150 and may be further divided into early Old English and
Late English periods. Old English or Anglo-Saxon period covers the span of
time from the earliest written records and documents about the end of the 7th
century to the beginning of the 12th century.

Old English was almost a pure, unmixed language with very little foreign
element in it. Many thousands of these words survived a number of historic and
linguistic upheavals and are still in daily use, however a lot meanings, functions
and forms may have been modified.

These words throw light on the condition of life, occupations, culture and
civilization of the English race at that stage. The Old English writers preferred
coining compound words and derivatives from native words. This
resourcefulness is characteristic of Old English.

Middle Ages: There are two ages in this period. The span from 1066 to 1340 is
called Anglos-Norman Period because the literature of that period was written
mainly in Anglo-Norman, the French dialect spoken by the new ruling class of
England. The period from 1340 to 1400 is called the Age of Chaucer because
Chaucer, the great poet, dominated this period. The time from 1066 to 1500 is
also called the Middle Ages. Early part of the middle Ages is called the Dark
Ages because what actually happened during this period can hardly be known.
The remarkable events of this period were-
 The English parliament was established in 1295.
 Crusade, the religious battle between Muslims and Christian took place
in between 11th and 13thcentury.
 In 1362 English was declared to be the language of law and courts.
 William Caxton established printing press in 1476.

The age of Chaucer (1350 A.D – 1400 A.D)

 Chaucer was the famous poet of 14th century. He is the ‘Father of
English poetry’. 

 He was also politician. In 1386, he was elected a member of parliament

from Kent.
  Chaucer sent to foreign countries on diplomatic missions from 1370 –
1378.

Chaucer’s chief works are –

 The Canterbury Tales
 The house of Fame
 The Parliament of fouls

Barren Age (1400 A.D – 1485 A.D): Barren age started after the death of
Chaucer in 1400. In this period there was no real improvement of English
literature. So this period is called Barren Age.

Renaissance: It began with the fall of the then Constantinople in 1453.

Mohammad II, the Sultan of the Ottoman Turks and a crusader, defeated the
Christians in 1453 and occupied Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine
Empire and the centre of classical learning. After the defeat the Christian
scholars fled to different parts of the Europe where they spread their knowledge.
Thus, ancient learning started reviving. The revival of the classical knowledge
is called Renaissance. Its features are:
 Curiosity about more knowledge,
 Desire for unlimited wealth and power;
 Love of adventures, own country,
 Beauty, humanism and past.

Neoclassical Literature: It was written between 1660 and 1798. This time

period is broken down into three parts:
 The Restoration period
 The Augustan period
 The Age of Johnson.
Writers of the Neoclassical period tried to imitate the style of the Romans and
Greeks. Neoclassicism is the term for movements in the arts that draw
inspiration from the classical art and culture of ancient Greece and Rome. The
height of Neoclassicism coincided with the 18th century Enlightenment era and
continued into the early 19th century.
Restoration period: The period from 1660 to 1700 is known as the Restoration
period or the Age of Dryden. John Dryden was the representative writer of this
period. The restoration of King Charles II in 1660 marks the beginning of a new
era both in the life and the literature of England. The name 'restoration'
comes from the crowning of Charles II, which marks the restoring of the
traditional English monarchical form of government following a short period of
rule by a handful of republican governments.
The Restoration period is also known as the Age of Dryden because Dryden was
the most imposing literary figure of the time; Dryden is best known today as a
satirist, although he wrote only two great original satires:
Mac Flecknoe (1682) and
The Medall (1682).
His most famous poem, Absalom and Achitophel contains several brilliant
satiric portraits. The restoration period is generally considered as concluding
with his death in 1700.

The Romantic Period: It began roughly around 1798 and lasted until 1837.
The political and economic atmosphere at the time heavily influenced this
period, with many writers finding inspiration from the French Revolution.
When reference is made to Romantic verse, the poets who generally spring to
mind are:-
 William Blake
 William Wordsworth
 Samuel Taylor Coleridge
 George Gordon
William Wordsworth was one of the founders of English Romanticism and one
it’s most central figures and important intellects. Wordsworth is best known
for Lyrical Ballads, and The Prelude, a Romantic epic poem chronicling the
“growth of a poet’s mind.”

Modernism: It refers to the rejection of the Victorian era’s traditions and the
exploration of industrial-age, real-life issues, and combines a rejection of the
past with experimentation, sometimes for political purposes. Stretching from the
late 19th century to the middle of the 20th century, Modernism reached its peak
in the 1960s
Post-modernism: It describes the period that followed during the 1960s and
1970s. Post-modernism is a dismissal of the rigidity of Modernism in favour of
an “anything goes” approach to subject matter, processes and material.
Both Modernism and Postmodernism represent the literary break from the 19th
century habits. They explore subjectivism in character development, shifting to
inner states of consciousness, while in previous times the literary focus was on
external reality. Modernism in literature, originating in the late 19th and early
20th century, is recognized by its experimentation with literary form and
expression and is characterized by the desire to change traditional modes of
representation. Postmodern literature, on the other hand, came about in the post-
World War II era and is recognized by its strong reliance on literary techniques
like fragmentation and questionable narration. Postmodernism is also seen as a
reaction against Enlightenment thinking and Modernist approaches to literature,
while modernism was seen as a conscious break from traditional styles of poetry
and verse.