This document provides an overview of the major periods and events in English and American literature from the Middle Ages to the present. It divides English literature into periods such as the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the Romantic period, and more recent centuries. It also outlines the development of American literature from the early colonial period through the 20th century, noting important historical contexts.

1. An Overview of English and
American Literature

2. What is English literature?
Literature?
English?
American literature?

3. • 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
Periods of English Literature
(Norton Anthology Periodization)

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• 410: Last Roman legion withdrawn from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 Darwin’s 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. Eliot’s The Waste Land; James Joyce’s Ulysses.
• 1930: Period of depression begins.
• 1939-45: World War II breaks out.

14. The Twentieth Century (1901- )
Postmodern Period (1945- )

15. • Early American Literature 1620-1820
• American Literature 1820-1865
• American Literature 1865-1914
• American Literature between the Wars 1914-1945
• American Literature Since 1945
Periods of American Literature
(Norton Anthology Periodization)

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 Turner’s 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 Wars
1910-1945
• 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.