Prepared: Maria Carmela Rachel G Esclanda Submitted: Amelita Balagtas, PhD

PhD English Professor

PR#6 Tabular Timeline

Period Time Style Genre Theme Historical Context
British Literature
Anglo -Saxon 450-1066 Demonstrate These works Some features Anglo-Saxon,
Period that the idea of style include genres and themes of Anglo- term used historically
as a "constant form" such as epic Saxon period poetry include to describe any
has its limitations, poetry, the (1) caesura, (2) member of the
and that style is in hagiography, alliteration, (3) stressed and Germanic peoples
fact the ordering of sermons, Bible unstressed syllables, (4) who, from the 5th
form, both verbal translations, legal absence of end-rhymes, (5) century CE to the
and visual. Anglo- works, chronicles, kenning, (6) the time of the Norman
Saxon texts and riddles, and others. elegiac theme and (7) the Conquest (1066),
images carry In all there are dream... (The entire section inhabited and ruled
meanings and about 400 surviving contains 956 words.) territories that are
express agendas, manuscripts from today part of
presenting us with the period, a England and Wales.
paradoxes and significant corpus According to St.
riddles that require us of both popular Bede the Venerable,
to keep questioning interest and the Anglo-Saxons
the meanings of specialist research. were the
style. descendants of three
different Germanic
peoples—the Angles,
Saxons, and Jutes. By
Bede’s account,
those peoples
originally migrated
from northern
Germany to the
island of Britain in the
5th century at the
invitation of
Vortigern, a ruler of
Britons, to help
defend his kingdom
against marauding
invasions by the Picts
and Scotti, who
occupied what is
now Scotland.
Archaeological
evidence suggests
that the first migrants
from the Germanic
areas of mainland
Europe included
settlers from Frisia and
antedated the
Roman withdrawal
from Britain about 410
CE. Their subsequent
settlements in what is
now England laid the
foundation for the
later kingdoms of
Essex, Sussex, and
Wessex (Saxons); East
Anglia, Middle
Anglia, Mercia, and
Northumbria
(Angles); and Kent
 (Jutes). Ethnically, the
Anglo-Saxons
actually represented
an admixture of
Germanic peoples
with Britain’s
preexisting Celtic
inhabitants and
subsequent Viking
and Danish invaders.

