In order to have convenience, it is necessary to divide the history of English Literature into periods. Each period has its specific features. The following is the chart of literary periods and their approximate dates:
| LITERARY PERIODS | APPROX. DATES | HISTORIC PERIODS |
| Pre-Chaucercian Period | 500-1340 | Anglo-Saxon |
| Chaucerian Period | 1340-1400 | Middle Plantagenet |
| Tottel’s Miscellany | 1400-1557 | Later Plantagenet |
| Shakespearean Period | 1557-1625 | Elizabethan/Jacobean |
| Milton’s Period | 1625-1660 | Caroline/Puritan |
| Dryden’s Period | 1660-1700 | Restoration |
| Pope’s /Augustan Period | 1700-1745 | Queen Anne/Early Georgian |
| Johnson’s Period | 1745-1798 | Middle Georgian |
| Wordsworth’s Period | 1798-1832 | Later Georgian/Revolution |
| Tennyson’s Period | 1832-1887 | Victorian |
| Hardy’s Age | 1887-1928 | |
| Present/Modern Period | 1930-1955 |
