English literature it is the one composed of works written in the English language, not just works by English authors. However, the literature produced in the United Kingdom has specific characteristics according to its periodization. Thus it began with the epic poem beowulf, in the eighth century.
The works of English literature are inserted, chronologically, in the periods: medieval; renaissance; of restoration; romantic; Victorian; Edwardian; Georgian; and modern. And its best-known authors are: William Shakespeare; Lord Byron; Jane Austen; Mary Shelley; Virginia Woolf; James Joyce; George Orwell; and Aldous Huxley.
Read too: Brazilian Literature — the literature that brings together the works of Brazilian authors
summary of english literature
the epic beowulf, by an anonymous author, is the first work of English literature.
The literature of the medieval period features heroic character and courtly love.
Classicism and metaphysical poetry were inserted in the context of the Renaissance.
The Restoration period was home to English neoclassicism.
The romantic period contained works with love stories and social intrigues.
Realistic works were inserted in the Victorian period.
Modernism began in the Georgian period and extended after World War II.
Features of English Literature
English literature is literature produced in the English language, not necessarily in the England. However, for the sake of simplicity, we will refer here to the literature produced in the RUK, what yousee beginning with Anglo-Saxon literature, written in Old English, marked by the poetry epictherefore of heroic character.
In the medieval period, it is also possible to verify heroic elements typical of the chivalry novel, in addition to the presence of the theme of courtly love.. At the end of this period, there were criticisms of the clergy and reflections on economic issues. no longer rrebirth, O sonnet predominated as a poetic form.
However, writers, in the Elizabethan age, did not could make political criticisms in an absolutist regime. Thus, the Renaissance presented pastoral elements, Shakespearean neologisms, loving idealization, appreciation of epic poetry and themes of Antiquity.
O wlassicismhe was one period style that yousee relevance in this historical moment. Its main representative in the English language was the poet and playwright William Shakespeare. During the renaissance, some works also showed traces of the Barroco, however, in the United Kingdom, authors of such works were identified as “metaphysical poets”.
The main one was John Donne, who created works marked by sensualism, love themes and religiosity. Cult elements (such as metaphors, paradoxes and puns) also characterize his poetry metaphysics. Related to neoclassicism,O restoration period he was composed of works that value reason, have an urban, satirical character and elements of a political nature. Poetry, at this stage, is characterized by formal rigor.
At the romantism, the reasonor to be rejected, there was an appreciation of sensations and imagination. The Romantic period was marked by rebellion and contestation, but it also featured love stories, social intrigue and sentimental exaggeration. Already in the Victorian period, there was a realistic literature, in which irony, social criticism and the analysis of moral issues predominate.
O Edwardian period took place during the reign of King Edward VII,and in this period there were pessimistic elements, mention of sex, objectivity and satire on Victorian society, that is, the previous period. His poetry has a symbolist character. O Georgian period he wasmodernist in nature, there were feminist reflections, linguistic experimentation, use of stream of consciousness and sexual themes.
The modern period began after the Second World War, and yours Affairs feature dystopian elements, political satire, nonsense, as well as a reflection on technological evolution, urban reality and individualism. In the poetry of mmodernism English, the use of free verse is predominant.
