IMPORTANT NOTES FOR QUICK REVISION
PERIODS OF ENGLISH LITERATURE
450-1066 Old English (or Anglo- Saxon) Period
1066-1558 Middle English Period
1558-1660 The Renaissance
1558-1603 Elizabethan Age
1603-1625 Jacobean Age
1625-1649 Caroline Age
1649-1660 Commonwealth andProtectorate Period
1660-1800 Neo-classical Period
1660-1700 The Restoration Age
1700-1745 The Augustan Age or The Age of Pope
1745-1798 Age of Sensibility or The Age of Johnson
1798-1832 Period of the Romantic Revival
1832-1901 Victorian Age
1901-1918 Edwardian Age
1901-1945 Modern Age
1945- The Post modern Age
AGE OF CHAUCER (1340-1400)
POETRY
Geoffrey Chaucer (1340-1400)
The Romaunt of the Rose (1360-65?);
The Book of the Duchesse (1369);
The Parlement of Foules; Troilus and Criseyde (1379-83);
The House of Fame (1383-84);
The legend of Good Women (1385-86);
The Canterbury Tales (1386 onward).
William Langland (1330-1386)
The Vision of william Concerning Piers the Plowman (136290).
John Gover (?1330-84)
Speculum Meditantis (1378?),
Vox Clamantis (1382),
Confessio Amantis (1390)
John Barbour (1320-95)
Bruce (1375).
PROSE
Sir John Mandeville (died 1372)
Mandeville’s Travels (1356).
John Wycliffe (1320-84)
Wycliffe’s Bible (1380).
Sir Thomats Malory (died 1471)
Le Morte D’ Arthur (1469).
FROM CHAUCER TO ‘TOTTLE’S MISCELLANY’(1400-1557)
POETRY
Geoffrey Chaucer(1340-1400)
The Tale of Melibeus, The Parson’s Tale.
James I (1394-1437)
The King’s Quair (1423-1424).
Sir David Lyndsay (1458-1555)
The Dreme (1528),
The History of Squyer Meldrum (1549),
The Testment and Compleynt of the Papyngo, (1530),
Satyreof the Thire Estaitis (1540).
Robert Henryson (1430-1506)
Lament for the Makaris (1508),
The Testament of cresseid (1593),
Orpheus and Eurydice; Robene and Makyne; Garmond Qf Gude Ladies.
William Dunbar (?1456-?1513)
The Goldyn Targe (1503),
The Dance of the Sevin Deidlie Synnis (1503-1508),
Tua Mariit Women and the Wedo (1508),
Lament for the Makaris (1508).
Gawin Douglas (?1474-1552)
The Palice of Honour (1501), published (1533),
King Hart(first printed 1786).
John Skelton (?1460-1529)
Garlande of laurell (printed 1523),
Dirge on Edward Iv, The Bowge of Court (1499).
John Lydgate (1370-1451)
‘Iroy Book (1412-1420),
The Falls of Princes (1430-1438),
The Temple of Glass; The Story of Thebes (1420),
London Lick penny.
Thomas Occleve (1368?-1450?)
The Regement of Princes (1411-12),
La Male Regle (1406);
The Complaint of Our Lady, Occleve’s Complaint.
Stephen Hawes (?1474-1530)
The Passtyme of Pleasure (1509),
The Example of Virtue (1512),
The Conversion of Swerers; A Joyfull Medytacyon.
Alexander Barclay (?1475-1552)
Ship of Fools (1509), Certayne Ecloges (1515).
PROSE
Reginald Pecock (?1390-?1461)
The Book of Faith (1456).
Willism Caxton (?1422-91)
Recuyell of the Historie of Troye(1471), (?1422-91)
Game and Playe of the the chesse (1475),
The Dictes and Sayengis of the Philosphers (1477).
John Fisher (1459-1535)
Tracts and sermons; The Ways to Perfect Religion.
Hugh Latimer (?1485-1555)
Sermons (1562).
Sir Thomas More (1478-1535)
Utopia (1516);
The Lyfe of John Picus (1510),
The Historie of Richard III (1543).
