History of English literature.

 History of English Literature. 

Before knowing the history of English Literature we should know first what is literature. In a simple word literature is a mirror of society. But if you want to know the perfect definition then ; literature is writing which expresses and communicates thoughts, feelings and attitude towards life. 

The  word literature comes from the Latin word ‘litaritura’ meaning “writing organized with letters”. We can classify different literature with the language, origin, historical period, genre, and subject matter.  

If we talk about the history of English literature we should know that it's divided into Seven parts. We can identify them with the writing style of its author. Also as I have mentioned, literature is a mirror of society. We can know about that particular society and its background with the help of the work created during that time.  The  period in which history of English Literature is divided are below;

1. The Elizabethen age/ the age of Drama/ Age of Shakespear.

2. Puritan Age

3. Restoration Age

4. 18th century literature / Age of classic 

5. Romantic  Age

6. Victorian literature 

7. 20th century literature

All these periods have their own characteristics and background which we will discuss further. But before that we should know the time before the Elizabenthen age. Which was the old english period or anglo saxon period. 

The Old English period/ Anglo Saxon period:

During that time there was a Germanic tribe. The national language was Latin.  Literature was mostly in Oral form. The Beowulf, our first poetry, was published during that time. It began with the prologue.

Concerning the history of Beowulf a whole library has been written and scholars still differ too radically for us to express a positive judgment. 

The rhythm of Beowulf and indeed of all our earliest poetry depends upon accent and alliteration; that is the beginning of two or more words in the same line with the same sound or letters.

The poem Widsith is probably the oldest in our language. The author and the date of its composition are still unknown. 

 Middle English period/ Anglo Norman period:

 There was a lot of change in life, language and literature. During this time French dialects were added to English. Which leads to change in the language. Which changes in modern English. 

During this time literature was focused on homiletic, secularism and religion. 

Age of chaucer:

Time period of this age is 1300 to 1400. Feudalism was over  during this period. 

There were five important writers.

1. Chaucer. 

2. Langland. 

3. Eycliff.

4. Mandeville.

5. Grover. 

The most famous poem of this time is Canterbury tales. Because of this poem Chaucer is known as a modern poet storyteller. It is a journey from London to Canterbury. 

We can see in this all the pilgrims members have to tell 2 stories. All stories are poetic forms of verse. His plan was to write 128 stories but he had written 24 stories. 

Most famous among them are tales of mallibers and tales of persons. There are 17000 lines in the whole Canterbury tale. 

So these poems are the basis of English literature. After this literature started taking place in different forms and in a more organized manner.