The peoples of each

of the various Anglo-
Saxon kingdoms
spoke distinctive
dialects, which
evolved over time
and together
became known as
Old English. Within
that variety of
dialects, an
exceptionally rich
vernacular literature
emerged. Examples
include the masterful
epic poem Beowulf
and the Anglo-Saxon
Chronicle, a
collection of
manuscripts that
cover events in the
early history of
England.
Medieval 1066- The era Medieval From the People use the
Period 1500 encompasses many music was both development of Old and phrase “Middle
artistic styles and sacred and Middle English to the Ages” to describe
periods, including secular. During the innovations of William Europe between the
early Christian and earlier medieval Caxton and the printing fall of Rome in 476 CE
Byzantine, Anglo- period, the press: explore language and and the beginning of
Saxon and Viking, liturgical genre, voice in the medieval the Renaissance in
Insular, Carolingian, predominantly period. the 14th century.
Ottonian, Gregorian chant, Discover some of the earliest Many scholars call
Romanesque, and was monophonic. heroes and heroines in the era the
Gothic. During the Polyphonic genres English literature, from “medieval period”
medieval period, the began to develop Beowulf to King Arthur. instead; “Middle
various secular arts during the high Examine Ages,” they say,
were unified by the medieval era, representations of gender, incorrectly implies
Christian church and becoming sex and relationships in that the period is an
the sacred arts prevalent by the medieval literature, from the insignificant blip
associated with it. later thirteenth and works of women's writers to sandwiched
early fourteenth tales of courtly love to between two much
century. Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. more important
A shadowy man- epochs.
eating monster, a strange
green knight, and fictional
accounts of journeys around
the world: investigate the
boundaries between the
real and imaginary in
medieval literature.
From stories of saints
and demons to reflections
on life and death, God and
salvation: discover how
medieval literature
navigates matters of faith
and religion.
Dream visions, heroic
poetry, riddles and mystery
plays: approach medieval
 literature through the lens of
form and genre.
Renaissance 1500- Renaissance The 1. De Casibus tragedy: The 13th
Period 1660 art, painting, dominant forms of Marlowe's Tamburlaine the century Italian literary
sculpture, English literature Great - Andrew Duxfield revolution helped set
architecture, music, during the 2. Biblical tragedy: George the stage for the
and literature Renaissance were Peele's David and Bethsabe Renaissance. Prior to
produced during the the poem and the - Annaliese Connolly the Renaissance, the
14th, 15th, and 16th drama. Among the 3. Closet tragedy: Fulke Italian language was
centuries in Europe many varieties of Greville's Mustapha - Daniel not the literary
under the combined poetry one might Cadman language in Italy. It
influences of an have found in 4. Tragedy of state: was only in the 13th
increased sixteenth century Macbeth - Alisa Manninen century that Italian
awareness of nature, England were the 5. Domestic Tragedy: authors began
a revival of classical lyric, the elegy, the Yarington(?)'s Two writing in their native
learning, and a more tragedy, and the Lamentable Tragedies - Lisa vernacular language
individualistic view of pastoral. Hopkins and Gemma rather than in Latin,
man. Leggott French, or Provençal.
6. Rome and tragic The 1250s saw a
ambivalence: the case of major change in
Jonson's Sejanus - John Italian poetry as the
Curran Dolce Stil Novo
7. Satiric tragedy: The (Sweet New Style,
Revenger's Tragedy - which emphasized
Gabriel Rieger Platonic rather than
8. Revenge tragedy: courtly love) came
Hoffman - Derek Dunne into its own,
9. "Ha, O my horror!" pioneered by poets
grotesque tragedy in John like Guittone
Webster's The White Devil - d’Arezzo and Guido
Paul Frazer Guinizelli. Especially
10. She-Tragedy: lust, luxury in poetry, major
and empire in John Fletcher changes in Italian
and Philip Massinger's The literature had been
False One - Domenico taking place
Lovascio decades before the
11. Ford's Perkin Warbeck as Renaissance truly
historical tragedy - Sarah began.
Dewar-Watson
Caroline tragedy: James With the
Shirley's The Traitor - Jessica printing of books
Dyson initiated in Venice by
Aldus Manutius, an
increasing number of
works began to be
published in the
Italian language, in
addition to the flood
of Latin and Greek
texts that constituted
the mainstream of
the Italian
Renaissance. The
source for these
works expanded
beyond works of
theology and
towards the pre-
Christian eras of
Imperial Rome and
Ancient Greece. This
is not to say that no
religious works were
published in this
period; Dante
Alighieri’s The Divine
Comedy reflects a
distinctly medieval
world view.
Christianity remained
a major influence for
artists and authors,
 with the classics
coming into their own
as a second primary
influence.

