Dr Adamson's simplified timeline

Clans, myths, alliterative poetry, the oral tradition, Beowulf

Chivalric romance, Christianity, Ballads, Mystery plays, Chaucer

Shakespeare, revenge tragedies, sonnets, metaphysical poetry, human mortality

Neoclassical, logic and reason, satire, essays, Pope, Swift

Wild nature, the sublime, the emotional, subjectivity, Shelley, Keats

Rich and Poor, Country and City, Morality and indiscretion, Dickens, Bronte

Fragmentation, stream of consciousness, city life, unreliable views

Self-definition, irony and humour, media, meta, intertexts