Early Periods of Literature

1. Early Periods of Literature • The Classical Period (1200 BCE- 455 CE) • The Medieval Period (455 CE- 1485 CE) • The Renaissance and Reformation (c. 1485-1660 CE)

2. Later Periods of Literature • The Enlightenment (Neoclassical) Period (c. 1660-1790) • Romantic Period (c. 1790-1830) • Victorian Period and the 19th Century (c. 1832-1901) • Modern Period (c. 1914-1945) • Post-Modern Period (c. 1945- Present?)

3. The Enlightenment (Neoclassical)c. 1660-1790 Neoclassical refers to the increased influence of Classical literature upon these centuries. Called the “Enlightenment” due to the increased reverence for logic and disdain for superstition. Marked by the rise of Deism, intellectual backlash against Puritanism.

4. The Enlightenment (Neoclassical)c. 1660-1790 • English literature is dominated by French and Classical influences. • A reverence for, and imitation of Virgil and Horace’s literature. • Begins to move toward Romanticism.

5. The Enlightenment (Neoclassical)c. 1660-1790 English writers include: John Dryden, John Locke, Addison, Steele, Swift, Alexander Pope, Robert Burns, Thomas Gray, and Crabbe. Other European writers are represented by Jean Racine, Moliere, and Voltaire. Later in the period, colonial and revolutionary writers like Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and Thomas Paine emerge.

6. Romantic Periodc. 1790-1830 Romantic poets were drawn to the natural world Wrote about nature, imagination, and individuality in England. Romantics include Coleridge, Blake, Keats, Shelley, and Goethe.

7. Romantic Periodc. 1790-1830 In America, this period is mirrored in the Transcendental Period from about 1830-1850. Writers include Emerson and Thoreau. Gothic writings (c. 1790-1890) overlap the Romantic and Victorian periods. In Europe, writers include Radcliffe, Monk Lewis, and Bram Stoker. In America, Gothic writers include Poe and Hawthorne.

8. The Enlightenment in Europe1660-1770 12th Grade English Mr. Delhagen

9. Emphasis • Emphasized the powers of the mind • Turned to the Roman past for models (also called Neo-Classical) • Tension arose between reason and passion(towards reason) • Questioning authority and social constraints

10. Class & Society • Rigid class system • Social order began to face change • New commerce created new wealth • Monarchs were less secure in their positions • Divisions within nations assumed greater importance than between nations

11. Religion • Protestant and Catholic tensions eased • Religious differences became translated into divisions of social class and political conviction

12. Philosophy • Philosophers explored the possibilities and limitations of human nature within the natural world • Nature = the inherent order of things OR human nature • Thinkers emphasized common aspects of humanity over cultural differences (fear, pain, hope, lust, envy, etc.)

13. Literature • Existed to delight and instruct • Stage comedy and tragedy, early novel, satire, didactic poetry, philosophic tales • Stray from realism (attempt to adhere to unity of time, place, etc.) • Obvious forms of artifice (pretense, artfulness, trickery) by writers such as Pope and Voltaire

14. Literature • Satire- criticism of vice and folly • Usage suggests conflict between reason and passion, stability and instability • Expression of opposition