Literary Eras Trivia Quiz

Answer: The Middle English Period

These works were written by Geoffrey Chaucer, an anonymous author, and William Langland, respectively. The Middle English period ranges from the 1300s until the mid-1400s and contains works written in Middle English, before the transition to early modern English. Literature of this time period tended to be religious in nature, center around courtly love, or recount Arthurian legends.

Answer: The Neoclassical Period

These works were written by Alexander Pope, John Dryden, and Jonathan Swift, respectively. Other prominent writers of the neoclassical period included Samuel Johnson and Thomas Gray. This literary era spanned from about 1660 to 1798 and was known for its formality. Satire was a particularly popular form during the neoclassical period, as was formal poetry (often with rhyming couplets) and essays.

Answer: The Elizabethan Age

These three works were penned by William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe, and Edmund Spencer respectively. Other prominent writers of the age include Francis Bacon and Sir Walter Raleigh. The Elizabethan Age, which spanned from 1558 to 1603, is part of the Renaissance Period, which is subdivided into the Elizabethan Age, the Jacobean Age, the Caroline Age, and the Commonwealth Period.

Answer: The Romantic Period

"The Lyrical Ballads", by Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth, is thought by some to mark the start of the Romantic period. Others date the period from the start of the French Revolution. At any rate, the Romantic period spans from somewhere in the late 1700s to the early 1800s. "She Walks in Beauty Like the Night" was written by Lord Byron, and "Ode to a Nightingale" by John Keats. Other writers of the Romantic era include William Blake, Charles Lamb, Mary Wollstonecraft, and Percy Bysshe Shelley. The period is marked by a focus on nature, heroism, rebellion, emotion, and the sublime.

This time is also known as the Regency period, because during a portion of this time, the Prince Regent was ruling in place of his mentally ill father, King George III. Jane Austen was a prominent novelist of the Regency period.

Answer: The Old English Period

The authors of these works are unknown. The Old English period of literature spanned from the 7th century until just after the Norman Conquest in 1066, when the language began to change. "Caedmon's Hymn", preserved by Venerable Bede, is considered to be the oldest poem to have survived in the Old English language.

Much of the work of this period consists of translations of the early church fathers, sermons, biblical translations, and stories of the lives of saints.

Answer: The Victorian Period

These works were written by Alfred Lord Tennyson, George Eliot, and Charles Dickens, respectively. Named for Queen Victoria, the Victorian period of literature spanned from 1832 to 1901. It was a time of popular, but also influential, literature, and perhaps the most prolific age of English literature.

Other prominent writers of the era include Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Christina Rossetti, John Ruskin, Matthew Arnold, the Bronte sisters, and William Makepeace Thackeray.

Answer: The Jacobean Age

These works were penned by John Donne, Ben Jonson, and John Webster, respectively. Named for King James I, the Jacobean Age occurred in the early 1600s. John Donne was considered to have started the metaphysical school of poetry, while Ben Jonson kicked off the contrasting Cavalier school of poetry.

Other writers of this age include Elizabeth Cary, Aemilia Lanyer, and Lady Mary Wroth. Shakespeare continued to write in the Jacobean era and produced some of his most famous plays during this time, including "King Lear" and "Macbeth".

Answer: Caroline Age

John Milton, George Herbert, and Robert Herrick penned the above works. The Caroline Age spans the reign of Charles I, from 1625 to 1648, and precedes the Commonwealth period, from 1649-1660, when Oliver Cromwell led Parliament. "Areopagitica" was one of John Milton's major political works, published in 1644, supporting the freedom of speech.

He continued to write on into the Commonwealth period, and is best known for his epic poem "Paradise Lost".

Answer: The Modern Period

These novels were written by D.H. Lawrence, Aldous Huxley, and Virginia Woolf during the Modern Period, which is used to describe the works written after the start of World War I in 1914. James Joyce, Graham Greene, and E.M. Forster are other prominent novelists of the age.

Modern poets include W.B. Yeats, W.H. Auden, T.S. Eliot (sometimes referred to as post-modern), Wilfred Owens, and Dylan Thomas.

Answer: The Edwardian Period

"Heart of Darkness" was a novel by Joseph Conrad, published in 1902. "If" was a poem by Rudyard Kipling published in 1910. George Bernard Shaw's play "Major Barbara" was published in 1905. Spanning from 1901 to 1914, the Edwardian Period gains its name from King Edward VII and precedes the outbreak of the first World War. The period also saw works by Henry James and Alfred Noyes.