Renaissance

Elizabethan: 1558-1603 Jacobean: 1603-1623 Caroline: 1625-1649 Interregnum: 1649-1660

1500-1649

A time of optimism Moving past the Dark Ages + Black Death Humanism: man has worth and capability A pursuit of perfect existence Political change (Elizabeth Jacobean) Elizabeth had no heir: political insecurity Kings/queens as divinely appointed

The great chain of being Protestant reformation of the 16th century Stylistic conventions important New interest in Classical texts (previously suppressed by Catholic Church) - Order vs disorder (Greek beliefs of world) - Upheaval of social hierarchy The start of the novel, biography and essay The rise of newspapers and periodicals Theatres were re-opened and drama thrived Poetry concerned with political satire and realism Formal and precise style e.g. heroic couplet

William Shakespeare Christopher John Donne Edmund Spenser

The Restoration
Charles II: 1660-1685 James II: 1685-1688

1660-1688

- The restoration of Charles II and the monarchy after the Interregnum republic/Puritans - The moral rigidness of the Puritans gone - Lots of bawdy comedy (previously banned) - A period characterised by joviality - Scientific inquiry and rationalism - Criticism of the Church - Greater critical thinking in the public - A period concerned with order + restraint - A reaction to Renaissance expressivity and Restoration frivolity - Often political, moral or deals with human vices - Increase in domestic dramas of the middle class Reaction to Enlightenment + Industrial Revolution A change from faith in reason to faith in emotion Stressed the integrity of human imagination Civilisation is corrupt and limiting Gentle, visionary and utopic

- John Milton - John Dryden

The Age of Reason i.e. the Enlightenment

1680-1785

- A belief in egalitarianism - Calls for social and political reform - A time of blooming capitalism and trade A strive to imitate the Augustan authors, e.g. Virgil A more polished language in literature Heroic couplet common in verse poetry Essay and satire were widespread Increased public literary: allusions more frequent Nostalgia for a more purer, natural past existence Rustic life over urban life Reaction to the French Revolution of 17891799 Initial support of revolution as uplifting freedom Focused on the individual, rather than the nation - Alexander Pope - Jonathan Swift

Augustan literature i.e. Neoclassical

1700-1745

Romanticism

1790-1860

William Blake William Wordsworth Samuel Coleridge Percy Shelley John Keats

Gothic Transcendentalism Dark romanticism

1790-1820 1830-1860 1830-1860

- An extension of Romanticism - Also described feeling + emotion: pleasing terror - An ideal spiritual reality that is not empirical - People best when self-reliant and individual - A reaction against Transcendentalism - Similar to gothic fiction in the use of supernatural Concerned with propriety and morals A restrained, controlled mood Increased international travel More jaded tone in describing class and reality A reclaiming of the past: classics + Medieval More narrative, rather than lyrical or figurative

- A mix of dark terror and romantic mood - Often melodramatic: action > characterisation - A reaction against Unitarianism of Harvard - People and nature are inherently good - Man is sinful, evil and corrupt - Antagonists that are alluring and inspire awe Evolution of science and rationality e.g. Darwinism Predominantly novels, with monologues and poetry Many comedies of manners in drama Expansion of British Empire and prosperity Focus is more on daily life or an idealised world Moral messages in a time of doubt and uncertainty

- Edgar Allan Poe - Mary Shelley - Emily Dickinson - Edgar Allen Poe Charles Dickens the Bront sisters Alfred Tennyson Thomas Hardy Elizabeth Browning Robert Browning

Victorian literature 1832-1901

Victoria: 1837-1901

Decadent

Late 1800s

- Stylised, elaborate language - Discussed unsavoury topics: death, sexuality Reaction to Romantic idealism Purpose of novels should be to describe life as is No subjective judgements from the narrator Attention turned to the lower classes Marxism: inevitable class struggle due to economics Social Realism intends to fix problems like this All Naturalist works are Realist, but not vice versa An offshoot of Social Darwinism Pessimistic in its absence of characters free will Drew attention to human suffering and injustice Looked at how environment and heredity control a persons life, beliefs and actions: fate

- Partly grew from Romanticism emotion focused - But valued art over nature, similar to Aestheticism Focus of novels changed to characters, not plot No grand climaxes because life is more mundane Characters are very complex, just like real humans Frequent use of unreliable narrators Reader often not given all the information Related to the concept of accuracy in journalism Mostly found in novels but also plays Naturalist theatre aims to perfectly recreate reality Everyday speech forms; not stylised The setting has influence, a character Present day, secular reality (no mythical past) More focus on all types of people inc. lower class

- Oscar Wilde - Arthur Symons - Henrik Ibsen

Realism

1850-1900

- Henrik Ibsen

Naturalism

1880-1920

Modernism Imagism Post-modernism

1910-1965

1945-today