To find out how many parts a literature has is the main point of beginning to study. In general division, English Literature has ten parts, Old English, Medieval English, Renaissance and Reformation, Restoration Literature, 18th century, Romantic literature, Victorian Literature, and modernism, but recent epoch postmodernism joined to the literature. Letโs give a little briefing about Eras of English Literature
Old English Literature; this period continues from 450 AD to 1066 Norman Conquest and among these periods, both written and oral works emerged, and there are also poetic and prose narratives.
Medieval English Literature; The local language used as a spoken and written language in England during the period of about 1100-1500 and also it is the ancestor of the Old period. With the help of Geoffrey Chaucer, Old English become much modern.
Renaissance and Reformation Literature; it also called Elizabethan period is the golden age of English drama, where Christopher Marlowe, William Shakespeare, and Ben Johnson have joined to literature world and also the most productive ages of playwrights.
Restoration period from 1660 to 1700 began when Charles II returned to England as king. The classical tendencies of the most famous literary man of the age, John Dryden (1631-1700), led the new classicism to spread back to England after France.
The 18th century is a period with a different place, especially in English Literature. It is a period of time in which techniques used in different literary genres and going back to the classical periods are revived. In other words, a similarity between the 18th century and the Classical Age was attempted to be established in this period.
Romantic literature; all rules concerning the style and the essence of classical literature have been rejected. The mind, the logic and the common sense have taken place, individual feelings, dreams, and excitement. They described the outside world as colorful, exaggerated descriptions of nature, and considered nature as a source of inspiration for the artist.
Victorian literature, it is a period when people are two-faced to look respectable and carries many politics features in the literary works.
Modernism; the age called modernism for English literature has emerged from an awakening movement against the deficiency of the Victorian contemporary literature.