At Florence the
most celebrated
Humanists wrote also
in the vulgar tongue,
and commented on
Dante and Petrarch
and defended them
from their enemies.
Leone Battista
Alberti, the learned
Greek and Latin
scholar, wrote in the
vernacular, and
Vespasiano da
Bisticci, while he was
constantly absorbed
in Greek and Latin
manuscripts, wrote
the Vite di uomini
illustri, valuable for
their historical
contents and rivaling
the best works of the
14th century in their
candor and
simplicity.
Restoration 1600- Restoration period is In many Themes in Restoration Period The Neoclassical
Period 1785 dominated by ways, the are polite society, politics, Period (1600–1785)
Christian religious Restoration was a town themes and The Neoclassical
writing, but the golden age intellectual topics of men period is also
Restoration also saw of satire. There who talk in clubs and coffee subdivided into ages,
the beginnings of were several houses. This poem describes including The
two genres that different genres in the Nonsense, Richard Restoration (1660–
would dominate which this was Flecknoe, looking for a 1700), The Augustan
later periods: fiction expressed. successor to his throne, and Age (1700–1745),
and journalism. Although the epic settling on Thomas Shadwell. and The Age of
flourished during It is heroic poem. Sensibility (1745–
the Restoration, a 1785). The
satirical version of Restoration period
the epic, the mock sees some response
epic, and other to the puritanical
types of long satires age, especially in the
in verse were also theater. Restoration
common and comedies (comedies
perhaps even more of manner)
characteristic of developed during
the period. Dryden this time under the
wrote both serious talent of playwrights
epics and satires. such as William
Samuel Butler's Congreve and John
mock Dryden. Satire, too,
epic, Hudibras, was became quite
published during popular, as
the Restoration evidenced by the
although written a success of Samuel
bit earlier. Unlike Butler. Other notable
the epic, the mock writers of the age
epic is often set in include Aphra Behn,
realistic John Bunyan, and
circumstances and John Locke.
thus makes fun of
epic ideals by The Augustan
showing how silly Age was the time of
they would appear Alexander Pope and
if applied to Jonathan Swift, who
ordinary lives. imitated those first
Augustans and even
 Another drew parallels
major genre which between themselves
fits your description and the first set. Lady
is Restoration Mary Wortley
Comedy, a Montagu, a poet,
dramatic genre was prolific at this
that uses humor to time and noted for
criticize the challenging
corruption and stereotypically
questionable female roles. Daniel
morals of the Defoe was also
aristocracy, often popular.
by contrasting
aristocratic or The Age of
literary ideals with Sensibility (sometimes
behavior actually referred to as the
motivated by lust Age of Johnson) was
and avarice. the time of Edmund
Burke, Edward
Gibbon, Hester Lynch
Thrale, James
Boswell, and, of
course, Samuel
Johnson. Ideas such
as neoclassicism, a
critical and literary
mode, and the
Enlightenment, a
particular worldview
shared by many
intellectuals, were
championed during
this age. Novelists to
explore include
Henry Fielding,
Samuel Richardson,
 Tobias Smollett, and
Laurence Sterne, a
s well as the poets
William Cowper and
Thomas Percy.
Romanticism 1785- Among the Among such Romanticism in English The Romantic Period
Period 1832 characteristic trends was a new literature began in the 1790s (1785–1832)
attitudes of appreciation of the with the publication of the The beginning
Romanticism were medieval Lyrical Ballads of William date for the
the following: a romance, from Wordsworth and Samuel Romantic period is
deepened which the Taylor Coleridge. often debated. Some
appreciation of the Romantic Wordsworth’s “Preface” to claim it is 1785,
beauties of nature; a movement derives the second edition (1800) of immediately
general exaltation of its name. The Lyrical Ballads, in which he following the Age of
emotion over reason romance was a described poetry as “the Sensibility. Others say
and of the senses tale or ballad of spontaneous overflow of it began in 1789 with
over intellect; a chivalric adventure powerful feelings,” became the start of the French
turning in upon the whose emphasis on the manifesto of the English Revolution, and still,
self and a individual heroism Romantic movement in others believe that
heightened and on the exotic poetry. William Blake was 1798, the publication
examination of and the mysterious the third principal poet of year for William
human personality was in clear the movement’s early phase Wordsworth and
and its moods and contrast to the in England. The first phase of Samuel Taylor
mental potentialities; elegant formality the Romantic movement in Coleridge’s book
a preoccupation and artificiality of Germany was marked by "Lyrical Ballads," is its
with the genius, the prevailing Classical innovations in both content true beginning. The
hero, and the forms of literature, and literary style and by a time period ends with
exceptional figure in such as the French preoccupation with the the passage of the
general, and a focus Neoclassical mystical, the subconscious, Reform Bill (which
on his passions and tragedy or the and the supernatural. A signaled the
inner struggles; a English heroic wealth of talents, including Victorian Era) and
new view of the artist couplet in poetry. Friedrich Hölderlin, the early with the death of Sir
as a supremely This new interest in Johann Wolfgang von Walter Scott.
individual creator, relatively Goethe, Jean Paul, Novalis, American literature
whose creative spirit unsophisticated Ludwig Tieck, A.W. and has its own Romantic
is more important but overtly Friedrich Schlegel, Wilhelm period, but typically
 than strict emotional literary Heinrich Wackenroder, and when one speaks of
adherence to formal expressions of the Friedrich Schelling, belong Romanticism, one is