Sir Thomas Elyot (?1478-1535)
The Boke named the Governour (1531),
The Doctrine ofPrinces (1534)
John Capgrave (1393-1464)
The Chronicle of English History extending to A. D. 1417.
Sir John Fortescue (?1394-?1476)
On the Govenance of England, A Delcaration upon Certain Wrytinges (1471-73).
DRAMA
John Heywood (?1494-?1580)
The Four p’s (?1545),
Play of the Wether (1533),
A Play ofLove (1433).
Thomas Norton (1532-84) and T. Sackville (1536-1608)
Gorboduc (1561).
Thomas Preston (1536-1608)
A Lamentable Tragedy mixed full of Mirth Containing the life of Cambyses, King of Percia
(1569).
WIlliam Stevenson
Gammer Gurton’s Needle (1562).
Nicholas Udall (1505-56)
Ralph Roister Doister (written 1553, published 1567)
THE ELIZABETHAN AGE (1558-1603)
THE JACOBEANAGE (1603-1625)
THE AGE OF SHAKESPEARE (1558-1625)
POETRY
George Gascoigne (?1525-77)
Jocasta Jocasta (1566), Supposes (1566).
Edmund Spenser (1552-99)
The Shepherds Calendar (1579),
Mother Hubberd’s Tale (1591),
The Ruins of Rome (1591),
Amoretti (1595);
Epithalamion; Colin Clout Comes Home Again (1595),
FourHymns (1596),
Prothalamion (1596),
The Faerie Queene (Book I-III, 1589, IV, 1596).
John Donne (1573-1631)
Satires (1590-1601),
The Songs and Sonnets (1590-1601),
The Elegies (1590-1601),
Of the Progress of the Soule (1601)
Holy Sonnets (1617).
Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503-42)
In Tottel’s Miscellany (1557),
Included in Songs and Sonnetts (1557) ed. Tottel.
Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey (1517-47)
Certain Bokes of Virgiles Aeneis turned into English Meter (1557) his poems; in Tottle’s
Miscellany (1557).
Thomas Sackville (1536-1608)
The Induction (1563),
The Complayment of Henry, Dukeof Buckingham, (1563).
George Gascoigne (1534-77) The Steele Glas, A Satyre (1576) Sir
Philip Sidney (1554-86) Astrophel and Stella (1591).
Michael Drayton (1563-1631)
The Harmonie of the Church (1591),
Englnad’s Heroicall Epistles (1597),
The Baron’s Wars (1603),
Polyolbion (1622),
Nymphida (1627).
Thomas Campion (1567-1620)
A Book of Ayreas (1601),
Songs of Mourning (1613),
Two Books of Ayres (1612).
Phineas Fletcher (11582-1650)
The Purple Island, of The Isle of Man (1633).
Giles Fletcher (11588-1623) Chirst’s Victorie and Triumph (1610).
Samuel Daniel (1562-1619)
Delia (1592),
The Complaynt of Rosamond (1592),
The CivilWars (1595).
William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
The Rape of Lucrece (1594),
Venus and Adonis (1593).
ACollection of Sonnets, (1609),
The Passionate Pilgrim (1599).
DRAMA
George Peele (1558-98)
The Araygnement of Paris (1584),
The Famous Chronicle of King Edward the first (1593),
The Old Wives’ Tale (159194).
The Love of King David and Fair Bathsabe (1599).
Robert Greene (1558-92)
Alphonsus, King of Aragon (1587),
Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay (1589),
Orlando Furioso (1591),
The Scottish Historie of James of Fourth (1592).
Thomas Nashe (1567-1611)
Summer’s Last Will and Testament (1592).
John Lyly (11554-1606)
Alexander and Campasye (1584);
Endymission (1591),
Midas (1592),
The Woman in the Moon (1597)
Thomas Lodge (1558-1625)
Henry VI (1591-92),
The Woundes of Cicil War, Rosalynde, Euphues Golden Legcie (A Romance) (1590),
Scillaes Metamorphosis (1589).
Thomas Kyd (1558-94)
The Spanish Tragedy (1585),
Cornelia (1593),
Soliman and Perseda (1588),
First Part of Jernimo (1592).
