TERM PAPER ASSIGNMEMT

NAME: AAQIB HUSSAIN

CLASS: BS ENGLISH (M)
SEMESTER: 3rd
ROLL NO: BENF18M046
SUBMITTED TO: Prof. Zill E Hasnain
TOPIC: Salient Features of Classicism

UNIVERSITY OF SARGODHA
 Salient Features of Classicism
Classicism, in the arts, refers generally to a high regard for a classical period, classical antiquity in the
Western tradition, as setting standards for taste which the classicists seek to emulate. In its purest form,
classicism is an aesthetic attitude dependent on principles based in the culture, art and literature of ancient
Greece and Rome, with the emphasis on form, simplicity, proportion, clarity of structure, perfection,
restrained emotion, as well as explicit appeal to the intellect.

The Classical age in English literature is called as The Eighteen Century or the Augustan Age. It is also
known as the Age of Reason. Though Dryden belonged to the seventeenth century, he is also included in
the Classical or Augustan Age, as during his time the characteristics of his age had manifested themselves
and he himself represented them to a great extent. Other great literary figures who dominated this age
successively were Pope and Dr. Johnson, and so the Classical Age is divided into three distinct periods:

 The Ages of Dryden,

 The Ages of Pope
 The Ages of Dr. Johnson

The Eighteenth Century is called the Classical Age in English literature on account of three reasons. In
the first place, the term „classic‟, refers in general, applies to writers of the highest rank in any nation.
This term was first applied to the works of the great Greek and Roman writers, like Homer and Virgil. As
the writers of the eighteenth century in England tried to follow the simple and noble methods of the great
ancient writers, they began to be called Classical writers.

In the second place, in every national literature there is a period when a large number of writers produce
works of great merit; such a period is often called the Classical Period or Age. For example, the reign of
Augustus is called the Classical Age of Rome; and the Age of Dante is called the Classical Age of Italian
literature. As during the eighteenth century in England there was an abundance of literary productions, the
critics named it the Classical Age in English literature.

In the third place, during this period the English writers rebelled against the exaggerated and fantastic
style of writing prevalent during the Elizabethan and Puritan ages, and they demanded that poetry, drama
and prose should follow exact rules. In this they were influenced by French writers, especially by Boileau
and Rapin, who insisted on precise methods of writing poetry, and who professed to have discovered their
rules in the classics of Horace and Aristotle.

The eighteenth century is called the Classical Age, because the writers followed the „classicism‟ of the
ancient writers, which was taken in a narrow sense to imply fine polish and external elegance. But as the
eighteenth century writers in England followed the ancient classical writers only in their external
performance, and lacked their sublimity and grandeur, their classicism is called pseudo-classicism i.e., a
false or sham classicism.

As the term Classical Age is, therefore, too dignified for writers of the eighteenth century in England,
who imitated only the outward trapping of the ancient classical writers, and could not get at their inner
spirit, this age is preferably called the Augustan Age. This term was chosen by the writers of the
eighteenth century themselves, who saw in Pope, Addison, Swift, Johnson and Burke the modern
parallels to Horace, Virgil, Cicero, and other brilliant writers who made Roman literature famous during
the reign of Emperor Augustus. Of course, to term this as the Augustan Age is also not justified because
the writers of this period could not compare favorable with those of the Augustan Age in Latin literature.
But these terms “the Classical Age” and “the Augustan Age” have become current, and so this age is
generally called by these terms.

The Classical Age is also called the Age of Reason or the Age of Good Sense, because the people thought
that they could stand on their own legs and be guided in the conduct of their affairs by the light of their
own reason unclouded by respect for Ancient precedent. They began to think that undue respect for
authority of the Ancients was a great source of error, and therefore in every matter man should apply his
own reason and commonsense. Even in literature where the prospect for classical art forms and the rules
for writing in those forms gave the defenders of the Ancients a decided advantage, critics could declare
that the validity of the rules of art was derived from Reason rather than from Ancient Authority. It was
widely assumed during the eighteenth century that since every man is competent to decide, by reference
to his own reason, on any point of natural or moral philosophy, every man becomes his own philosopher.
So the need of the expert or specialist vanishes. Moreover, as all men were assumed to be equally
endowed with the power of reasoning, it followed that when they reasoned on any given premises they
must reach the same conclusion. That conclusion was believed to have universal value and direct appeal
to everyone belonging to any race or age. Moreover, it should be the conclusion reached by earlier
generation since reason must work the same way in every period of history.

The contemporary figures of classical age believed that the highest type of art is that which can be
understood immediately, which has the widest appeal, which is free from the expression of personal
idiosyncrasy, and which deals with what is general and universal rather than with what is individual and
particular.