rules and traditional past was to be a to this first phase. In referring to this great
procedures; an dominant note in Revolutionary France, the and diverse age of
emphasis upon Romanticism. vicomte de Chateaubriand British literature,
imagination as a and Mme de Staël were the perhaps the most
gateway to chief initiators of popular and well-
transcendent Romanticism, by virtue of known of all literary
experience and their influential historical and ages. This era
spiritual truth; an theoretical writings. includes the works of
obsessive interest in such juggernauts as
folk culture, national Wordsworth,
and ethnic cultural Coleridge, William
origins, and the Blake, Lord Byron,
medieval era; and a John Keats, Charles
predilection for the Lamb, Mary
exotic, the remote, Wollstonecraft, Percy
the mysterious, the Bysshe Shelley,
weird, the occult, the Thomas De Quincey,
monstrous, the Jane Austen, and
diseased, and even Mary Shelley. There is
the satanic. also a minor period,
also quite popular
(between 1786–
1800), called the
Gothic era. Writers of
note for this period
include Matthew
Lewis, Anne
Radcliffe, and William
Beckford.
Modern 1914- Prior to In order to As well as choices in The modern
Period & Post- present modernism in further remove style and form, modernist period traditionally
Modern literature, the themselves from literature is characterized by applies to works
Period majority of authors realist literature, certain themes. The genre written after the start
wrote in the third modernist writers looks at the idea of meaning of World War I.
person perspective, employed a in modern times and of a Common features
often utilizing an number of literary world without God, in include bold
omniscient narrator. devices. These addition to exploring the experimentation with
Modernist authors, included use of reality of experience and subject matter, style,
however, preferred language with critiquing culture's and form,
to write from a first multiple meanings, traditional values. These encompassing
person perspective experimentation themes are considered to narrative, verse, and
to get a more with form, nonlinear be deeply inspired by the drama. W.B. Yeats’
personal view of the narratives, ironic shock of the brutality and words, “Things fall
story and tap into the juxtapositions and bloodshed of World War I -- apart; the center
character's thoughts. deliberate and later World War II -- cannot hold” are
Many modernist obscurity of which caused these authors often referred to
novels switch meaning. These to question the very nature when describing the
between the devices have been of society and reality. Franz core tenet or
perspectives of described by some Kafka's seminal work, "The “feeling” of
various characters in as modernist Trial," critiques traditional modernist concerns.
order to get different formalism -- the values and discusses the Some of the most
view points. This also author's way of idea of reality, by presenting notable writers of this
serves as a making his work an absurd situation in which period, among
commentary of the inaccessible to an a man wakes up one day many, include the
subjective nature of average reader. and finds himself facing trial novelists James
perspective and Many saw this as for crime which no-one will Joyce, Virginia Woolf,
reality. For example, the only way to tell him about. Aldous Huxley, D.H.
in "As I Lay Dying," stop literature from Lawrence, Joseph
William Faulkner becoming insipid Conrad, Dorothy
changes and eroding into Richardson, Graham
perspective with light entertainment. Greene, E.M. Forster,
each chapter, the A good example of and Doris Lessing; the
shortest of which is modernist poets W.B. Yeats, T.S.
just five words long. formalism is James Eliot, W.H. Auden,
Joyce's "Ulysses." It Seamus Heaney,
experiments with Wilfred Owens, Dylan
form by Joyce Thomas, and Robert
weaving verse into Graves; and the
his prose and by dramatists Tom
switching into play Stoppard, George
form for over 100 Bernard Shaw,
pages part way Samuel Beckett,
through the novel. Frank McGuinness,
Even the length of Harold Pinter, and
the book, at nearly Caryl Churchill. New
700 pages, serves Criticism also
to put off the appeared at this
average reader. time, led by the likes
of Woolf, Eliot, William
Empson, and others,
which reinvigorated
literary criticism in
general. It is difficult
to say whether
modernism has
ended, though we
know that
postmodernism has
developed after and
from it; for now, the
genre remains
ongoing.
The Postmodern
Period (1945–?)
The postmodern
period begins about
the time that World
War II ended. Many
believe it is a direct
response to
modernism. Some
say the period ended
about 1990, but it is
likely too soon to
declare this period
closed.
 Poststructuralist
literary theory and
criticism developed
during this time.
Some notable writers
of the period include
Samuel Beckett,
Joseph Heller,
Anthony Burgess,
John Fowles,
Penelope M. Lively,
and Iain Banks. Many
postmodern authors
wrote during the
modern period as
well.
American Literature
Colonial 17th The Colonial and 1) travel writing, As early as 1622, Winthrop The Colonial
Period century to Early most often written had called England “this and Early National
1830
National Period (17th by the explorers sinfull land”; and, playing Period (17th century
century to 1830) The themselves to variations on the by now to 1830) The first
first European settlers describe the land, common themes of poverty European settlers of
of indigenous and unemployment, North America wrote
North America wrote peoples, and log declared that “this Land about their
about their the exploration, grows weary of her experiences starting
experiences starting starting with Inhabitants.” Now, in 1630, in the 1600s. This was
in the 1600s. This was preparations for aboard the Arbella bound the earliest American
the the journey, the for the New World, Winthrop literature: practical,
