English Literature has a history, which dates back to the 14th-15th Century. It is as old as any subject of education that
is studied. In this article I mention the various Ages of Literature till Contemporary Literature. The various ages are as follows:
1. 14th-15th Century or The Middle Ages – It is also called the “Age of Chaucer”. It was an age of transition i.e. a shift from medieval to the modern times. There was the emergence of English nation from the ‘damages’ to the Age of Enlightenment. Though some elements associated with modernity were coming into prominence yet essentially the age was medieval reflected in an unscientific, superstitious, religious, and chivalrous and backwards minds in most respects. It slowly moved towards the dawn of Renaissance. During this age the Church was deeply rooted with corruption. Chaucer says, “If Gold rusts what shall Iron do”.
2. 16th Century or The Age of Renaissance – This age is also called ‘The Elizabethan Age’. It marks the re-awakening of learning of Greek Literature. The writers of this age were Faustus, Shakespeare, Spencer and Sydney. The Sonnets of English Literature were mainly of the Elizabethan Age.
3. 17th Century or The Age of Restoration – It had Jacobean Drama, which unlike the Elizabethan drama was truly national as the Queen, Nobles and Courtiers patronized it alike. Only the courtly classes and the socially irresponsible parts of the population patronized the Jacobian drama. The stage spoke not to all men, but to men with somewhat specialized interest. The Age reflected a spirit of Negation, Disillusion, despair and spiritual non-confidence.
4. 18th Century or The Age of Prose and Reason – This Century had Addison as a swift satirist. There was development of periodicals. The period saw the rise of novels and decline of drama because novels gave more freedom to the writers then drama.
5.
Romantic Age (1789-1832 A.D.) – The Romantic Age came as a reaction against the Age of Reason. It was opposing the literary tradition and the social authenticity of the 18th Century. The romantics rebelled against the curbing influence of reason, which could variously manifest itself as good sense, intellectual or just dry logic chopping. Most of the romantic poets believed in a kind of transcendentalism (related to Nature), intuition, and mysticism and not in the dictum that
poetry is an intellectual exercise whose worth are entirely dependant on effective expression. Poetry for them was something innate and spiritual. They also revolted against the neo-classical exultation of wit. They revolted against the traditional poetic measures and dictions.
To express their fervent passions they sought a subtler and a lyrical form than that of the Pope, a language less dulled by Conventional meters unlike prevailing couplets. The French Revolution influenced most of the romantic writers. The main writers were P.B. Shelly, Lord Byron, Keats and William Wordsworth.
6. Victorian Age (1832-1901 A.D.) – It was the Age of Changes in all walks of life as social, economic, political, religious and scientific. This age reasserted those very principles that romanticism had rejected. Matthew Arnold, Ruskin and Charles Dickens were some of the writers of the Age. Their works were subjective in nature. The escapism, subjectivity, vision and the idealism of the romantics was missing in their works. The poets were more preoccupied with truth, philosophy and psychology.
7. 20th Century or The Modern Poetry – A lot of experimentation and innovation took place. The poets broke away from the traditions completely as they felt that poetry should change with time. T.S. Elliot, Y.B. Yeats, Ezra Pound and W.H. Auden were a few essayists of the period.
I discuss the Contemporary Age in my next article.
(to be continued…..)