This was the temper of the classical age. If it is called The Age of Reason or The Age of Good Sense, it is
because in this age it was assumed that in reasoning power all men are and have always been equal. It was
an age which took a legitimate pride in modern discoveries based upon observation and reason, and which
delighted to reflect that those discoveries had confirmed the ancient beliefs that there is an order and
harmony in the universe, that it is worked on rational principles, that each created thing has its allowed
position and moved in its appointed spheres. It was, in short, an age which implicitly believed in the
Biblical saying: “God saw everything that He had made, and behold it was very good”.

Features of Classicism:

Classicism has certain basic features in art as in literature. Its concern is always with the ideal, in form as
well as in content. Such is the case, it is true, with virtually all artists before Romanticism, but classical
artists looked back to the ideal of Antiquity as well as to its varied styles. They were sure that art is
governed by rules which are determined by reason. Beauty, which is one form of truth, must depend on
some system of measurement and proportion, as Plato explained in the Timaeus; artists working from
classical models made it their business to rediscover such a system in the works of art and buildings of
Antiquity. Such an emphasis on measurement, allied to reason, is summarized in the Vitruvian figure of a
man within a circle and a square, which expresses the concurrence between beauty, mathematics and
Man. For the Renaissance artist, Man, within the circle of God, is the measure of all things, and he rules
himself and his affairs by the application of reason. Antique art, centered on the depiction of a noble
human mind in an ideal body, provides convincing models for imitation.

Classicism has a bad reputation in a century which favours a more emotional and personal approach to
art. Many would agree with Mark Twain that 'a classic is something that everybody wants to have read
and nobody wants to read'. Raphael is respected rather than loved, and Delacroix is more popular than
David, but it is our century which is at fault when it construes classicism (in the words of one critic) as
'unexciting, formal and frigid'. The sensual exoticism of the Romantics and the bravura of the Baroque
appear more acceptable than the intellectual control which classicism imposes. Why, indeed, did the
classical tradition survive so long, and why did it end ? One reason is evidently the tenor of the culture on
which it fed, but a general cause is to be found in its very nature. Because it eschewed the individual for
the sake of the typical, and the intricate for the sake of the simple, its products could be universal in
character and message, rather than tied to any particular period or country.

For instance, the first major revival of Classicism also occurred during the Renaissance, when Cicero‟s
prose was especially imitated. France in the 17th century developed a rich and diversified Classicism in
literature, as it had also in the visual arts. The dramatists Pierre Corneille and Jean Racine, together with
the philosophers Blaise Pascal and René Descartes, were particularly important. In England, Classicism in
literature arose later than in France and reached its zenith in the 18th-century writings of John
Dryden and Alexander Pope. Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and Friedrich
Schiller were major figures in the German Classical literary movement. In the early 20th century, T.S.
Eliot and proponents of the New Criticism were sometimes considered classicists because of their
emphasis on form and discipline.

In the previous ages, it were the poetical works which were given prominence. Now, for the first time in
the history of English literature, prose occupies the front position. As it was the age of social, political
religious and literary controversies in which the prominent writers took an active part, and a large number
of pamphlets, journals and magazines were brought out in order to cater to the growing need of the
masses who had begun to read and take interest in these controversial matters, poetry was considered
inadequate for such a task, and hence there was a rapid development of prose. In fact the prose writers of
this age excel the poets in every respect. The graceful and elegant prose of Addison„s essays, the terse
style of Swift„s satires, the artistic perfection of Fielding„s novels, the sonorous eloquence of Gibbon„s
history, and the oratorical style of Burke, have no equal in the poetical works of the age. In fact, poetry
also had become prosaic, because it was no longer used for lofty and sublime purposes, but, like prose, its
subject matter had become criticism, satire, controversy and it was also written in the form of the essay
which was the common literary from.

Poetry became polished, witty and artificial, but it lacked fire, fine feelings, enthusiasm, the poetic glow
of Elizabethan Age and the moral earnestness of Puritanism. In fact, it became more interested in the
portrayal of actual life, and distrusted inspiration and imagination. The chief literary glory of the age was,
therefore, not poetry, but prose which in the hands of great writers developed into an excellent medium
capable of expressing clearly every human interest and emotion. The two main characteristics of the
Restoration period „Realism‟ and „Precision‟ were carried to further perfection during the eighteenth
century. They are found in their excellent form in the poetry of Pope, who perfected the heroic couplet,
and in the prose of Addison who developed it into a clear, precise and elegant form of expression.
Another characteristic of classical age was the development of satire as a form of literature, which
resulted from the unfortunate union of politics with literature. Moreover, as a satire is concerned mainly
with finding fault with the opponents, and is destructive in its intention, it cannot reach the great literary
heights. Thus the literature of the age, which is mainly satirical, cannot be favourably compared with
great literature. One feels that these writers could have done better if they had kept themselves clear of the
topical controversies, and had devoted their energies to matters of universal import.