earliest American voyage, arrival and took the opportunity to straightforward, often
literature: practical, explorations in the preach a lay sermon, A derivative of
straightforward, territory and Modell of Christian Charity, literature in Great
often derivative interactions with about the good society he Britain, and focused
of literature in Great natives, and the and his fellow voyagers on the future.
Britain, and focused return to Great were about to build. As
on the future. Britain, if one was Winthrop saw it, they had an
made, enormous responsibility.
 2) historical They had entered into a
writing; historians contract with God of the
have written in same kind He had once had
every age since the with the Israelites, according
Hebrews wrote the to which He would protect
Old Testament; them if they followed His
these consist of word. Not only the eyes of
long essays or God but “the eyes of all
narratives and people are upon us,”
relate tell a non- Winthrop declared. They
fiction account of were a special few, chosen
what transpired; for an errand into the
usually written in wilderness. That made their
the third person, responsibility all the greater;
and covering the divine punishment was
significant events inevitably worse for the
of general interest, chosen people than for the
3) religious writing, unbelievers.
usually written by
clergy in the form of
journals, sermons,
or commentaries
on the Bible and
religious
experiences,
4) philosophy, a
genre that ranges
from pure
metaphysical
speculation, to
early sociology, to
transcendentalism;
written in the form
of long essays,
5) natural science
writings,
 6) newspaper,
journalism, and
political essay
writing, covering
most recent events
to essays and
pamphlets written
to persuade others
to the author's
opinion,
7) poetry,
8) drama,
9) humor,
10) fiction in the
form of short stories,
or sketches, and
novels.
Early National 1830 to As dissatisfaction The Early National Many writers were drawn to The Early National
Period 1870 with the colonial Period (1775–1828) transcendentalism, and Period (1775–1828)
system and the This era in they started to express its This era in American
relations with Britain American literature ideas through new stories, literature is
grew, the literature is responsible for poems, essays, and articles. responsible for
gradually changed notable first works, The ideas of notable first works,
its shape. The writers such as the first transcendentalism were such as the first
became more American comedy able to permeate American American comedy
politically, anti-British written for the thought and culture through written for the
and revolutionary stage—"The a prolific print culture, which stage—"The Contrast"
oriented, rationalism Contrast" by Royall allowed the wide by Royall Tyler,
and enlightenment Tyler, written in dissemination of magazines written in 1787—and
prevailed. Essays, 1787—and the first and journals. Ralph Waldo the first American
speeches and American Novel— Emerson emerged as the Novel—"The Power of
pamphlets became "The Power of leading figure of this Sympathy" by William
more important, the Sympathy" by movement. In 1836, he Hill, written in 1789.
Puritans’ religious William Hill, written published “Nature,” an
poetry fell out of in 1789. essay arguing that humans
favour7 as man was can find their true spirituality
 not considered in nature, not in the
naturally sinful any everyday bustling working
longer. world of Jacksonian
democracy and industrial
transformation. In 1841,
Emerson published his essay
“Self-Reliance,” which urges
readers to think for
themselves and reject the
mass conformity and
mediocrity taking root in
American life.
Romantic 1910 to The period of America’s The Romantic movement in Romantic poetry in
Period 1945 romanticism preoccupation America was widely popular the United States can
represented a revolt with freedom and influenced American be seen as early as
against classicism became a great writers such as James 1818 with William
and its values such as source of Fenimore Cooper and Cullen Bryant’s “To a
reason and form. The motivation for Washington Irving. Novels, Waterfowl”.
American variant of Romantic writers, short stories, and poems American Romantic
romanticism was as many were replaced the sermons and Gothic literature
different from the delighted in free manifestos of earlier days. made an early
European one to a expression and Romantic literature was appearance with
certain degree25. emotion without personal and intense; it Washington Irving’s
There was a great fear of ridicule and portrayed more emotion The Legend of Sleepy
interest in Indians controversy. They than ever seen in Hollow (1820) and Rip
and their culture. The also put more effort neoclassical literature. Van Winkle (1819),
writings were less into the followed from 1823
political and psychological onwards by the
religious, the topics development of Leatherstocking Tales
were mostly their characters, of James Fenimore
American, and the and the main Cooper. In his
writers stressed characters popular novel Last of
imagination, typically displayed the Mohicans,
nature and extremes of Cooper expressed
individualism sensitivity and romantic ideals
excitement. The about the
works of the relationship between
Romantic Era also men and nature.
differed from These works had an
preceding works in emphasis on heroic
that they spoke to simplicity and fervent
a wider audience, landscape
partly reflecting the descriptions of an
greater distribution already-exotic
of books as costs mythicized frontier
came down and peopled by “noble
literacy rose during savages”. Edgar
the period. The Allan Poe’s tales of
Romantic period the macabre and his
also saw an balladic poetry were
increase in female more influential in
authors and France than at
readers. home, but the
romantic American
novel developed fully
with the atmosphere
and melodrama of
Nathaniel
Hawthorne’s The
Scarlet Letter (1850).