Christopher Marlowe (1564-93)
Tamberlaine the Great (1587),
The Second Part of Tamberlaine the Great (1588),
Edward II (1591),
The Jew ofMalta (1589),
Docator Faustus (1592),
The Tragedy of Dido,Qween of Carthage (1593).
The Massacre of Paris (1593).
William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
1. Henry VI (1591-92)
2. Henry VI (1591-92),
3. Henry VI (1591-92),
Richard III (1593),
The Comedy of Errors (1593),
Titus Andronicus (1594),
The Taming of The Shrew (1594),
Love’s Labour’s Lost (1594),
Romeo and Juliet (1594),
AMidsummer Night’s Dream (1595),
The Two Gentlemen ofVerona (1595),
King John (1595),
Richard II (1596)
The Merchant of Venice (1596),
Henry IV (1598),
Much Ado About Nothing(1598),
Henry V (1599),
Julius Caesar (1599),
The Merry Wives of Winsor (1600),
As you Like It (1600),
Hamlet (1601),
Twelfth Night (1601),
Troilus and Cressida (1602),
All’s Well that Ends well (1602),
Measure for Measure (1604),
Othello (1604),
Macbeth (1605),
King Lear (1605),
Antonyand Cleopatra (1606),
Coriolanus Timon of Athens (1607),
Pericles (1608),
Cymbeline (1609),
The Winter’s Tale (1610),
The Tempest (1611),
Henry VIII (in part) (1613).
Ben Jonson (1572/3-1637)
Every Man in his Humour (1598),
Every Man out of his Humour (1599),
The Alchemist (1610),
The Silent Woman(1609),
Volpone (1605),
Cynthia’s Revels (1600),
The Poestaster (1601),
Bartholomew Fayre (1614),
The Dvil is and Ass (1600),
The Staple of News (1625),
Sejanus his Fall (1603),
Catiline his Conspiracy (1611),
MasquesThe Masque of Beauty (1608),
The Mosque of Queen (1609), Oberon, The Fairy prince (1611).
Francis Beaumont (1584-1616) and John Fletcher(1579-1625)
A King and No King (1611).
The knight of the Burning Pestle (1607),
The Scornful Lady (1613-16);
The Maid’s Tragedy(16iO),
Philaster (1611),
The Faithful Shepherdess (By Fletcher alone 1610).
George Chapman (71559-1634)
The Blind Beggar of Alxandria (1598),
Bussyd’ Ambois (1604);
Charles, Duke of Byron (1608),
The Tragedia of Chabot (1613);
All Fools (1605); Eastward hoe (1605).
John Marston (1575-1634)
Antonio and Mellida (1599);
Antonio’s Revenge (1602).
Thomas Dekker (1572-1632)
Old Fortunatus (1599);
The Shoemaker’s Holiday (1599); Satiromastix (1602).
Thomas Middleton (1570-1650)
The changeling (1624);
Women Beware Women (1622);
TheWitch (1623); The Spanish Gipsy (1623).
Thomas Heywood (1575-1650)
A Woman Killed with Kindness (1603);
The English Traveller (1633),
The Captives The Royal King and the Loyal Subject (1602),
King Edward the Fourth (1594-97),
The Captives (1624).
John Webster (1578-1632)
The White Devil (1608),
The Duchess of Malfi (1614),
The Devil’s Law Case (1623).
Cyril Tourner (71575-1626)
The Revenger’s Tragedy (1600),
The Atheist’s Tragedy (1611).
PROSE
In the reign of king James I (1566-1625)
King James’s Bible or The Authorised Version (1611).
John Donne (1573-1631)
The Pseudo-Martyr (1610),
Ignatius His Conclave (1611),
Devotions (1614), Death’s Duell (1630),
Ben Jonson (1572/3-1631)
The Timber, or Discoveries (criticism) (1641).
Samuel Daniel (1562-1619)
A Defence of Rhyeme (1602?).
Thomas Nashe (1567-1601)
The Unfortunate Traveller (romance) (1594).
Stephen Gosson (1554-1624)
The School of Abuse (1579).
