Overview
This lecture provides an overview of major English literary periods, highlighting shifts between reason and emotion and explaining their key characteristics and influence on contemporary literature.
Major Influences on Literary Periods
- Two main forces shape literary theory: reason/logic/science vs. nature/beauty/emotion/subjectivity.
- Periods tend to emphasize one force but can include elements of both.
Classical Period (to ~500 AD)
- Early literary texts include the Epic of Gilgamesh (c. 2000 BC) and Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey.
- Focus on myths, heroes, gods, oral traditions, and foundational religious texts (Bible, Torah, Bhagavad Gita).
- 500-year "gap" after Classical era due to low literacy and fewer preserved writings.
Medieval Period (c. 500–1500)
- Writing mostly in Latin by priests and monks, centered around Christian morality and chivalry.
- Emergence of Old and Middle English (e.g. Beowulf), romantic and allegorical texts (e.g. Dante’s Divine Comedy).
- Rise of metanarratives like The Decameron and The Canterbury Tales.
Renaissance Period (c. 1550 onwards)
- Initiated by the printing press and Reformation, encouraging literature in local languages.
- Revival of Classical ideals and Aristotle’s unities (time, place, action).
- Explosion of drama (Shakespeare, Marlowe), metaphysical poetry, and the modern novel (Don Quixote).
Neoclassicism & Enlightenment (mid-1600s–late 1700s)
- Focus on scientific discovery, reason, order, and structured writing.
- Age of Enlightenment/societal academies; literature seeks natural order for spiritual and intellectual solace.
- Period of exploration and rationalism, influenced by thinkers like Descartes and Newton.
Romanticism (late 1700s–mid 1800s)
- Emphasizes emotion, nature’s mystery, individual imagination, and the sublime.
- Reacts against Enlightenment rationalism, focusing on personal experience and mortality.
- Rise of gothic and supernatural literature (Frankenstein, Dracula).
Victorian Era (1837–1901)
- Explores the effects of industrialization, urbanization, and the tension between public respectability and private emotion.
- Focus on working-class life (Dickens) and the struggle between societal façades and true self.
Modernism (late 1800s–1945)
- Rejects traditions, experiments with new forms, and examines psychological depth (Freud).
- Reacts to World War I with themes of nihilism and disillusionment.
- Literature and art break with realism, seek new ways of representing reality.
Postmodernism (1945–late 20th century)
- Skepticism toward grand narratives, no single truth, fragmented storytelling.
- Use of parody, pastiche, unreliable narrators, and metafiction.
- Questions moral binaries after WWII atrocities and nuclear bombings.
"Post-Postmodernism" (Late 20th century–Present)
- No clear label; increased nationalism, fear, and confusion post-2001.
- Hard to identify defining texts or dominant ideas of the current era.
Key Terms & Definitions
- Classical Period — Era of ancient myths, epics, and foundational religious texts.
- Medieval Period — Middle Ages; dominated by religious and chivalric literature.
- Renaissance — "Rebirth" of classical ideas, increased vernacular writing, and new literary forms.
- Neoclassicism/Enlightenment — Emphasis on reason, science, and order in literature.
- Romanticism — Focus on emotion, individual experience, and the sublime in nature.
- Victorian Era — Literature grapples with industrialization, social norms, and inner conflict.
- Modernism — Break with tradition, experimentation, psychological exploration.
- Postmodernism — Rejection of meta-narratives, fragmented and self-aware literary forms.
Action Items / Next Steps
- Review seminal texts from each literary period for deeper understanding.
- Practice identifying which period a given text belongs to by its themes and style.