Leading Authors of English Literature
→ Main authors of pmedieval period of english literature
pearl poet
Geoffrey Chaucer (1343-1400)
→ Main authors of prenaissance period of english literature
Edmund Spenser (1552-1599)
William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
John Donne (1572-1631)
John Milton (1608-1674)
→ Main authors of pRestoration period of English literature
John Dryden (1631-1700)
Daniel Defoe (1660-1731)
Jonathan Swift (1667-1745)
Alexander Pope (1688-1744)
→ Main authors of promantic period of english literature
William Blake (1757-1827)
William Wordsworth (1770-1850)
Walter Scott (1771-1832)
Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834)
jane austen (1775-1817)
Lord Byron (1788-1824)
John Keats (1795-1821)
Mary Shelley (1797-1851)
→ Main authors of pvictorian period of english literature
Elizabeth Browning (1806-1861)
Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892)
Charles Dickens (1812-1870)
Charlotte Brontë (1816-1855)
Emily Brontë (1818-1848)
George Eliot (pseudonym Mary Ann Evans) (1819-1880)
Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894)
Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930)
→ Leading authors of the Edwardian period in English literature
Samuel Butler (1835-1902)
Thomas Hardy (1840-1928)
oscar wilde (1854-1900)
Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)
Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936)
William Butler Yeats (1865-1939)
→ Main authors of pGeorgian period of English literature
Virginia Woolf (1882-1941)
James Joyce (1882-1941)
d. H. Lawrence (1885-1930)
T. S. Elliot (1888-1965)
→ Main authors of pmodern period of english literature
Aldous Huxley (1894-1963)
George Orwell (1903-1950)
Samuel Beckett (1906-1989)
Major works of English literature
beowulf (8th century), author unknown
Dom Galvão and the Green Knight (14th century), from the Poet of Pearl
The Canterbury Tales (1476) by Geoffrey Chaucer
the fairy queen (1590) by Edmund Spenser
Hamlet (1599) by William Shakespeare
poems (1633) by John Donne
Lost paradise (1667) by John Milton
Absalom and Achitopel (1681) by John Dryden
The kidnapping of the lock (1712) by Alexander Pope
Robinson Crusoe (1719) by Daniel Defoe
Gulliver's Travels (1726) by Jonathan Swift
Songs of Innocence and Experience (1794) by William Blake
The Ballad of the Old Sailor (1797) by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
poems (1807) by William Wordsworth
Pride and Prejudice (1813) by Jane Austen
hyperion (1818) by John Keats
frankenstein (1818) by Mary Shelley
Ivanhoe (1819) by Walter Scott
Don Juan (1819) by Lord Byron
poems (1830) by Alfred Tennyson
Oliver Twist (1837) by Charles Dickens
Wuthering Heights (1847) by Emily Brontë
jane eyre (1847) by Charlotte Brontë
Aurora Leigh (1856) by Elizabeth Browning
Romola (1863) by George Eliot (pseudonym Mary Ann Evans)
desperate remedies (1871) by Thomas Hardy
erewhon (1872) by Samuel Butler
The Doctor and the Monster (1886) by Robert Louis Stevenson
The portrait of Dorian Gray (1891) by Oscar Wilde
the jungle book (1894) by Kipling
The Hound of the Baskervilles (1902) by Arthur Conan Doyle
Pygmalion (1913) by Bernard Shaw
Responsibilities (1914) by William Butler Yeats
Ulysses (1922) by James Joyce
Orlando (1928) by Virginia Woolf
Lady Chatterley's Lover (1928), by D. H. Lawrence
Admirable new world (1932) by Aldous Huxley
four quartets (1941), by T. S. Eliot
1984 (1949) by George Orwell
Waiting for Godot (1952) by Samuel Beckett
See too: Black literature — literary production whose subject of writing is the black person himself
history of english literature
the english literature came up with the epic poem beowulf, written in the eighth century. During the medieval period (500-1500), it consolidated through the works of Geoffrey Chaucer, a poet whose texts, due to their critical content, show signs of a transition to rebirth. Chaucer is considered the first English author, as he reflected English culture and no longer used Old English.
Within the Renaissance period (1500-1660) there was the Elizabethan era, known as the “golden age”, although the writers did not have much freedom of expression, since they were inserted in the context of the Theabsolutism. At that time, elements of classicism predominated, with Shakespeare being its greatest representative.
Although some authors present baroque traits, this style did not predominate in English literature, so they became known as "metaphysical poets" and received criticism from writers who, shortly afterwards, were seduced by Enlightenment ideas, in the Restoration period (1660-1785), when reason was valued.
O romantic period comprised the years 1785 to 1837. The Victorian period began in 1837 and ended in 1901. Soon came the Edwardian period, from 1901 to 1910. then the Georgian period, from 1910 to 1936, followed by the period modern, starting in 1945.
By Warley Souza
Literature Teacher
Source: Brazil School - https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/literatura/literatura-inglesa.htm