Jon Lyly (?1554-1606)
Eupheus, the Anatomy of Wit (1579).
(romance), Euphuesand His English (1580) (romance).
Richard Puttenham (1520?-16017?)
The Art of English Poesy (1589).
Francis Bacon (1561-1626)
Essays (1597), (1612), (1625);
The Advancement of Learning(1604);
The History of Henry VII (1622);
Apophthegms (1625);
The New Atlantis (1626).
Roger Ascham (1515-68
Toxophilus (1545);
The Schoolmaster (1570).
Richard Hooker (1554-1600)
Richard Hooker Of the Laws of Ecclesiastocal Polity (1594).
Sir Thomas Overbury (1581-1631)
Characters (1614).
Robert Burton (1577-1640)
The Anatomy of Melancholy (1612).
James Ussher (1581-1656)
Chronologia Sacra.
Joseph Hall (1574-1656)
Virgidemiarum, Sex Libri (1597 and 98).
John Milton (1608-74)
Ode on the Morning of Christ’s Nativity (1629),
On Arriving at the age twenty-three (1631),
L’Allegro and II Penseroso (1632).
Comus (1634),
Lycidas (1637),
Paradise Lost (1667),
Paradise Regained (1671).
George Herbert (1593-1633)
The Temple (1633).
Richard Crashaw (1612/13-49)
Steps to the Temple (1646),
Carmen Deo Nostro (1652).
Henry Vaughan (1621-95)
Poems (1646),
Olor Iscanus (1651),
Silex Scintillans (1650),
Thalia Rediviva (1678).
Thomas Carew (1594/5-1640)
Poems (1640),
A Repture, The Second Rapture, The Compliment.
Abraham Cowley (1618-67)
Poetical Blossomes (1633),
The Davideis (1656),
The Mistress (1647),
Pindarique Odes Included in ‘Miscellanies’(1656).
Andrew Marvell (1621-78)
The Garden, The Burmudas, Horatian Ode upon Cromwell’s Return from Ireland, to his Coy
Mistress etc.
Rebert Herrick (1591-1674)
Noble Numbers (1647),
Hesperides (1649).
Richard Lovelace (1618-58)
Lucasta (1449).
Sir John Suckling (1609-42)
Sessions of the Poets (1637),
Ballad upon a Wedding (1646).
Sir John Denham (1615-69)
Cooper’s Hill (1642).
DRAMA
Philip Massinger (1583-1640)
The Duke of Milaine (1623),
The City Madam (1632),
A NewWay to Pay Old Debts (1633),
The Unnatural Combat (1639).
John Ford (1586-11639)
The Broken Heart (1633),
Parkin Warbeck (1634),
The Witchof Edmontion (1621),
The Lover’s Melancholy (1628),
Love’sSacrifice (1633),
The Fancies, Chaste and Noble (638),
Tis a Pity She is a Whore (1633).
John Milton (1608-74)
Samson Agonistes (1671).
PROSE
Sir Thomas Browne (1605-82)
Religio Medici (written 1635), Published 1642),
PseudodoxiaEpidemica of Vulgar Errors (1646),
Hydriotaphia; Urne Burriall (1658),
The Garden of Cyrus (1658),
Christian’ Morals(published 1716).
Edward Hyde (1609-74)
The History of the Rebellian and Civil Wars in England (began in 1646, published in 1704).
Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679)
Leviathan (1651).
Jeremy Taylor (1613-67)
The Liberty of prophesying (1647),
Holy Living (1650),
HolyDying (1651).
Thomas Fuller (1608-61)
The History of the Holy War (1639),
The Church History of Britain. (1655),
The Worthies of England (1662).
Richard Baxter (1615-91)
The Saints’ Everlasting Rest (1649)
Izaac Walton (1593-1683)
The Compleat Angler (1653).
John Milton (1608-74)
Of Education (1644—,) Areopagitic (1644), History of Britain.
Abraham Coweley (1618-67)
Pyramus and Thisbe (1628), (romance).
Andrew Marvell (1621-78)
The Rehearsal Tranpro’d (1672, part II 1673).
