A. Old English Literature
It was started from Old English Tribes: Briton and Celts until Norman Invation in 1066, the principle work written in Old English is Beowulf, an epic was happened in Denmark, which was terrifying monster who killed and ate up all the noblemen of Dennish Kingdom and the mother monster came to help her son but she also killed by Beowulf.
B. Middle English Literature
In 1066, Norman Conquest until death of chaucer in 1400. The different from The Old English Literature is understandable by the English people at the period today, the writters from this period were among others: Geoffry Chaucer(1340-1400)his book was "The Counterburry Tale". The story is about the miracle of the Cristian Teaching so the stories were called "Miracles and Moralities".
C. Elizabethen Period or Renaissance
Queen Elizabeth I liked literature, she welcomed the writers and even encouraged them to write and to translate any literary works from Italy, France and from other European countries. Other writers of this period were:
- Edmund Spencer The Shepherd's Calender and The Fairy Queen
- Ben Johnson Hym to Diana
- Christoper Marlowe The Last Moment of Dr. Faustus
- John Milton Paradise Lost
a. Comedy Meery Wife of Windor
Two Gentlemen of Verona
Twelfth Night
A Midsummer Night's Dream
The Merchant of Vennice; The Winter's Tale, etc.
b. Tragedy Romeo and Juliet
Macbeth
Hamlet; The Moor of Venice
Julius Caesar
Anthony and Cleopatra; etc.
c. Historical Drama
A number of stories concerning the lives of the English Kings, among others and the last is King Henry VIII, the father of the Queen Elizabeth, William Shakespeare also write many poems.
D. The Classical Period
The restoration of Charles II (from the Stuart Dynasty) to the English throne in 1660 was the beginning of a new period. Before Charles II came to the throne, England was ruled by Oliver Cromwell. Cromwell stopped all theatres, which automatically affected to the English literature.
In this period the writers restored the English Literature. They looked back to the very source of literature from which the previous writers were influenced, they emphasized on the Classical Style and Form. This changes applied all banches of literature, Poetry, Drama, and Novel.
Writer from this period were among others:
- John Dryden (1631-1700) Alexander's Feast, Annus Mirrabilis; Absalom and Achitopel, an allegorical satire in which he attacks the enemies of Charles II
- Daniel Defoc Robinson Crusoe
- Alexander Pope (1688-1744) Ode on Salitude
- Jonathan Swift Gulliver's Travels
- Henry Fielding Pamela
- Tobias Smallett Roderick Random
- Laurence Sterns Tristram Shandy; A Sentimental Journey
- Richard Brinsley Sheriden School for Scandal