British Lit Timeline

Anglo-Saxon

Characterized by an oral tradition of epic poems, songs, and poetry. Old English or Anglo Saxon literature was well established by pre-Christian Germanic settlers. One of the most well known works of this time period is “Beowulf”, an epic poem about the eponymous Geatish warrior.

Shaped Thinking

Innovations/Inventions

Lifestyle Pics

Inventions:

• candle clock
• Many words

Innovations:

• Plough
• Gave the idea of the English nation

• Climate change ~ Influenced movement of Anglo-Saxon invaders to Britain
• They embraced the wisdom of the east
• Anglo-Saxon culture - the working man, the churchman, and the warrior.
• Britain's political landscape underwent many changes
• Kingdoms and sub-kingdoms were formed by early settlers
• The country was divided into 4 kingdoms
• Anglo-Saxons had their own religious beliefs till the arrival of Saint Augustine (converted most of the country to Christianity)

Medieval

Medieval or Middle English was prompted by the invasion of the Normans into Britain, when the Duke of Normandy defeated King Harold of Britain at the Battle of Hastings. The language was a dialect was of French descent with Germanic influences, usually called Anglo-Norman. This diversion brought English closer to what we know and use today. Famous works during this period include the History of the Kings of Britain (containing the legend of King Arthur) and the Canterbury Tales. This period had a large focus on Roman Catholic church, as it was an essential part of everyday life for both royalty and peasants.

Shaped Thinking

Innovations/Inventions

Lifestyle Pics

• Normans transformed England (culturally and linguistically)
• New Testament writers says "whether a Christian is slave or free is a matter indifferent"
• Normans established supremacy with a new aristocracy and clergy of Norman French origin

Inventions

• Weapons of mass production
• Printing Press
• Gunpowder

Innovations

• Two-field crop rotation -> Three-field

Renaissance

The English Renaissance saw the rise of the merchant class in Britain. Math, science, technology, education, and exploration became more accessible to the masses. The feudal system was slowly dissolving as middle class merchants rose in wealth. Plays became popular as they appealed to all classes. Notable playwrights include Christopher Marlowe, and William Shakespeare, arguably the greatest dramatist of all time.

Lifestyle Pics

Innovations/Inventions

Shaped Thinking

Inventions:

• Microscope/Telescope/Eyeglasses
• Cannons and Muskets

Innovations:

• Scientific Method
• Astronomy
• Alchemy

• Robert Henryson (poet) developed some of Chaucer's themes
• Middle class emerged importance in social factor (New Monarchy began to rely on this new class support)
• New Monarchy worked on removal of essential checks on the authority of the Crown
• Study of Theology during the middle ages was pushed into the background

Neoclassical

• Restoration, Augustan, and Age of Johnson
• The Enlightenment - Era of Logic and Reason

Neoclassical writers tried to imitate the style of the Roman and Greeks, “Neo” meaning “new” and “classical” referring to classic works. This era was the starting point of the modern middle class and the tradition of afternoon tea. People would gather to discuss politics and other ideas of the Enlightenment. Characteristics of writing focused primarily on people's appearances rather than their true feelings or intentions. In contrast to the renaissance that saw people as inherently good, Neoclassical literature saw man as ‘flawed’.

Lifestyle Pics

Shaped Thinking

Innovations/Inventions

Inventions

• cuckoo clocks
• reflecting telescope

Innovations

• The Oxfored Gazette

• The plague wiped out most of the population
• The fire in London ( consisted of wooden buildings) lasted 4 days causing a lot of damage
• John Milton's rewrite on the Fall of Man is one of the most influential poems in English language

Romantic

Romanticism shifted from reason, logic, and science to a belief in the senses. Feelings, imagination, and experiences were valued above all. Previously an emphasis was on an interest in urban society, during this movement, people focused on rural and natural life. Works consisted of extremely personal works that touched on the mysterious and infinite world. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley is a famous work from the Romantic Period.

Innovations/Inventions

Shaped Thinking

Lifestyle Pics

Inventions

• Electric motors
• Cotton gin

Innovations

• New scientific ideas took place after the industrial revolution

• Romanticism grew from how people perceived their place
• The publishing of Lyrical Ballads was the beginning of the Romantic Period (Marks a distinct change in form and subject matter from neoclassical poetry)
• Ideologies and events of the French Revolution created the primary context form which both Romanticism and the Counter-Enlightenment emerged

Victorian

Beginning with the crowning of Queen Victoria and culminating the year of her death, the Victorian era saw a battle between romantic/gothic and neoclassical/enlightenment ideas. During this time, the middle class far outnumbered the nobles. Many upper middle class members felt that they could join the ranks of their betters and focused on acting like the dignitaries of the time. Characters and authors of this time period are often stereotyped as being stuffy, hypocritical, and narrow-minded. Charles Dickens is a well-known Victorian author.

Lifestyle Pics

Shaped Thinking

Innovations/Inventions

Inventions:

• Telephone
• Incandescent light bulb
• Paddle steamships

• British empire abolishes slavery, and more than 800,000 slaves in the British Caribbean are freed
• London-Birmingham Railway, opens, starting the steam-powered railway boom and revolutionizing travel
• "On the Origin of Species" published by Charles Darwin presenting his theory of natural selection and questioning the theory of creation
• Created controversy

Modernism

Modernist British authors had a sense of betrayal after being devastated by two world wars in Europe. They lost faith in their institutions of government, which they once believed in and now saw as having led them into bloody conflicts. They no longer saw their government or even their religions as reliable means to provide answers in life, therefore turning away and looking to seek the answers themselves. Sometimes using allegory or even fantasy to do so.

Disillusioned by the atrocities of war, writing became focused more on form than content. Popular British Modernists include: George Orwell, James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, T.S. Eliot, and Aldous Huxley.

Innovations/Inventions

Shaped Thinking

Lifestyle Pics

• New discoveries, inventions and technology
• Created optimistic aura of a worldly paradise (technology became new religious)
• Technology quickened the pace through which people experienced life on a day to day basis
• Nature (existence of God) becomes irrelevant and outdated, for the city takes the place of nature as the life force

Inventions:

• Air conditioning
• Vacuum Cleaner
• Plastic
• Radio Broadcasting

Innovations:

• Created optimistic aura of a

worldly paradise

• Field of transportation and communication accelerated the daily life of the individual