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Literary Periods, Movements, and History

Literature History

Henry Augustin Beers was a literature historian and professor at Yale who lived at the turn of the 19th century. He wrote intensely detailed histories of American and English literature, covering the periods up until what were his modern times. We have collected those works below.

English Literature History


American Literature History

Literary Period Introductions

Tracing the evolution of literature through time scholars often group works from a certain timeframe together and label it as a period or movement. This section of The Literature Network aims to disect these movements for the better understanding of you, the reader. The movements or periods listed here where not mutually exclusive in their timeframes, they overlap, liberally. In some cases a single author can even be claimed by more than one movement. Classifing art, an art in itself, often ends up more fluid like this. Each introduction (listed below) includes a broad overview of the movement or period, examples of key works, and a list of major authors.

See also our Literary Periods Timeline for a visual reference of the evolution of literature.