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The modern period of Hindi literature commences with the second half of the 19th century. Bharatendru Harishchandra (1850-84) was the pioneer who ushered in the modern era. Other important writers of this formative period are Maithli Sharan Gupta (1886-1964), R.N.Tripathi (1889-1962) and Gopala Sarana Sinha (1891-1960). Maithli Saran revived the epic tradition. The romantic upsurge spoken as Chayavad is an important element of this period.

Jayashankara Prasad, Suryakant Tripathi Nirala and Sumitra Nandan Pant are the leading luminaries of this period. Kamayani (1936) by Jayashankar is hailed as a magnum opus. It is the psycho-biological journey of a man through time and space. Mahadevi Varma is one of the major poets of the Chayavad school.

In the second phase of the modern period which is referred to as the Dwivedi yug, the leading figure obviously was Mahavir Prasad Dwivedi. Poetry, drama, novel, short story and the essay flourished on account of the western impact. Drama in Hindi has a long history from the 14th century. But the prose-drama developed only towards the close of the 19th century.

Bharatendru and Jayashankar prasad have written quite a few plays. In the field of fiction, the great stalwart is Premchand. His novel Godan has been translated into many languages, Indian and foreign. By his novels and short stories, Premchand raised Hindi literature from the plane of entertainment to one of contemporary realism. Other important novelists of the contemporary period are Jainendra Kumar, Phaneshwar Nath Renu and Satchidananda Vatsyayan.

Jainendra Kumar in his novels Sunita and Tyagapatra concentrated on human psyche. Renu gave a new dimension to novel writing by introducing the regional novel, the classical example being his Maila Anchal. Vatsyayan (Ajneya) is the initiator of a new trend in Hindi literature called Prayogavad (experimentalism). Sekhar Ek Jivani (1941) has been acknowledged as his most important novel. Dharma Vir Bharati, Girija Kumar Mathur, Muktiboth, and Lakshmi Kant Verma are other distinguished experimentalists of the post-Independence period.