Later
transcendentalist
writers such as Henry
David Thoreau and
Ralph Waldo
Emerson still show
elements of its
influence and
imagination, as does
the romantic realism
of Walt Whitman.
 Emerson, a leading
transcendentalist
writer, was highly
influenced by
romanticism,
especially after
meeting leading
figures in the
European romantic
movement in the
1830s. He is best
known for his
romantic-influenced
essays such as
“Nature” (1836) and
“Self-Reliance”
(1841). The poetry of
Emily Dickinson—
nearly unread in her
own time—and
Herman Melville’s
novel Moby-Dick can
be taken as epitomes
of American
Romantic literature.
By the 1880s,
however,
psychological and
social realism were
competing with
Romanticism in the
novel.
Realism & 1870 to Realism was a Naturalist Realism and Between 1870
Naturalism 1910 literary movement writers often Naturalism are a reaction and 1910, there were
Period that focused on focused on against Romanticism two main
ordinary characters character's unique (imagination, poetry and movements that took
 ordinary, everyday characteristics. prose, as well as the main place in American
life situations. Realist "Mary Chesnut's themes: nature, exoticism, literature: realism and
stories, like that of Civil War" shows history, and heroes naturalism. Realism
Stephen Crane, characteristics of depicted as exceptional was a literary
were written simply Naturalism individuals) because it was movement that
and told stories of because in her thought to have lost touch focused on ordinary
simple people. account of the war with the contemporary. characters ordinary,
Naturalism she describes real everyday life
was a branch of people and real situations. Naturalism
realism. Like realism, events, but also often included
it depicted real talks about praying themes of survival,
people in real to God and asking determinism, and
situations, but Him for a good violence.
naturalists also outcome.
believed in forces Though they
larger than the differ slightly,
individual like nature, Naturalism and
fate, and heredity. Realism both
depict the life and
experiences of the
common American
man. This
movement helped
Americans cope
with the realization
that their lives
would not always
be as optimistic at
the Romantics
believed it would
be.
Modernist 1910 to Since the dawn of Experimentation In Modernist literature, it was Modernism is an
Period 1945 the 20th century, with genre and the poets who took fullest artistic movement
writers were looking form was yet advantage of the new spirit that began in
for new ways of another defining of the times, and stretched Europe, eventually
writing and new characteristic of the possibilities of their craft reaching the United
topics. Their writings Modernist to lengths not previously States during a time
expressed their literature. Perhaps imagined. In general, there of change,
feelings about living the most was a disdain for most of the confusion, discovery,
in the modern age, representative literary production of the last invention and war.
some of them example of this century. The exceptions to From 1914-1945,
wrote positively, experimental this disdain were the French modernism in
some negatively. mode is T. S. Eliot’s Symbolist poets like Charles American literature
Their style became long poem The Beaudelaire, and the work reflected the unease
more complicated, Waste Land. of Irishman Gerard Manley of those grappling
experiments were Literary critics often Hopkins. The French with a changed post-
quite single out The Symbolists were admired for war world.
common. Many Waste Land as the the sophistication of their
movements definitive sample of imagery. In comparison to
appeared; together Modernist much of what was
they might be called literature. In it, one produced in England and
“modernism”. is confronted by America, the French were
biblical-sounding ahead of their time. They
verse forms, quasi- were similarly unafraid to
conversational delve into subject matter
interludes, dense that had usually been taboo
and frequent for such a refined art form.
references which Hopkins, for his part, brought
frustrate even the a fresh way to look at rhythm
most well-read and word usage. He more or
readers, and less invented his own poetic
sections that rhythms, just as he coined his
resemble prose own words for things which
more than poetry. had, for him, no suitable
At the same time, descriptor. Hopkins had no
Eliot fully displays all formal training in poetry,
the conventions and he never published in
which one expects his lifetime. This model – the
in Modernist self-taught artist-hermit who
literature. There is has no desire for public
the occupation adulation – would become
with self and synonymous with the poet in
 inwardness, the loss the modern age. This
of traditional stereotype continues
structures to unrivaled to this day, despite
buttress the ego the fact that the most
against shocking accomplished poets of the
realities, and a fluid Modern period were far
nature to truth and from recluses. Even though
knowledge. alienation was a nearly
universal experience for
Modernist poets, it was
impossible to escape some
level of engagement with
the world at large. Even if
this engagement was
mediated through the
poetry, the relationship that
poets had with their world
was very real, and very
much revealing of the state
of things in the early
twentieth century.