Another important feature of this age was the origin and development of the novel. This new literary
form, which gained great popularity in the succeeding ages, and which at present holds the prominent
place, was fed and nourished by great masters like Defoe, Richardson, Fielding, Smollet and others who
laid its secure foundations. The realism of the age and the development of an excellent prose style greatly
helped in the evolution of the novel during the eighteenth century.

The eighteenth century was deficient in drama, because the old Puritanic prejudice against the theatre
continued, and the court also withdrew its patronage. Goldsmith and Sheridan were the only writers who
produced plays having literary merit.

Another important thing which is to be considered with regard to the eighteenth century literature is that it
was only during the early part of it—the Age of Pope, that the classical rules and ideals reigned supreme.
In the later part of it—the Age of Johnson—cracks began to appear in the edifice of classicism, in the
form of revolts against its ideals, and a revival of the Romantic tendency which was characteristic of the
Elizabethan period.

The Classical Age consists mainly of The Rape of the Lock, Gulliver's Travels, The Classical Age or, The
Augustan Age or, The of Pope, Pamela, Robinson Crusoe, Classicism, Neo-classicism, The
Spectator, Satire etc. Here, these things are discussed in small areas:

The Rape of the Lock

"The Rape of the Lock" is one of the finest poems in English literature written by Alexander Pope. It was
first published in 1712 and then published in an enlarged form in 1714. It is based on an actual incident.
The incident is that a nobleman cuts off a lock a lady's hair. It creates bitterness between the two families
of Mrs. Arabella Fermor and Lord Petre. Pope's friend, John Caryl requested him to compose a poem in
order to settle the quarrel between these families. So he has written this poem."The Rape of the Lock" is a
mock-heroic poem. The subject-matter of this poem is trivial with grand language and with the treatment
of supernatural machinery. The poem is divided into five cantos. Here we find Belinda who is the
representative fashionable woman folk in 18th century. It is a true picture of the 18th century London
society. The poet has deliciously described how Belinda leads her life and how the Baron cuts off her two
beautiful locks. After that he shows how a mighty battle takes place between the group of Belinda and the
Baron. He presents and describes the content of the poem in a ludicrous and humorous manner. He
criticizes the 18th century fashionable way of life very severely. In fact, Pope demands that "The Rape of
the Lock" is an epic. But it is not a real epic. Moreover, it is regarded as a mock-epic which is the
masterpiece of the poet.
Gulliver's Travels

Gulliver's Travels is the most famous of all works of Jonathan Swift. The germ of this book has been
traced to the celebrated Scriblerus Club which came into existence in the last months of Queen Anne's
reign. At that time, Swift Joined with John Arbuthnot, Alexander pope, John Gay and a few other writers
in a scheme to ridicule all false tastes in learning. The full title of Gulliver's Travels is Travels into
Several Remote Nations of the World in Four Parts by Lemuel Gulliver, first a Surgeon, and then a
Captain of Several Ships. The book was published anonymously by the end of October in 1726. It was
published negotiating with the publishers having been carried on by Swift's friends, Charles Ford and
Erasmas Lewis. The book is written into four parts. They are Part-I: Voyage to Lilliput. Part-II: A
Voyage to Brobdingnag. Part-III: A Voyage to Laputa, Balnibarbi, Glubbdubdrib, Luggnagg and Japan
and Part-IV: A Voyage to the Country of Houyhnhnms. Gulliver's Travels has not only become a classic
as a satire on the human race but also classic as a Children's book. Swift says that the object of this book
is to vex the world. The book is an allegorical satire intended to instruct mankind. Its appeal is immense
and permanent.

Robinson Crusoe

Robinson Crusoe is a famous novel by Daniel Defoe. The full name of the novel is The Life and Strange
Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe of York, Mariner. The novel presents a hairsplitting adventure
story of Robinson Crusoe. Captured at sea by the pirates Crusoe is wrecked off the South American Coast
on a desert island. He is clever and resolute. He builds himself living quarters and cultivates food. He
brings some useful items from the shipwreck. After 17 lonely years, he finds a footprint in the sand. In the
24th year of hi enforced isolation, he rescues a victim of the cannibals and names him Friday. Robinson
Crusoe is symbolic and has several allegories. Political and religious allegories are remarkable. In the
novel, Dofoe has characterized almost all the characters according to the name of their profession. The
novel represents crime, sin, punishment and repentance. The universal appeal of the book springs from
the struggle of a solitary individual to survive in the middle of hostile surroundings. Crusoe is industrious,
clever, practical and pious. He triumphs over surroundings, practical genius and self-reliance. He
represents the whole human society. Because he does everything that he needs. He is the prudential hero.
He is sober, prudent, and wise merchant engaged in business enterprise. However, the book, Robinson
Crusoe is written in the plain, lucid and colloquial prose. It seems to want of the features of a novel, yet
its realism and prose style entitle it to the claim of being the first English novel.