Periods Of English Literature: The common historical eras scholars use to divide literature into comprehensible sections through periodization. Dividing literature into these sometimes arbitrary periods allows us to better compare and contrast the writing, poetry, and drama produced in different ages, to more easily trace chains of influence from one writer to another, and to appreciate more readily the connection between historical events and intellectual trends. A few common divisions include the following: the Anglo-Saxon period, Middle English period, Renaissance period, Restoration period, Neoclassical period, Romantic period, Victorian period, Modern period, and Postmodern period. No universally accepted scheme exists for the divisions. For instance, some editors or anthologists might lump both the Anglo-Saxon and Middle English periods together as the Medieval period. Another might subdivide the Renaissance into the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods, and so on.

 

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