Reflection:

Many of the past generations witnessed the turnout of events from the time the continent was not yet independent to
the time it became a sovereign entity. There were so many battles that were fought to build this country. For instance, the
long and great Civil War in America took place from 1861-1865. Struggles took place off the battle field, as well. African
Americans and the American Indians had to fight for their rights to be recognized.

This is evident because there was no black national leader until recently when Obama was elected as the first African
American president. American minority groups were deprived of their rights until in the 1960s when there was a federal
registration enforcement of the Constitution that helped this group to have their rights protected. Many groups of Americans
are responsible for writing American literature. The literature is valuable in letting generations know about their past and what
their ancestors went through to build this great nation.
 American literature consists of many themes within a wide range of genres. The various groups that have dwelt in
American contribute highly to the rich literature that is preserved in written and oral literature. Patriotic songs have been sung
for generations and they, too, help to keep the literature of American alive and vibrant. Children sit by their grandparents’
side to listen to songs and stories about earlier America and how it evolved into make a world power. During the early of the
20th century, America became the world’s greatest power because of its entrepreneurship. In addition, there were numerous
immigrants coming to the country who provided cheap labor. Being so rich in natural resources, the country was able to
acquire an adequate amount of raw materials domestically for its industries producing many manufactured goods that were
utilized domestically as well as exported. This contributed greatly to the thriving America economy. Certainly, America has
come far during the past 250 years and will continue to thrive.

American literature is studied worldwide because America is a global power. As such, it has much influence on the
political, social and economic factors of other countries. American literature is everywhere: in books, on stage, in the movies,
in the lyrics set to music. Many of the world’s favorite authors come from America, and their written literature reflects much
about the history and culture of America. Libraries are great places to find literature by all the great American writers.

References:

Abraham Lincoln: The Gettysburg Address

Ambrose Bierce: "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge"
Beer et al. English Literature. Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. February 04, 2019 Date Retrieved: December 05, 2019.
Retrieved from: https://www.britannica.com/art/English-literature
Burgess, Adam. (2019, September 17). A Brief Overview of British Literary Periods. Retrieved from:
<https://www.thoughtco.com/british-literary-periods-739034>
Davies, H. et al. (2019). English literature. Encyclopædia Britannica. February 04, 2019 Retrieved Date: December
04, 2019. Retrieved from: https://www.britannica.com/art/English-literature.
Frederick Douglass: My Bondage and My Freedom, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
Jack London: The call of the Wild
Karkov, C. & Brown, H., (2003). Anglo-Saxon Styles. ISBN10: 0-7914-5869-5 ISBN13: 978-0-7914-5869-3
Mark Twain: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Stephen Crane: "An Episode of War", The Red Badge of Courage