The Simplest Guide to the History of English Literature

The history of English literature refers to periods that have distinct characteristics and they bear specific ideas and notions of social, political, economic, religious, and other aspects of human lives. There are basically eight major periods in the history of English literature; however, there are variations historian to historian. Let’s see the list first:

1. Old English period: 450 to 1066 CE.
2. Middle English period: 1066 to 1500 CE.
3. Renaissance: 1500 to 1660 CE.
4. Neoclassical age: 1660 to 1785.
5. Romantic period: 1798 to 1832.
6. Victorian period: 1832 to 1901.
7. Modern period: 1901 to 1939.
8. Postmodern period: continues from 1939 to this day. It’s a continuous age and no historian has marked the end of it.