Literary Time Periods of the United States

Causes of the English Renaissance

Increased interaction, rediscovery of ancient texts, and innovations

Characteristics of the English Renaissance

Humanism, religion, playful and creative language, courtly love, and allegories

Causes of Restoration

Restoration, better living, ideological switch, characteristics, and literary focus

Characteristics of Restoration

Importance of human reason, emphasis on classical Greek and Roman literature, poetry, prose, studied nature by studying ancients, and the unchanging rules of nature

Causes of British Romanticism

Reaction to the industrial revolution, French Revolution, six poets are the founding fathers, and nature

Characteristics of British Romanticism

Emotion, solitary life, love of nature, individualism

Causes of Regency

King Charles III, Napoleonic War, how aristocrats were supposed to act, and Beau Brummell’s eccentric fashion style

Characteristics of Regency

Society, language, elegance

Causes of Victorianism

Industrial Revolution, rural and agricultural society, technologies, writing influences, and crisis of faith

Characteristics of Victoriansim

Poetry, dramatic monologue, children’s literature, social realism, satirical realism, and physiological realism

Causes of British Modernism

Death of Queen Victoria, World War I, urbanization, and growth of industry/capitalism

Characteristics of British Modernism

Individualism, fragmentation, free-verse, experimentation, and imaginism

Causes of British Postmodernism

World War II, Britain withdrawing from India, a new form of cultural production, architecture, and Cold War

Characteristics of British Postmodernism

Absurdity, experimentation, individualism, formalism, and symbolism

Causes of American Romanticism

Enlightenment, spirituality, expansion, and industrialization

Characteristics of American Romance

Idealization of women, emphasis on nature, emotion over reason, exploration of gothic and unknown, and imagination and escapism

Causes of American Realism

Industrial revolution, Civil War, social reform movements, the decline of romanticism, growth of journalism and photography, and the changing role of women

Characteristics of American Realism

Everyday life, colloquial language, social issues, values, expression

Causes of American Modernism

Industrialization and urbanization, World War I, European modernist movements, the Harlem Renaissance, and philosophy and psychology

Characteristics of American Modernism

Individualism, experimentation, disillusionment, stream of consciousness, and urbanization and industrialization

Causes of American Postmodernism

Reaction to modernism, reaction to WWII, conflict, the Cold War, Civil Rights movements, and the ride of feminism

Characteristics of American Postmodernism

Embrace of randomness, playfulness, fragmentation, metafiction, and intertextuality