English Learning Community and Resources

This article is part of a series about the history of English literature here on the blog. In this series we travel through ten literary periods, starting from 450 AC until now. We’ll focus mostly on British authors in this series but be mindful that many great non-British writers have also made significant contributions to the advancement of English literature.   

In this third part of our blog series on the history of English literature, two literary periods that are less well-known are discussed. Those periods are the Edwardian and Georgian period. Let’s get started! 

 
1. The Edwardian Period (1901-1914) 
This period is named after King Edward VII, who only reigned for nine years before dying of appendicitis. His relatively short time on the throne was mainly because his mother, Queen Victoria, reigned for such a long time - he was already 59 years old when he became king. 
 
The Edwardian period takes place between Queen Victoria’s death and the start of the 1st World War. This period is known as a time of prosperity and peace for Britain. But it was also known as the height of British colonialism, as during this time around one third of the worlds’ population were subjects to the British throne.  
 
This colonialism is also reflected in the literature of this period. For instance, in Joseph Conrad’s novel ‘Heart of Darkness’ in which, he comments on racism and colonialism in Africa. Other notable writers of this period include James Barrie, author of ‘Peter Pan’, ‘The Jungle Book's author Rudyard Kipling, and dramatist Bernard Shaw.  

2. The Georgian Period (1910 -1936) 
The Georgian period, as we are referring to in this article, covers the reign of King George V between 1910 and 1936. This period in literature is predominantly known for its poetry. Poets who flourished at this time often used traditional forms of writing poetry, like using a strict ‘meter’ and rhyme schemes. Their themes were often rural, romantic or pastoral in nature.  

Poems of this period became popular when they were anthologized by Edward Marsh in five editions between 1912 and 1922. However, despite early success, Georgian poetry was eventually critised as being ‘too conventional’. A few notable poets of this time were D.H. Lawrence, Rupert Brooke, Robert Graves and Siegfried Sassoon.  

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I hope you enjoyed reading this third part of our series on English literary periods! In the next and final article of this series, we’ll explore the literary periods from the start of World War I through to the end of World War II. If you are a reader, I think you’ll recognise many of the incredible writers who made their mark in these years. So, stay tuned!